The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-09-22
The strasbourg Cathedral Clock and Library.

One of the most lamentable results of the
seire of Strasbourg, leaving out of view the loss
of human life, is the injury which the lombard
ment has inflicted upon the noble cathedral and
its wonderful astronomical clock. The vast
cathedral, which, perhaps, more than any other
one thing, has made the name of Strasbourg
celebrated is one of the finest Gothic buildings
in Europe. 1t was founded A. d. 5O4. The
choir was built by Charlemagne: probable
about A. D. 800, though it was not completed
until 1439. The material of which the cathe-
dral is built is brown stone, very much re-
sembling our Connecticut Portland freestone,
so extensively used in Fifth avenue. 1t was
obtained from quarry at Wassebonne, IN the
valley of Couronne, few miles from Stras-
bourg. The architect of the existing edifice was
Erwin Won Steinback, of Baden. One John
Huells, of Cologne, was the architect OF the
peerless tower. Its spire is the lottlest In the
world. Its height, 466 feet, surpasses st. Pc
ter's, and is about equal to that OF the great
Pyramid. The greater part of the entire struc,
ture was destroyed by lightning in 1907, and
the restored edifce was begun in 1Ol5 and COM
pleted in 1439. The cathedral is in every part
richly decorated with sculptures; and the wes-
was. particularly fine with its wealth of statues,
ornamental carvings and bas-reliefs. 1t has a
circular window 48 feet in diameter. The Prus-
sian heavy artillery has made, it is said, ruin
of part of the vast building.
The astronomical clock, the product OF Ger
man clockmaker, in about the year l55O, ls q
marvel of ingenuity and mechanical skill, and
has no counterpart. 1t performs not only the
ordinary service of clock, but exhibits the
days, and the months, and the years; the pro-
cess 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 and strikes twice
and at IL, meridian, figure of Christ appears,
accompanied by the twelve apostles, all ofwhom
move around central point and pass in, out
of sight, by another door, the stroke OF twelve
being given, and cock flaps his wings and
crows The clock is enormous in size, like ev-
erything else connected with the vast cathedral,
and is invisible from the outside street.-the
spectator passing through the nave of the cathe-
dral to see it. It has suffered from fire and
violence before the present year, having been
out of repair and motionless since the revolu-
ton of 1893, until the year 1912, when it was
repaired by matchmaker of Bas-Rhin, and has
been in operation ever since. 1t is to be hoped
that this ingenious piece of mechanism has not
been irreparably injured by the present bonn
bardment.
The loss of the Strasbourg library-a vast
collection of 100000 volumes, including many
collections of rare and curious monkish parch-
ments-is total and irreparable. 1t can never
be replaced by any collection hereafter made:
1t was the slow result of thousand years and
its destruction by fire, caused by the Prussian
hot shot, is like the burning of the Alexandri-
an library in this, that of great number of the
works destroyed no duplicates can ever be OBJ
Times.