TRANSEPT AND PRESBYTERY
The location and course of the circumference walls of this entire
eastern body of Gozbert's church disclose that its transept did not
project beyond the outer walls of the longitudinal body of the
church, as Hardegger had already surmised (see p. 326, above). The
loss of space incurred by this amputation would have been compensated
by the spatial gain achieved through transfer of the passages
for laymen from transept level to below it.
There are sound topographical reasons why Gozbert might have
preferred an inner transept to one with extended arms. The terrain
of the site to the south of the church was constricted by the capricious
course of the Steinach River. Gozbert, in studying the Plan,
must quickly have seen that on the high ground remaining between
church and river, he had insufficient space to accommodate, in
addition to the cloister, all the service structures to the south of it.
By not extending the transept beyond the aisles of the church, he
could substantially mitigate inadequacies of space owing to the
topography of the monastery site.
The Church of the Plan has an elevated presbytery to which was
annexed, on north and south, the two-storied structures housing
Scriptorium and Library, Sacristy and Vestry. Dr. Sennhauser
found no trace of foundations or their trenches to confirm any
similar dispositions in Gozbert's church. From later sources it must
be inferred that the Carolingian scriptorium lay to the south of the
church, in the cloister. We must therefore deal with the possibility
that Gozbert's presbytery extended the whole width of the structure,
as it did in the Gothic Church (see fig. 511). If this conjecture is
proved correct, it will reveal that Gozbert thus increased, rather
than diminished, the area around the high altar.
W.H.
The Plan of St. Gall
TAILPIECE
END OF VOLUME II
