The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1870-10-13
The StrasbOuFg Cathedral Clock
and LtbrarVs

/ AMG SsEdsSODtAFts Lsl1m eGFlBA CLOCK
and Library.
One of the most lamentable results
Of the siege of Strasboufg, leaving out
OF view the loss of human life, is the
injpry which the bombardment has
inflicted upon the noble cathedral and
ITS wonderful astronomical clock
The vast cathedral, which, perhaps,
has made the name Of StrasbOure eel
ebrated. is -One Of the finest Gothis
buildings in Europe. 1t was founded
AsD. E04. The choir was built by
-Charlemange, probably about A. D.
oOO, though it was not completed un-
til the year 1439. The material 81
which the cathedral is built is q brown
stOnej very much resembling our Con-
necticut Portland freestone,- so extern
sively used in Fifth avenue. It was
obtained from 4 quarry at Wasssl
bone, in the valley of Courronne, x
few miles from StrasbOurg. The ar
cbitect Of the existing edifce was Er;
win Won Steinbach, of Baden.
One John Huells, Of Cologne; was
the architect Of the peerless tower
Its spire is the lOftiest in the world.
Its height, 466 feet, surpasses st. Pc
ter's, aud 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
editice was beguh ia 1918, and COM
plsted in 1899. The cathedral is in
every part richly decorated with
sculptures; and the western front ris-
ing to height of 23O feet, is, or was,
particularly fine, with its wealth Of
statues, ornamental carvings, and
bas-reliefs. 1t has a circular vim
dow, forty feet in diameter. The
Prussian heavy artilley has made, it
is said, ruin Of part Of tho vast build
ing.
The astronomical clock, the product
Of German clockmaker, in about the
year 1860, is a marvel of ingenuity
and mechanical skill, and has no
counterpart. 1t performs not only
the ordinary service of a clock, but
exhibits the days, and the months;
and the years the process Of the sea-
sons ; the signs Of the zodiac, and the
names and movements of the heav-
enly bodies. At each quarter-hOur an
angel comes out and strikes one stroke
on bell at every hour another angel
comes and strikes twice and at II me-
ridiah, a figure of Christ appears,
accompanied by the twelve apostles,
all of whom move around a central
point and pass out of sight, by another
door, the stroke Oftwelve being given,
and cock flaps his wings and
crows.
The clock is enormUusiH size, 1iks
everything else connected with this
vast cathedral, and is invisible from
the outside street.-The spectator pass.
ing through the nave of the cathedral
to see it. It has suffered from FIRE
and violence before the present year,
having been out of repair and notion
less since the revolution of 1898, until
the year 1842, when it was repaired
by a matchmaker of Bas Rhin, and
has been in operation since. 1t is to
be hoped that this ingenious piece Of
mechanism has not been irreparably
injured by the present bombardment.
The loss of the Strasbourg li6rary-a
vast collection of 800,000volumes, in
cluding many rare and curious monk
ish parchmonts-is total and irrepar-
able. 1t can never be replaced by
any collection hereafter made. 1t
was the slow result of a thousand
years and its destruction by fire,
caused by the Prussian hot shot, is
like the burning Of the Alexandrian
library in this, that of great number
of the works destroyed no other coP-
les can ever be obtained.