The Cruise of the Branwen

CRUISE OF THE BRANWEN the sea is the Campanile of the Duomo, which was being restored when we were there. The original circular building to which it is attached was probably the Temple of Jupiter, unless Diocle– tian built it for his own tomb. The dome is raised on a succession of relieving arches of brick– work, arranged like scales to half-way up, and then finished in concentric courses of brick, which may once have had a central eye at the top, like the Parthenon, though the Romanesque finial on the apex of the roof outside is certainly as old as the thirteenth century. The stately columns that stand round the interior, and give the same impression of solemnity and strength as does the choir of some cathedrals, are here not essential to the construction at all, for they only support the projecting returns of the two en– tablatures. Clear of these columns the diameter of the whole building is only 35 feet 3 inches, and the space is reduced still further by two Gothic canopied shrines of the fifteenth century on each side of the high altar, and by a fine pulpit of limestone and marble, made in the early thirteenth century, which is one of the best pieces of pure Romanesque in the world. The great doors are magnificently carved, by an artist of Spalato in about I 214., with gilt relief on a red ground, and a border of Romanesque knotwork round the fourteen panels. They present the earliest and one of the finest specimens of medireval wood– work in existence. The choir stalls of the same date, with splendid ramping lions at the end, and lattice-work panels, are also extremely good. 164