Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/41

iiK. IV. Ch. II. CHURCHES AT COLOGNE. 25 the whole design somewliat wire-drawn, while there is a solidity and repose about the design of the Apostles' Church, and a perfect har- mony among the parts, which we miss in the more modern examples. These three churches, taken together, suffice probably to illustrate suf- ficiently the nature and ca- pabilities of the style which we are describing. The triapsal arrangement pos- sesses in a remarkable de- gree the architectural pro- priety of terminating nobly the interior to which it is applied. As the worship- per advances up the nave, the three apses open grad- ually u]»on him, and form a noble and a2)propriate climax without the effect being destroyed by some- thing less magnificent be- yond. But their most pleasing effect is external where the three simple cir- cular lines combine grace- fully together, and form an elegant basement for any central dome or tower. Compared with the con- fused buttresses and pin- nacles of the apses of the French pointed churches, it must certainly be ad- mitted that the German designs are far nobler, as possessing more architec- tural propriety and more of the elements of true and simple beauty. The churches which possess this feature are small, it is true, and therefore it is hardly fair to compare them with such imposing edifices as the great and overpoweringly magnificent cathedral of the same town ; but among buildings on their own scale they are as yet unrivalled. As these churches now stand, their effect is to some extent marred by 474. Apse of St. Afartin's Church at Cologne. Boissert^e.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. (From