Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-02-15
The Vienna Exposition.

|. Liz Pt6aG I6dJur6 III UH0 UullUlng
erected at Vienna for the grand Worlds
Exposition, writes correspondent, is
the Central Industry Palace, with its
immense rotunda, which has been slow
ly growing up under our eyes. The
construction of this, as of all works, has
been topic of supreme interest to all
Viennese and casual visitors during
the whole of the last year, and the
Commissioners have turned that
sympathy to good account by admitting
the public to the ground at a charge of
twenty-five kreutzers on week days and
ten on Sundays, whereby ithas realized
an appreciable amount, since on fine
Sundays as many as twelve and fifteen
thousand visitors paid entrance fee.
Access will, however, be prohibited for
the last month before the opening.
The Palace of Industry, as nearly as
possible, from northwest to southeast,
has total length of 5000 feet. Its
centre line is occupied by nave taking
up the full length, and running 80 feet
in breadth. The original plan devised
was to have all the articles exhibited in
the galleries, with the light falling
upon them horizontally not perpendicu-
larly. This is novel plan of lighting
invented by Herr Hasenauer, which is
expected to answer very much better
than the old system of lighting from
above Only building of all galleries
would be dull and monotonous. In
order to avoid this evil effect the centre
space of the palace has been converted
into colossal rotrlnda, the largest
rooted building in existence or on
record, measuring 800 feet in diameter,
and nearly 800 feet in height. The
354 feet diameter is one unbroken span.
The span nearest approaching it is the
Midland Railway stations at London,
but that only measures $40 feet. The
surmounting dome rests on animmense
iron ring, held together by iron girders,
the whole iron-work of the roof weigh
ing 40, 000tons. The designer'singenuity
was put to a severe test as to the manner
of raising this monstrous load to nearly
800 feet in height The original pro-
ject was to build up the thirty two
pillars first, and then, bit by bit, to
place upon them the girders, weigh
ing eighteen tons each. A different
mode of procedure was, however,
eventually adopted, and has been salts
factorily carried out. The result is
triumph of engineering. 1t took, how
ever, $40 men for nearly three months
to do this work. The central structure
is all iron but, to make safety doubly
so, an outer coating of masonry has
been superadded, and connected with
the exterior by girders. Of the dimen-
sions of the fabric you will have an idea
when told that a regiment of infantry
numbering 400 men could convenient
ly be paraded on the architectural
cornice which runs round the inside
where the roof joins the columns. The
roof is conical in shape, and is sur
mounted in it's centre by double Ian
tern, the brow of which is 100 feet in
diameter, and 40 feet inheight, narrow
ing once more into second conical
roof, from which springs up smaller
lantern, bearing on its pinnacle the
Imperial Grown of Austria. The roof
is from the outside, architecturally, the
principal establishment of the struc-
ture. The rotunda contains galleries
all round intended for exhibits. 1t is
surrounded by quadrangular block of
buildings, bisected by the nave, which
in it's southeast and northwest extern
sion is intersected byfourteGn transepts
opening out both ways, each section
247 feet long and 80 feet broad. These
transepts contian, next to the rotunda.
the principal exhibition-room. They
have all of them separate entrances
from the gardens, and are allotted each
to particular country, the name of
which is inscribed in large letters both
en- the inside and the outside so as to
be visible from afar. The arrangement
has been ingeniously made so as to
appoint the easternmost gallery TO
Japan and the western to the United
States, the intermediate countries rang
ing between, according to their
geographical position.