nised distinctly; here a series
of churches were built, many of them vaulted, but not many of the
largest size. Most of them were on substantially the same plan as the
basilicas, though a considerable number of circular or polygonal
churches were also built. Sant' Ambrogio at Milan, and some of the
churches at Brescia, Pavia, and Lucca, may be cited as well-known
examples of early date, and a little later the cathedrals of Parma,
Modena, and Piacenza (Fig. 167), and San Zenone at Verona. These
churches are all distinguished by the free use of small ornamental
arches and narrow pilaster-strips externally, and the employment of
piers with half-shafts attached to them, rather than columns, in the
arcades; they have fine bell-towers; circular windows often occupy
the gables, and very frequently the walls have been built of, or
ornamented with, coloured materials. The sculpture--grotesque,
vigorous, and full of rich variety--which distinguishes many of these
buildings, and which is to be found specially enriching the doorways,
is of great interest, and began early to develop a character that is
quite distinctive.

[Illustration: FIG. 167.--CATHEDRAL AT PIACENZA.]

Turning to Germany, we find that a very strong resemblance existed
between the Romanesque churches of that country and those of North
Italy. At Aix-la-Chapelle a polygonal church exists, built by
Charlemagne, and which tradition asserts was designed on the model of
San Vitale at Ravenna. The resemblance is undoubted, but the German
church is by no means an exact copy of Justinian's building. Early
examples of German Romanesque exist in the cathedrals of Mayence,
Worms, and Spires, and a steady advance was made till a point was
reached (in the twelfth century) at which the style may be said to
have attained the highest development which Romanesque architecture
received in any country of Europe.

The arcaded ornament (the arches being very frequently open so as to
form a real arcade) which was noticed as occurring in Lombard
churches, belongs also to German ones, though the secondary internal
arcade (triforium) is absent from some of the early examples. Piers
are used more frequently than columns in the interiors, and are often
very plain. From an early date the use of a western as well as an
eastern apse seems to have been common in Germany, and high western
facades extending between two towers were features specially met with
in that country. For a notice and