Beneath the compartment is a row of very
fantastic bracket-heads, supposed to represent the Vices. Above it is
a canopy with sculptured medallions on the under-surface, where the
symbolical Lamb may be recognised amongst winged dragons and other
monsters. Close to these is a monkey playing on the violin. Above this
canopy is another, shaped like a low gable, and forming the upper frame of
a further set of figures in relief, larger than those in the compartment
below. The central and highest figure is that of Christ teaching. The
Virgin is kneeling on the right, and St. John on the left. St. Paul is
shown with the book of his Epistles, and St. Peter, wearing a bishop's
mitre, is holding his keys. Among other details of this curious facade
is the figure of a kneeling knight in a coat of mail. Upon the exterior
side-walls are Roman arches _en saillie_, resting upon corbels and very
wide pilaster-strips that are almost buttresses. In the interior, the
Byzantine influence is very apparent in the three domes, which combine with
the Gothic vaulting of the narrow, dimly-lighted nave. The main walls are
carried so high as to hide the roof of the domes, and this goes far to give
to the church that air of a mediaeval fortress which at once impresses the
beholder.
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