Bk. II. Ch. VII. NORMANDY. 515 central tower is low and comparatively insignificant, scarcely even aspiring to group with those of the western facade. Intersecting Vaulting. As there are few churches in France which illustrate so completely the difficulties of intersecting vaulting, and the struggle of the Medi- aeval ai-chitects to conquer them, as St. Stephen's, Caen it may add to the clearness of what follows if we pause in our narrative to ex- plain what these were. The churches de- scribed hitherto pos- sessed simple tunnel- vaults, either of round or i)ointed forms, or, having no side-aisles, were roofed with square intersecting vaults of equal dimensions each way. The former plan Avas admissible in the bright South, where light was not so much required ; but the latter expedient de- }»rived the churches of several things which were always felt to be the powerful requisites of an internal ^style of architecture. Without the contrast in height between the central and side aisles, the true effect of the dimen- sions could not be ob- tained. Without the in- --=zri^x^i:i'r"r:~^^..i_"----^-^ ." ternal nillars Tin noptvjf ^'^- "^'estern Facade of St. Stephen, Caen. (From Pugin Leiiuu pmais no poetiy and Britton's " Normandy.") of proportion Avas pos- sible, and without an ambulatory, processions lost their meaning. The compartments of the aisles being square, no difficulty was experienced as regards them; but the central aisle being both higher and wider, it became necessary either to ignore every alternate
