CHAPTER III.CIRCULAR CHURCHES.

CONTENTS.

Aix-la-Chapelle—Nymwegen—Fulda—Bonn—Cobern.

Ifwe are fortunate in having the St. Gall plan and Reichenau cathedral with which to begin our history of the basilican-formed churches in Germany, we are equally lucky in having in the Dom at Aix-la-Chapelle an authentic example of a circular church of the same age. As Emperor of the Romans, Charlemagne seems to have felt it necessary that he should have a tomb which should rival that of Augustus or Hadrian, while, as he was a Christian, it should follow the form of that of Constantine, or the most approved model of the circular church, which was that which had been elaborated not very long before at Ravenna. Though its design may have been influenced by Romano-Byzantine examples to some extent, the general arrangement of the building, and its details exhibit an originality which is very remarkable. The mode in which the internal octagon is converted into a polygon of sixteen sides, the arrangement of the vaults in both storeys, and the whole design, are so purely Romanesque in form, that it must be far from being the first example of its style. It is, however, the oldest we possess, as well as the most interesting. It was built by the greatest man of his age, and more emperors have been crowned and more important events have happened beneath its venerable vaults than have been witnessed within the walls of any existing church in Christendom. Notwithstanding the doubts that have been thrown lately on the fact, I feel convinced that we now possess the church of Charlemagne in all essential respects as he left it.[70]The great difficulty in fixing its age appears to arise from the circumstance that most of its architectural ornaments have been painted or executed in mosaic, instead of being carved, and time and whitewash have so obliteratedthese, that the remaining skeleton—it is little else—seems ruder and clumsier than might be expected.

As will be seen from the annexed plan, the church is externally a polygon of sixteen sides, and is about 105 ft. in diameter; internally eight compound piers support a dome 47 ft. 6 in. in diameter. The height is almost exactly equal to the external diameter of the building. Internally this height is divided into four storeys; the two lower, running over the side-aisles, are covered with bold intersecting vaults. The third gallery was vaulted with rampant conical vaults, and above that are eight windows giving light to the central dome.

Half Plan Gallery Floor.Half Plan Lower Storey.724. Plan of the Church at Aix-la-Chapelle. (From J. von Nolten.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

To the west was a bold tower-like building, flanked, as is usual in this style, by two circular towers containing staircases. To the east was a semicircular niche containing the altar, which was removed in 1353, when the present choir was built to replace it.

There is a tradition that Otho III. rebuilt this minster, though it is more probable that he built for himself a tomb-house behind the altar of that of his illustrious predecessor, where his bones were laid, and where his tomb till lately stood at the spot marked X in the centre of the new choir. What the architect seems to have done in the 14th century was to throw the two buildings into one, retaining the outline of Otho’s tomb-house, which may still be detected in the unusual form shown in the plan of the new building.

The tradition is that this building is a copy of the church of San Vitale at Ravenna, and on comparing its plan with that represented in Woodcut No. 429, it must be admitted that there is a considerable resemblance. But there is a bold originality in the German edifice, and a purpose in its design, that would lead us rather to consider it as one of a long series of similar buildings which there is every reason to believe existed in Germany in that age. At the same time the design of this one was no doubt considerably influenced by the knowledge of the Romano-Byzantine examples of its class which its builders had acquired at Rome and Ravenna. Its being designed by its founder for his tomb is quite sufficient to account for its circular plan—that, as has been frequently remarked, being the form always adopted for this purpose. It may be considered to have been also a baptistery—the coronation of kings in those days being regarded as a re-baptism on the entrance of the king upon a new sphere of life. Itwas in fact a ceremonial church, as distinct in its uses as in its form from the basilica, which in Italy usually accompanied the circular church; but whether it did so or not in this instance can only be ascertained when the spot and its annals are far more carefully examined than has hitherto been the case.

725. Church at Nymwegen. (From Schayes.) No scale.

725a. The Thurm, Mettlach.

725b. Column of Triforium, Mettlach.

The circular churches at Nymwegen in Brabant and at Mettlach near Trèves are even less known than this one; the former was apparently built in imitation of Aix-la-Chapelle, and by the same monarch. From the half-section, half-elevation (Woodcut No.725),[71]it will be seen that it is extremely similar to the one just described, both in plan and elevation, but evidently of a somewhat more modern date. It wants the façade which usually adorned churches of that age; but it seems so unaltered from its original arrangement that it is well worthy of more attention than it has hitherto received. The example at Mettlach (Woodcut No.725a), near Trèves, and known as the Thurm, was built by Lioffinus, a British monk, 987-990. It is octagonal in plan, with a triforium gallery, the arches of which are carried on richly carved cubical capitals (Woodcut No.725b). Thebuilding is 32 ft. in diameter and 61 ft. high, there being a third storey above the triforium gallery.

The same design as that of Nymwegen was repeated in the choir of the nuns in the abbey church of Essen (c. 950A.D.), where, however, there is a double range of columns in the upper gallery.

Of the church of Otho the Great at Magdeburg we know nothing but from a model in stone, about 12 ft. in diameter, still existing in the present cathedral, and containing sitting effigies of Otho and his English Edith, who were buried in the original edifice. The model unfortunately was made in the 13th century, when the original was burnt down; and as the artists in that day were singularly bad copyists, we cannot depend much on the resemblance. It appears, however, to have been a polygon of sixteen sides externally, like the two just mentioned; and if it is correct to assume, as was generally the case, that the choir of the present cathedral is built on the foundation of the older church, its dimensions must have been nearly similar, or only slightly inferior to those of either of the two last-mentioned churches. The details of the model belong to the age in which it was made, and not to that of the church it was meant to represent.

