In Germany the great cathedrals, considered in relation to their expres sion, belong to God on high: their towers rise toward heaven and are mirrored in the waters of the rivers for God's honor and glory, and they rule the entire city with the peace they bring; the convent-churches praise God on lonely heights and in quiet valleys, breathing peace and spreading peace around. In Italy the cathedrals belonged to the citizens, who built them for the entire community—not only to glorify God, but also as the Palladium of the popular freedom. The Italian duomo was built, as was the Grecian temple, for the common good and to inspire the citizens with local patriotism. This idea, which finds its expression in the widely separated and slender supports of the churches, found monumental vault ing little suited for its purpose, but the wealthy art-loving citizens desired rich ornamentation in which there was a ray of fancy; therefore the facades, which in Germany rise smooth and plain, were in Italy bedecked with columned galleries and arcaded work.
While Germany soon abandoned the use of various-colored stones as a polychromatic decoration of the walls, the use of this method of decora tion continually obtained wider application in Italy, and was fostered by the abundance of colored marbles fitted for such purposes. While in some districts the exterior of the west facade of the churches maintains the form of the three Aisles with their roofs, other structures have a symmetrical wide frontispiece with a single pediment masking the three aisles and made attractive by sumptuous galleries.
The double choir which characterized the German cathedrals, so specially designed for the clergy, did not suit Italian taste; but the crypt was always laid out upon a grand scale, entirely free from the aisles, and was employed, not as a quiet subterranean receptacle for the relics to which the assembled people drew near in awe, but as the burial-place of the patron saints of the city, who belonged to all. These relics every one could view; round them the entire people could assemble, whether in ardent supplication or with rejoicings and thanksgivings. They belonged to the entire people, who perhaps with armed hand had taken them from neighboring cities, and who were ever ready to make secure their posses sion against robbery or abduction, as the ancient republics protected their Palladiums.
In this spirit the great Italian churches speak to us to-day. Like the German churches, they are the work of many generations; but the living interest which the entire people felt in them as their property led even more than in Germany to perpetual additions and alterations, al though the want of money was not here, as in Germany, the prime cause of the delay. For this reason thorough investigation is needed even more than in Germany before a historically-transmitted date—often one inscribed on the building—can be applied to the still-existing structure in all its parts, for this date may belong to special parts only; conse quently, the reader should bear this in mind when we direct his attention.
to a building without giving a fixed date.
As such we mention the Cathedral of Fiesole (ro28); S. Flaviano at Montefiascone (ro32); the Cathedral of Pisa (pl. 27, fig. 2), which was begun in ro63; the crypt of San Fenno at Verona (ro65); the Cathedral of Empoli, the facade of which bears the date ro93; that of Modena, begun. iu ro99 (fig. ro); that of Viterbo, a columned basilica; the Church of S. Donato and the cathedral at Genoa; S. Michele at Lucca; the cathedrals of Prato and Pistoja; the Church of S. Miniato at Florence, the interior of which is shown in Figure r ; the facade of the Cathedral of Verona (fig. 8), with its characteristic example of an Italian portal; the Church of S. Zeno Maggiore (r r38) at the same city (figs. 6, 9); the Cathedral of Zara, in Dalmatia (fig.7); that of Casale-Monferrato (finished in 11°7); that of Novara; S. Michele and S. Pietro in Cielo d'Oro at Pavia, and San Am brogio at Milan; the Cathedral of Parma, belonging to the second half of the twelfth century; that of Piacenza, in which a tower rises behind the facade on one side, similar to the tower of the Cathedral of Trau, in Dal matia (fig. 4). The three apses of the last-mentioned church recall Ger man architecture, though Dalmatia generally follows Italian traditions. Some of these churches were not finished until the thirteenth century; thus S. Martino at Lucca was completed in 12°4, Sta. Maria in Toscanella in r2o6, the others later.
The Cathedral of Parma as it stands to-day may in its entirety be con sidered rather a work of the thirteenth than of the twelfth century; we shall therefore have to speak of it again, as of some related churches. But a number of baptisteries must be mentioned here, all of them, like the churches, decorated with superficial arcades and galleries, in some cases over their entire surface. Such are the Baptistery of Pisa (r153), that of Cremona (1167), and those of Parma and Asti. Peculiar small churches are S. Tommaso in Limine near Pergamo and the church at Gravedona.
The Campanthl—The development of the campanili of Italy must be noted as peculiar. These bell-towers are almost without exception sepa rated from the church. One of the best known is the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which is surrounded with galleries; this is shown in the view of the cathedral (fig. 2). It was built in 1174 by a German and an Italian archi tect working in conjunction, as was also the fine campanile within Diocle tian's palace at Spalato.