Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/420

404 ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE. Part II. pretty than grand, and as an architectural display falls far short of the bolder masonic expression of the Northern Gothic churches. After these, one of the most important churches of that age in the island is the cathedral of Cefalu, already alluded to. It was com- menced by King Roger in 1131. It is 230 ft. long by 90 ft. wide. The choir and transepts are vaulted and groined ; the nave has a wooden roof; all the arches are pointed; and with its two western towers it displays more Gothic feeling than an other church in Sicily, 834. East End of Eathedral at Palermo. (From Boseugarten.) The cathedral at Messina, though closely resembling that at Mon- reale in plan, has been so altered and rebuilt as to retain very little of its original architecture. The other churches in the island are either small or insignificant, or, like that at Messina, have been so altered that their features are obliterated. Besides the Saracenic castles or ])alaces above mentioned, there are no important civil buildings of Mediaeval style in Sicily. There are two cloisters — one at Monreale and the other at Cefalu — both in the style universal in all the countries bordering on the Mediter- ranean Sea, and already described in speaking of those of Elne, Fonti- froide, Aries, etc., as well as those of San Giovanni Laterano at Rome.