As I Have Said, It Is Of Pure
Lombard Architecture, And Very Good Of Its Kind; I Do Not Think It
Has Been Touched Since The Beginning Of The Eleventh Century,
Except That It Has Been Re-Roofed And The Pitch Of The Roof
Altered.
At the base of the most westerly of the three piers that
divide the nave from the aisles, there crops out a small piece of
the living rock; this is at the end farthest from the choir.
It is
not likely that Giovanni Vincenzo's church reached east of this
point, for from this point onwards towards the choir the floor is
artificially supported, and the supporting structure is due
entirely to Hugo de Montboissier. The part of the original church
which still remains is perhaps the wall, which forms the western
limit of the present church. This wall is not external. It forms
the eastern wall of a large chamber with frescoes. I am not sure
that this chamber does not occupy the whole space of the original
church.
There are a few nice votive pictures in the church, and one or two
very early frescoes, which are not without interest; but the main
charm of the place is in the architecture, and the sense at once of
age and strength which it produces. The stock things to see are
the vaults in which many of the members of the royal house of
Savoy, legitimate and illegitimate, lie buried; they need not,
however, be seen.
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