The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-09-29
PALACE OF POPES
The French Government Win Re.
store the Famous Structure
at Avignon.

at Avignon.
| NOW OCCUPIED BY TROOPS
While the Walls Are Still Strong
It's Interior Has Been Sadly
Marred.
A great deal of interest has been ar
reused by the announcement on the 22d
of August of the decision Of the French
Government to appropriate consider.
able amount of money, which is to be
added to that already raised by private
subscription TO be. applied to the restora-
tion of the palace of the Popes at Avig-
non.
M. Leygues, Minister of Public In
struction and of the Arts, has given
much attention to. the matter of rescu-
ing from it's present critical condition
this magnificent monument that every
Catholic in the world must look upon
with a certain degree of reverence as
having been the home of nine Popes,
and which has been the scene of so many
events that stand out with prominence
in the history of the Catholic Church.
The palace is in an excellent state OF
preservation so far as the actual con-
atruction is concerned; it's walls are firm
and its apartments are well preserved,
but it is occupied by detachment of
French troops, and the beautiful mural
decorations and the magnificent oolored
frescoee with which it was o:namented by
the various Popes have been more or less
injured by the carelessness OF the troops
and by the reckless indifference and Of
ton the vlciousness of the sightseers who
have visited the place.
The enormous towers that raise their
great height above the roof Of the palace
proper show no signs of weakening or
decay, and as the entire structure is
founded upon an immense rock, it is
doubtful that it would ever be destroyed.
Aside from the religious atmosphere
that surrounds this enormous pile and
which must attract all Catholics, there is
an historical and artistic quality associ'
ated with it that makes it precious to
those of other creeds. It embodiea 8
variety of styles that provide patterns
for modern artists, and yet from the time
of the last Pope in Avignon in 1887 until
1885 no effort was made to preserve the
priceless relics that still cling to the
walls and ceilings of this great building.
In this latter year Eugene Muntx did
what was in his individual power to res
cue these freecoes and ornamentations
from the iconoclastic hands of occu-
pants.
The Court of Honor, at one time a
space in the centre of the palace, has
been terribly maltreated through the
establishment in it of barrlcks and out
houses for horses and soldiers, and when
an injury has been done to a window or
plaster or other piece of the original
structure, it has been repaired without
any thought Of the style that distin-
guished it in the beginning, so that to-
day Roman window or modern
French or Gothic one may be next to
one of the original windows in the purest
renaissance. The top of one window
may be square and another oval; there is
no symmetry, no motive, no regularity
preserved in the slightest degree. The
court is two thousand square yards in
extent.
The salon of the consistory. q noble
room, where the grand receptions Of the
Popes were given, is to day disRgured by
wooden partitions, which divide it into
two large and several smaller apart.
ments, one of them being occupied as q
din1np-room for the garrison. Five gi-
gantic pillars, each measuring two yards
in diameter, support the arches. These
are now marked with the dirt and bruises
of five hundred years. They are used az
the resting place Of modern arms, and
tables are put around some of them, at
which the men sit and polish their sa'
bers or their rifles, or do other work 60
likely to mar their still remaining beau
ty.
of marble, has been robbed of these, and
they are replaced with wood. The mar.
BILE. it is said, was taken to Paris, where
it's beautiful quality made it valuable for
certain kinds Of art work.
On the gallery of the conclave, which
ia most delicatelY and lavlshly adorned
with slender Gothic figures and furnished
with cells formerly occupied by the
Cardinals, the officers Of the garrison
have established their private bureaus
and above the door to the first cell
which tradition says was held sacred to
the Popes themselves, there is now gill
sign against 8 blue background, which
reads. & ,zsss q.3
So -. -.