other far places to adorn the church.  In 1065 we read that the Pope received under his protection the Chapter and Canons of Pisa.  The Cathedral was finished in about thirty years, and was consecrated by Pope Gelasius II in 1118.  The architects, two dim names still to be read on the facade ever kissed by the setting sun, were Rainaldus and Busketus.  They built in that Pisan style which, as some of us may think, was never equalled till Bramante and his disciples dreamed of St. Peter’s and built the little church at Todi, and S. Pietro in Montorio.  However this may be, the Duomo of Pisa, the first modern cathedral of Italy, was to be the pattern of many a church built later in the contado, and even in Lucca and Pistoja and the country round about.  It was a style at once splendid and devout, not forgetful of the Roman Empire, yet with new thoughts concerning it, so that where a Roman building had once really stood, now a Latin Church should stand, white with marble and glistening with precious stones.  It is strange to find in this far-away piazza the great buildings of the city; and stranger still, when we remember that S. Reparata, the church that was destroyed to make room for the Duomo, was called S. Reparata in Palude, in the swamp.  It may be that Pisa was less open to attack on this side, or that this being the highest spot near the city, a flood was less to be feared.  But there were other foes beside the flood and the enemy, for the church was damaged by fire in 1595, and was restored in 1604.

The Duomo is a basilica with nave and double aisles[55], with a transept flanked with aisles, covered by a dome over the crossing.  Built all of white marble, that has faded to the tone of old ivory, it is ornamented with black and coloured bands, and stands on a beautiful marble platform in the grass of a meadow.  It is, however, the facade that is the most splendid and beautiful part of the church.  It consists of seven round arches; in the centre and in each alternate arch is a door of bronze made by Giovanni da Bologna in 1602.  Above these arches is the first tier of columns, eighteen in number, of various coloured marbles, supporting the round arches of the first storey; above, the roof of the aisles slopes gradually inwards, and is supported again by a tier of pillars of various marbles, while above rise two other tiers supporting the roof of the nave.  On the corners of the church and on the corners of the nave are figures of saints, while above all, on the cusp of the facade, stands Madonna with Her Son in Her arms.  The door in the south transept is by Bonannus, whose great doors were destroyed in 1595.