Architectural under once before its final extinction the light of ancient classic culture flared up, though only to show how near it was to that extinction. As once Theodoric the Great sought to infuse new life into the dying art of Rome, so did Charlemagne attempt to re-establish the Roman empire and to give the world a new period of art-prosperity. His capital, Aix-la-Chapelle, was the wonder of Contemporaries, who celebrated it as the new Rome. For the adorn ment and decoration of this city he plundered the ancient Rome as well as Ravenna, which we may call the third Rome if we style Constantinople the second. But only in the fancy of flattering poets did this fourth Rome attain to the magnificence and splendor of either the first or the second.
/Forks of most prominent works of Charlemagne were the palace and the minster church, which, as the palace chapel, took the polygonal form (pi. jigs. I, 2), and thus carried on the antique tradition; it was built (796,8°4) by Abbot Ansegius of Fontanellum, and now exists, but robbed of its mosaics, in the midst of many additions and accessory buildings of a later date. The emperor, who died 814 A. D., was buried here. Nothing has been preserved to our time of Charle magne's palaces at Worms, Ingelheim, Nimeguen, and other places. A .little later than the minster at Aix-la-Chapelle is the Church of St. Michael at Fulda, built by Abbot Eigil and dedicated in 822. It is a small circular church with eight strongly-tapering columns.
Buildings of the Ninth Century: Eginkard's If orks.—Eginhard (born 77o, died 844), one of Charlemagne's friends and his biographer, was skil ful both in literature and in architecture, and in particular earnestly studied the works of Vitruvius. He built an imposing church at Michel
stadt, in the Odenwald, also the Abbey of Seligenstadt, the ancient plan of which was not long ago brought to light, but unfortunately was at once completely ruined. The portico of the convent at Lorsch is a unique building with colored incrustation which perhaps dates from the time of the convent itself (764-774), but may be one of Eginhard's works, or even a work of the end of the ninth century. The still-pre served plan of the Abbey of St. Gall (see Vol. II. jl. 39) is a most remark able work of this period; it was made in 82o A. D., and the building itself followed between the years 822 and 83o or 832. The architects were the monks Winihard and Isenrich, whom their contemporaries praised as the Dmdalus and the Bezaleel of the age.
Although the Renaissance wrought by Charlemagne was of short duration, yet under the succeeding princes of his race many buildings were erected in a more and more degenerate style. We cannot mention these individually, whether built in England, France, Spain, or elsewhere, "but we must once again direct a glance toward Italy, especially to Rome, where several churches still extant were erected in the ninth century. Among these are S. Clemente, with its fore-court surrounded by Ionic columns (fii. 14, fig. 6), and S. Prassede, in which piers are alternated with the columns bearing massive arches which vault across the nave and thus securely bind together the two side-walls. At the end of the ninth century followed the rebuilding of the Lateran basilica (fig. I), essen tially upon the same plan as the older building. Other basilicas of this period in Rome are S. Bartolonnneo in Isola, Sta. Maria in Ara Cceli, and S. Nicole. in Carcere.