The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-05-11
THE CUPOLA OF ST. PETERS.

from 'ROme: It's Churches, ats Charities, and ats
Schools'
We resolved to-day to take another view of ST
Peters, The ascent to the cupOla is as we have al
ready observed, of the easiest description, being
nearly an inclined plane. From the cupola alone
can have true idea of the immense extent of
ST. Peters. The fourteen figures of the Apostles
our Saviour, and st. John the Babtist which from
the piazza, appear to be of the ordinary height are
in reality, nearly 20 feet high. On the roof live
those wOrkmen who employed in the repairs of
the buildings, for large sum of money is spent
every year to keep the Basca in its present state
From the interior of the cupOla the view of the
church is really deceptive.
What appeared to you so large and so wondrous
is now dwindled away to almost nothing. You
seem to be in the church triumphant raised above
the things of earth, where those things that have
once appeared to You wonbrous and so great,
will be then brought down to a mere nothing Be
meath you is the tomb of the Apostles, and its
wondrous canopy, which now appears to you quite
small The altar of IS. Processus and Martinianus,
the Jaers OF st. Peter and ST. Paul in the Manner
tine prison. appear to you still smaller; but YOU
recognize the power of religion which has effaced
the sins of those who once the prosecutors of
Its apostles, and now re-unites them in the same
glorious temple, and pays the same exalted honOrs
to them as it does to those whom they prosecuted.
As we proceed still higher up, we come to the ex-
terror, on the top of the cupola, before entering the
stairs which lead to the ball. How noble the pros
pect which is presented to you from this what
panorama of the Eternal City and of the distant
mountains on OneJ side, and of the blue Mediterra-
mean on the other, is now before you All seem as
it were, by the hand of the Magician to be reduced
to diminished scale. The Vatican palace and its
gardens, the piazza and its fountains present an ap-
pearance of being brought to their present size by
some invisible power. The view of every thing is
so deceptive, that you seem almost to be laboring
under some delusion and you cannot trust your eve
sight; but to ascend the ball. this is the work. We
enter room, after short ascent from which lad
der, made of; iron, placed almost perpendicuarly,
leads to the ball.
For those who of large dimensions, the ascent
will be rather difficult. One of your companions,
of rather beyond the average dimensions, took off
his coat and wastcoat to try and enter into the
ball In the midst of his AERIAL course he sticks fast,
and he can neither come down go up. Some
drag him by the hands, others push him by the
feet but to purpose, and he at last has to descend
without being able to enter into the ball. an honor
he wished to accomplish. The ball is eight feet
and one inch in diameter and can contain sixteen
persons The cross above the ball is fourteen feet
high. The effect produced by the lighting of 1000
lamps, and afterwards of 800 fambeaus, is truly as
tonishing, and presents this glorious structure, on
the nights of its illumination in its full glory.