The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brochure Series Of Architectural
Illustration, Vol 1, No. 2. February 1895., by Various

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Title: The Brochure Series Of Architectural Illustration, Vol 1, No. 2. February 1895.
Byzantine-Romanesque Doorways in Southern Italy

Author: Various

Release Date: February 17, 2005 [EBook #15091]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: IX. The Principal Doorway to the Cathedral at Trani, Italy.]

THE BROCHURE SERIES

OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.

VOL. I. FEBRUARY, 1895. No. 2.

* * * * *

BYZANTINE-ROMANESQUE DOORWAYS IN SOUTHERN ITALY.

The illustrations chosen for this issue are all from the Byzantine
Romanesque work in the province of Apulia, that portion of Southern
Italy familiar in school-boy memory as the heel of the boot. Writers
upon architecture have found it difficult to strictly classify the
buildings of this neighborhood, as in fact is the case with most of the
medieval architecture of Italy, although the influences which have
brought about the conditions here seen are in the main plainly evident.
The traditions and surroundings, of Roman origin, were modified by trade
and association with the Levant through the commerce of Venice and Pisa,
resulting in a style embodying many of the characteristics of both the
Romans and the builders of Byzantium. Oftentimes these characteristics
are so blended and modified by one another as to be entirely
indistinguishable, while at other times features unquestionably
belonging to the Romanesque or the Byzantine will be found side by side.
An illustration of the latter condition may be seen in the two views of
the doorway to the cathedral of Trani. (Plates IX. and X.) On account of
the intimate relations maintained during the Middle Ages between this
province and Magna Grecia, and it may be partly on account of the
comparative remoteness from the principal cities of the north, the
Byzantine influence is here more strongly marked