o as to make the outline of the plan nearly
square.

The rich colouring of St. Mark's, due to a profuse employment of
mosaics and of the most costly marbles, and the splendid effects
produced by the mode of introducing light, which is admitted much as
at Santa Sophia, are perhaps its greatest charm; but there is beauty
in every aspect of its interior which has furnished a fit theme for
the pen of the most eloquent writer on art and architecture of the
present or perhaps of any day.

From Venice the influence of Byzantine art spread to a small extent in
North Italy; in that city herself as well as in neighbouring towns,
such as Padua, buildings and fragments of buildings exhibiting the
characteristics of the style can be found. Remarkable traces of the
influence of Byzantium as a centre, believed to be due to intercourse
with Venice, can also be found in France. Direct communication with
Constantinople by way of the Mediterranean has also introduced
Byzantine taste into Sicily. One famous French church, St. Front in
Perigueux, is identical (or nearly so) with St. Mark's in its plan;
but all its constructive arches being pointed (Fig. 3, page 5), its
general appearance differs a good deal from that of Eastern
churches--a difference which is accentuated by the absence of the
mosaics and other coloured ornaments which enrich the walls of St.
Mark's. Many very old domed churches and much sculpture of the
Byzantine type are moreover to be found in Central and Southern
France--Anjou, Aquitaine, and Auvergne. These are, however, isolated
examples of the style having taken root in spite of adverse
circumstances; it is in those parts of Europe where the Greek Church
prevails, or did prevail, that Byzantine architecture chiefly
flourishes. In Greece and Asia Minor many ancient churches of
Byzantine structure remain, while in Russia churches are built to the
present day corresponding to the general type of those which have just
been described.

[Illustration: FIG. 163.--FROM THE GOLDEN DOOR OF JERUSALEM. TIME OF
JUSTINIAN. A.D. 560.]

[Illustration: FIG. 164.--CHURCH AT TURMANIN IN SYRIA. 4TH AND 5TH
CENTURY.]

In ancient buildings of Syria the influence of both the Roman and the
Byzantine models can be traced. No more characteristic specimens of
Byzantine foliage can be desired than some to be found in Palestine,
as for example the Golden Gate at Jerusalem, which we illustrate
(Fig. 163); but in the deserte