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The attraction of S. Quirico is its gem-like little collegiata, a Lombard church of the ninth century, with carved portals of the thirteenth. It is built of golden travertine; some details in brown sandstone. The western and southern portals have pillars resting on the backs of lions. On the western side these pillars are four slender columns, linked by snake-like ligatures.
Vinci executed a statue of travertine, three braccia and a half in height, which was much extolled by everyone; for at the feet of the figure he placed a little child, who assists her to support the Cornucopia, carved with much softness and facility, although the stone is rough and difficult to work.
The size of the masses of travertine of which it is composed is in harmony with the immense magnitude of the building. It is hardly to be wondered at that a people which constructed such works for their daily sports, for their usual amusements, should have possessed strength, enduring energy, and perseverance sufficient to enable them to conquer the world.
I shall have fond and enduring memories of that sanctuary the travertine of its artfully carven fabric glowing orange-tawny in the sunset; of the forsaken plain beyond, full of ghostly phantoms of the past. As for Manfredonia it is a sad little place, when the south wind moans and mountains are veiled in mists. Venosa, nowadays, lies off the beaten track.
After the death of Clement, when Cardinal Farnese was elected supreme Pontiff under the title of Paul III, Antonio, having been the friend of the Pope while he was a Cardinal, came into even greater credit; and His Holiness, having created his son, Signor Pier Luigi, Duke of Castro, sent Antonio to make the designs of the fortress which that Duke caused to be founded in that place; of the palace, called the Osteria, that is on the Piazza; and of the Mint, built of travertine after the manner of that in Rome, which is in the same place.
Central doorway of Palace of Liberal Arts, rosetta or rose-window effect in semi-circular space above door; orange light through lattice work of door. Court of Palms Court of Palms, illumination of towers from searchlights. Only direct light, from single white globes painted to imitate Travertine, and Roman hanging lamps around in corridors; faint red shines through from below.
The upper part was a mixture of light tufa and the leaves of confervae; below this was a darker and more solid travertine, containing black and decomposed masses of confervae; in the inferior part the travertine was more solid and of a grey colour, but with cavities which I have no doubt were produced by the decomposition of vegetable matter.
On reaching the surface the pressure is relieved, the gas escapes, and the lime carbonate is thrown down in deposits called TRAVERTINE. The gas is sometimes withdrawn and the deposit produced in large part by the action of algae and other humble forms of plant life.
At Canstadt near Stuttgart, loess resembling that of the Rhine contains many fossil bones, especially those of Elephas primigenius, together with some of Rhinoceros tichorhinus, the species having been lately determined by Dr. Falconer. At this place the loess is covered by a thick bed of travertine, used as a building stone, the product of a mineral spring.
Guerin decided, first, that the basic material of the buildings should be an imitation of the travertine of ancient Roman palaces.
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