GERMAN ARCHITECTURE. When the Germanic races came in contact with Rome as conquerors German art was born. While Rome had been victorious on the battlefield her higher civilization and her art had been scorn fully rejected by the people she had made subject to her rule. There are to this day remnants of Roman buildings in Germany but their style has had little or no effect on the development of German architecture. Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths (455 (or 454)-526), who resided throughout most of his reign in Ra venna, is the first who consciously endeavored to turn the minds of his people to the art of architecture, and his well-preserved tomb in Ravenna may be called the first extant Ger manic building of art value. As was natural the plan of the building follows the plans of similar buildings in vogue in Italy at that time, a circular and vaulted central hall. Unique, however, and characteristic of the almost bar baric splendor of the great king, is the huge vault itself, chiseled from, a gigantic monolith. The »handles" by which the block was raised in position have been left standing, and forrn a somewhat crude but impressive ornament. A peculiar decoration in the inside, the so-called ornament, carries a definite reminder of Germanic workmanship: for it was well known to the Germanic peoples while it was never used in distinctly Italian buildings. Great as were the deserts of Theodoric in the interest of German art, they are insignificant compared with those of Charlemagne (742-814). He was the first of the great emperors whose aim it was to develop their own country rather than to cross the Alps and settle there. His artistic inspiration, of course, came from Italy, but not only from Rome, with its treasures of antiquity, but also from Ravenna with its many ear Christian churches and the monuments on which Theodoric had breathed the spirit of Germany. One of the best-known instances of the archi tecture under Charles is the chapel of his pal ace in Aix-la-Chapelle, badly altered by later additions, but unmistakably influenced by churches like San Vitale in Ravenna and the so-called old cathedral of Brescia. Otto von Metz is mentioned in history as the architect of the chapel of Aix. If, however, he made any designs for the details, he found at home no men sufficiently trained to execute them; for columns, windows and other parts of the building were bodily brought across the Alps. The plan of the building is a vaulted octagonal central hall to which are added in the east a rectangular space for the altar, and opposite this another which served as the entrance hall. Above this latter was the seat for the emperor.
The final decoration in the shape of marble in crustations and mosaics and iron-wrought balustrades was not added to the building before the time of Otto III (983-1002). The bal ustrades were native work and they surprise by their almost classic beauty and simplicity. The whole building was a revelation to the people, and it is not surprising that it was copied in many parts of Germany, although only the chapel in Ottmarsheim in Alsace has been preserved to this day. On the whole, how ever, the Aix Chapel was not destined to be come typical for German church architecture. It happened to represent the less popular of the two styles of early Christian churches, the Central Hall and the Basilica. The former found its finest development in the East, while the West, including the Germanic countries, pre ferred the basilica. With its lofty and spacious main nave and, for additional space, two or four side aisles, with its raised apse admitting the altar and in front of this the seats for the clergy, with its easy adaptation to an easterly orientation, popular with the Christians, it is not astonishing that the basilica type of church completely satisfied the needs of church builders. This type had been developed in Italy. Under the great Charles and his suc cessors it was destined to become also the distinctly German type — with one notable al teration, the lengthening of the cross aisle (which was frequently interposed between the main nave and the apse). The effect of this was the introduction of the shape of the cross into the ground plan of the building'. Another innovation, found as early as the Carolingian era, was the extension of the choir (the space in front of the altar), which lengthened the lines beyond the cross aisle, and thus mate rially helped to give to the ground plan the shape of the cross. The cross was the symbol of the Church, and symbolism was destined to play an important part in the whole of early German architecture. In the Italian prototype the choir and the apse had been but slightly raised. In the German churches they were raised considerably, and beneath them crypts were built. Frequently the German churches were dedicated to more than one saint or martyr, and in that case additional choirs be came a necessity. Instances of such churches are found in Fulda, in Cologne (the old cathe dral), and in Saint Gall. While the latter church has been destroyed, the original plans, not only for the church. hut for the whole monastery, are extant. They were sent to the Abbot Gozbert by an unknown friend about 820, and thus permit the detailed study of Ger man architecture at that time.