The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-10-06
strasDOurg Cathedral, CLOCK. Ac.

One of the most lamentabls results of
the siege of Strasbourg, leaving oct of
view the loss of life, says the Hartfort
Tunes, is the injury which the lombard
ment has inflicted upon the noble cathe-
dral and It's wonderful astronomical clock.
The vast cathedral, which, perhaps, NOR
than any other one thing, has made the
name of Strasbourg celebrated, is one of
the finest Gothic buildings in Europe. It
was founded A. D 504. The choir was
built by Charlemagne, probably about
1883 The material of which the cathe-
dral is built is brown stone, very much
resembling our Connecticut Portland free
stone, so extensively used IN Fifth Ave-
nue.. Ii was obtained from a quarry at
Wassebonne, in the valley of Couronne,
few miles from Strasbuurg. The archi-
tect OF, the existing edifice was Erwin Won
Steinbatch, of Baden. One JOHN HuelIs,
of Cologne, was the architect of the peer
less tower. It's spire is the loftiest in the
world Its height, 466 feet, surpasses
st. Peters, and is about equal to that of
the Great Pyramid. The greater part of
the entire structure was DESTROYED by
lightning in 1907, and the restored edifice
was begun in 1O15 and completed in
1889. The cathedral is in every part
richly decorated with sculptures /; and the
western front, rising $50 feet, is. or was,
particularly fine with its wealth of stat
utes, ornamental carvings, and bas-
reliets- 1t has a circular window forty~
eight feet in diameter. The Prussians
heavy artillery has made, it is said, ruin
of part of the vast building.
The astronomical clock, the product of
a German clock maker, In about the year
1850, is a marvel of ingenuity and me-
chanical skill, and has no counterpart.
1t performs not only the ordinary clock,
but exhibits the day, the months and the
years, the progress of the seasons, the
signs of the zodiac, and the names and
movements of the heavenly bodies. At
each quarter hour an angel comes out
and strikes one stroke on a bell at every
hour another angel comes out and strikes
twice and at twelve, meridian, figure
OF Christ appears, accompanied by the
twelve apostles, all of whom move around
a central point and pass in, out of sight,
by another door, the stroke of twelve
being given, and a cock flaps his wings
and crows. The clock is enormous In
size Ike everything else connected with
the vast cathedral. and is invisible from
the outside street.-the spectator passing
through the nave of the cathedral to see
it. 1t has suffered from fire and violence
before the present year, having been out
OF repair and motionless since the revolu-
tion of 1893 until the year 1912. when
1t was repaired by matchmaker of Bas-
Rhin, aad has been in operation since.
1t is to be hoped that this ingenious piece
of mechanism has not been irrepara5ly
injured by the present bombardment.
The loss of the Strasbourg Hbrary-a
vast collection of 500, 900 volumes, in
cluding many collie ctions of rare and curl
Gus monkish parchments-is total and
irreparable. 1t can never be replaced by
any collection hereafter made. 1t was
the slow result of thousand years and
IFS destruction by fire, caused by the
Prussians hot shot, is like the burning of
the Alexandrian library in this, that of a
great number of the works destroyed no
duplicates can ever be obtained.