File:The Civil engineer and architect's journal, scientific and railway gazette (1839) (20467735209).jpg

Title: The Civil engineer and architect's journal, scientific and railway gazette
Identifier: civilengineerarc08lond (find matches)
Year: 1839 (1830s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture; Civil engineering; Science
Publisher: London : (William Laxton)
Contributing Library: Northeastern University, Snell Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Northeastern University, Snell Library

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248 THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. (August, simple tau. These singular edifices are divitled not by one transept Init 1)V two. The first cuts the lungitii-linal nave in half; the western or inferior end forms the nave properly speaking, and tlie eastern end forms the apsis of the church; this apsis itself is divided by a second transept, usually shorter than the first. On this side, viz., from the first to the second transept, is the choir; on the other, viz., from the second transept to the bottom of the church, is the sanetuiry. The calhedr.ils at Salisbuiy, Lincoln, Beverley, Rochester, and Worcester are of this character. Let a figure be drawn of the Cross of Christ, with a long and wide label attached to it bearing the inscription "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." This libel, as it were, is adopted in English churches, and forms the eastern transept, that which divides the top of the Cross into two parts; then comes the usual cross aisle or transept, on which the arms of Christ were ex- tended. This is derived from the Cross of Lorraine, tiie Cross of the Knights Hospitallers, and from that which denotes at present the archiepiscopul dignity, it is the double Cross ; it seems to be borrowed from Greecp, for we meet with it frequently in Attica, in the Morea, and at Mount Athos. The designs for churches in the form of a Cross were often revealed in visions. In the night an angel appeared to a sleeping saint, perhaps to a bishop, and made known to him the form of a monument which was to be erected by the command of God ; immediately the work was put in hand according to the model seen in the dream. Some- times bright lines were observed in the sky, tracing on the clouds the form of tlie church to be erected. In this way Constanline caused his Labarum to be executed in the form of that which he had seen traced in lines of fire in the sky, and according to which luminous design the edifice was erected. Sometimes the plan and form of a basilica might be discovered traced with drops of dew on the dry ground ; at another time it was the snow which indicated the spot and marked the form in which the walls should rise. Thus the French abbey and church of St. Michael in the department de la Manche, and the Italian chuich St. Michael at Gargano were traced upon the earth by the steps of a bull. Since, as we have seen, even the severe science of architecture accommodates its plans and designs to the varied forms and details of the Cross, it is not surprising that the arts of sculpture and painting should employ it in all its varieties, numerous and capricious as these varieties often are. Thus, not only do they employ the Cross with one or lico transverse beams, but the number is often increased to Ihrte; this Cross has eight arms, each transept dividing it into two, which makes six, to which the shaft adds two others, viz., the foot and the apex. These Crosses with one, two, or three transverse arms denote degrees of r.mk, in the same way as the tiara, the hat, and the mitre. The pope alone was entitled to the triple Cross, the archbishop and cardinal to the double Cross, the simple Cross remaii ing for the bishop. The capitals of columns, sarcophagi with their covers, mosaics and frescoes, windows and wainscotings, are adorned with innumerable Crosses, and their variety is equal to their number. These Crosses are sometimes simple, sometimes interlaced with other emblems. When the Cross is simple and without other attributes or ornaments it must be divided into two classes—the Cross of the Passion and the Cross of the Resurrection. The Cross of the Passion, the real Cross on which Christ was crucified, is the square unhewn tree, composed of the trunk and transverse beam; it is this which is generally placed in the arms of the Father with the Christ nailed thereon; U is this which is planted in our fields, in our highways. The Cross of the Resurrection is the emblun of the real Cross; it was with this that Jesus rose from the tomb and ascended to Heaven. A banner, a flame, usually floats around the Cross of the Resurrection, it is indeed a standard, the top of which tetniinates in a Cross rather than in a point. The Cross which the Paschal Lamb bears on its foot, and the Cross which precedes religious processions, are the Crosses of the Resur- rection and of the Ascension ; in these cases it is no longer a tree, as in the Cross of the Passion, but a staff. Sometimes, Christ in Heaven is represented as seated near to the Father and to the Holy Ghost, bearing the Cross of the Resurrection rather than that of the Passion. The Cross of the Passion, the true Cross, is a sufiVring one,—the Cross of the Resurrection is a trium- phant one; the last has the same general form as the former one, but it is spiritualized—it is the Cross transfigured. These two Crosses are historical, because they were employed at the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Clirist; but the number of those which are purely emblematical is infinitely greater. Heraldry adopts many of these, to which it assigns names which characterizes their nature and form. When the Cross is interlaced or accompanied by orna- ments or emblems, the variety is so great that it is impossible to de- scribe all, we must therefore select some examples. In Greece, the representations of the Cross usually bear this in- scription "Jesus Christ the Con- queror," The following is an ex- ample of the double Cross, which we call the Cross of Lorraine, which furnishes also the plan of the Englishchurchesalreadv men- tioned, as well as that of the three French churches. The foot of this Cross is divided into two forks or branches, and expands itself in leaves of the acanthus. The inscription surrounds the up- per Cross only. Sometimes this inscription is divided into two parts; the first portion is en- graved above a Cross and is placed on the left, and the second p(Ttion above another Cross placed on the right. Beneath the first inscriptionare two pea- cocks, which appear to be alle- gorical, since a manuscript and a fabulary stone in the Museum at Narbonne represent them crowned with a nimbus, like saints. Be- neath the second and within medallions there is an eagle with its wings folded, and a falcon with its wings likewise folded; the falcon wears ihe collar, the leash, and the little bell. The foot of the first Cross is clawed, that of the second \s perronne; both out by the double transverse. The Cross with the peacocks is formed of bands intnr- laced, that with the eagle and falcon is tvfisted in narrower bands.
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