Note 233 — Chapter IV · NEO-BYZANTINE STYLE.

[This rule cannot be made a hard and fast one. Procopius states that in the central dome of the Church of the Apostles, Constantinople, “the circular building standing above the arches is pierced with windows, and the spherical dome which over-arches it seems to be suspended in the air.” In the church of St. Sergius at Constantinople the walls of the octagon, which are pierced with windows, are carried up to the vault, and in the church of Sta. Sophia at Thessalonica the windows are pierced in an upright dome cylindrical internally. In all these cases, however, there is a marked distinction between these examples and those of the lofty cylindrical drums which were employed in the Neo-Byzantine churches. Mr. Fergusson’s rule, therefore, with these exceptions, may be taken as absolute.—Ed.]