Base and capital from the Cathedral of St. Miniato al monte near Florence.
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Church of the Apostles at Florence; ninth century.
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20. Plan of the Church of St. Miniato al Monte near Florence, rebuilt at the commencement of the eleventh century, in the year 1013, by Bishop Hildebrand, and under the reign of the Emperor St. Henry.
21. Detail of one of the transparent marble slabs of the five large windows of the apsis of the church used in the place of glass. This marble is a kind of violet Breccia, the white parts only being perfectly transparent, the violet parts opaque. Targioni imagined it to be the phengites of Pliny. These slabs are in a single piece, ten feet high, two and a half feet wide, and several inches thick; they are fixed, not made to open. It appears that formerly the three small windows of the same were furnished with similar slabs, as also the two large arcades now walled up, which are seen between the three entrance doors of the façade of the church. The cathedral of the island of Torcello has also windows of this kind. This manner of lighting the sacred edifices, a great many examples of which still exist in the ancient churches of Tuscany, and in still greater numbers in the East, was probably initiated from the antique. 0864
22. Profile of the entablature round the choir and apsis, above the arcades shown in section no. 27.
23. Longitudinal section of the Confession under the choir.
24. Base and capital from the interior of this church. Most of these capitals are unequal, and appear to be taken from more ancient buildings; some of them are antique, and amongst those of the choir is a very fine composite column.
25. Portions of the cornice round the upper part of the façade, no. 28.
26. Plan of the subterranean church, or Confession, under the choirs of St. Minato; it is supported by a number of small columns which appear to be antique.
27. Transverse section of the church. The semi-dome of the apsis is adorned with paintings in mosaic, amongst them a head of the Saviour.
28. Façade of St. Miniato. The decorations of the façade, of the interior of the church, and above all of the apsis, very sensibly resemble the Church of the Apostles at Florence, and the baptistery of St. John of the same city.
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Façade of the Church of St. Miniato al Monte near Florence.
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