At Ottmarsheim, in Alsace, is another example which, both in design and dimensions, is a direct copy of the church at Aix-la-Chapelle. The only difference in plan is that it remains an octagon externally as well as internally, and that the gallery arches, instead of being filled with a screen of classical pillars borrowed from Italy, are ornamented with shafts supporting eight arches designed for the place. There is no tradition which tells us who built this church, nor for what purpose it was erected. It is older than that at Nymwegen, but is certainly a copy of Charlemagne’s church, and apparently not very much more modern.

At the Petersberg, near Halle, is a curious compound example shown in the Woodcut No.726. It is a ruin, but interesting as showing another form of circular church, differing from those described above, more essentially German in design, and less influenced by classical and Romanesque forms than they were. It never was or could have been vaulted, and it possesses that singular flat tower-like frontispiece so characteristic of the German style, which is found in no other country, and whose origin is still to be traced.

At Fulda there is a circular church of a more complicated plan than this, though it is in fact only an extension of the same design. The circular part or choir is in this instance adorned with eight free-standing pillars of very classical proportions and design, very similar to those of Hildesheim (Woodcut No.699). There is a small transeptal entrance on one side of the circle, and apparently a vestry to correspond on the other. It is altogether one of the most perfect buildings of its class, either in Germany or France, in so far at least as its plan is concerned. Its date is probably the beginning of the 11th century, but it stands on a circular crypt of still more ancient date.[72]

726. Church at Petersberg. (From Puttrich.)

727. Plan of Church at Fulda. (From Puttrich.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

At Drüggelte, near Soest, there is a small circular church which deserves notice for the singularity of its plan. Externally it is a polygon of twelve sides. Internally it has four circular piers in the centre, two very large and strong, two more slender, and around them a circle of twelve columns of very attenuated form. As is usual in German churches, the door and apse are not placed symmetrically as regards each other. Its dimensions are small, being only 35 ft. across internally. The German architects are not quite agreed as to its date; generally it is said that its founder brought the plan from the Holy Land, and built it here early in the 12th century in imitation of the Rotunda which the Crusaders found on their arrival in Jerusalem.

728. Plan of Church at Drüggelte. (From Kugler.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Though it is anticipating to some extent the order of the dates of the buildings of Germany, it may be as well to complete herethe subject of the circular churches of that country; for after the beginning of the 11th century they ceased to be used except in rare and isolated instances. At that date all the barbarian tribes had been converted, and the baptism of infants was a far less important ceremony than the admission of adults into the bosom of the Church, and one not requiring a separate edifice for its celebration, and tombs had long since ceased to be objects of ambition among a purely Aryan race. At the same time the immense increase of the ecclesiastical orders, and liturgical forms then established, rendered the circular form of church inconvenient and inapplicable to the wants of the age. The basilica, on the other hand, was equally sacred with the baptistery, and soon came to be considered equally applicable to the entombment of emperors and to other similar purposes.

The circular church called the Baptistery at Bonn (Woodcut No.729), which was removed only a few years ago, was one of the most interesting specimens of this class of monuments in the age to which it belongs. No record of its erection has been preserved, but its style is evidently of the 11th century. Excepting that the straight or rectangular part is here used as a porch, instead of being inserted between the apse and the round church to form a choir, the building is almost identical with St. Tomaso in Limine, and other Lombard churches of the same age. Both externally and internally it is certainly a pleasing and elegant form of church, though little adapted either for the accommodation of a large congregation or to the ceremonies of the Mediæval Church.

729. Baptistery at Bonn. (From Boisserée’s ‘Nieder Rhein.’)

There is another small edifice called a Baptistery at Ratisbon, built in the last years of the 12th century, which shows this formpassing rapidly away, and changing into the rectangular. It is in reality a square with apses on three sides, and vaulted with an octagonal dome. As we have just seen, the same arrangement forms the principal as well as the most pleasing characteristic of the Cologne churches, where on a larger scale it shows capabilities which we cannot but regret were never carried to their legitimate termination. The present is a singularly pleasing specimen of the class, though very small, and wanting the nave, the addition of which gives such value to the triapsal form at Cologne, and shows how gracefully its lines inevitably group together. On the spot it is still called the Baptistery; but the correct tradition, I believe, is that it was built for the tomb-house of the bishop to whom it owes its erection.

730. The Matthias Chapel at Cobern on the Moselle. (From Wiebeking.) No scale.

One more specimen will serve to illustrate nearly all the known forms of this class. It is a little chapel at Cobern on the Moselle (Woodcut No.730), hexagonal in plan, with an apse, placed most unsymmetrically with reference to the entrance—so at least we should consider it; but the Germans seem always to have been of opinion thata side entrance was preferable to one opposite the principal point of interest. The details of this chapel are remarkably elegant, and its external form is a very favourable specimen of the German style just before it was superseded in the beginning of the 13th century by the French pointed style.

There is, besides these, a circular chapel of uncertain date at Altenfurt near Nuremberg, and there are many others at Prague and in various parts of Germany, but none remarkable either for their historical or for their artistic importance. This form went out of use before the style we are describing reached its acmé; and it had not therefore a fair chance of receiving that elaboration which was necessary for the development of its capabilities.

A little farther on we shall have occasion again to take up the subject of circular churches when speaking of those of Scandinavia, where the circular form prevailed to a great extent in the early ages of Christianity in that country; never, however, as a baptistery or a tomb-house, but always as a kirk. It was afterwards introduced by the Danes into Norfolk and Suffolk, but there still farther modified, becoming only a western round tower, instead of a circular nave.

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