Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1896-09-26
VISIT TO THE VATICAN.
Marion era wford Describes the Great
Papal Palace.


To the average stranger "the vati-
can" suggests only the museum of
sculpture. the picture galleries. and the
Loggic. He remembers, besides the OBJ
jects of art which he has seen, the fact
OF having walked a great distance
through straight corridors, up and
down short flights of marble steps, and
through irrcgularly shaped and unsym-
inetrlcally disposed halls. II he had
any idea of the points of the compass
when he entered, he Is completely con-
fused I'm five minutes, and comes out mt
last with the sensation of having been
walking In labyrinth. He will find u
hard to give any one an impression OF
the sort of a building In which he has
been, and certainly he cannot have any
knowledge of the typographical rela-
lions of Its parts. Yet In his passage
through the museums and galleries he
has seen but very small part OF the
whole, and, excepting when In the Log
gle, he probably could not once have
stood still and pointed in the direction
Of the main part Of the palace.
In order to speak even superncially
Of 1t all, II was indispensable to classify
Its parts In some way. Vast and irregu-
lar II Is at its two ends. toward the col
onnade and toward the bastions OF the
city, but the intervening stretch con-
sists Of two perfectly parallel build
ings, each over $50 yards long, about
80 yards apart, and yOked In the mid
die by the Braccio Nuovo Of the mu-
scum and part Of the library, SO as to
inclose two vast courts, the one known
rs the Reinforcement to bc confused
with the Belvedere In the museum
and the other called the Garden of the
Plgna, from the bronze pine cone which
stands at one end Of II.
Across these parallel buildings, and
toward the city, a huge pile Is erected,
about two hundred yards long, very IT.
regular, and containing the Papal resi-.
dence and the apartments Of several
cardinals, the Slstine Chapel. the Paul
inc Chapel. the Borgia Tower, the
Stance ana Loggic Of Raphael, and the
court Of st. Damascus. At the other
end Of the parallelogram IRE grouped
the equally irregular but more beauti-
full buildings Of the old museum, OF
which the windows look out over the
walls Of tho city, and which originally
received the name Of Belvederc on &C.
count Of the lovely view. This Is said
to have been sort Of summer-house OF
the Borgla, not then connected with the
palace by the long galleries.
1t would be hopeless and weary
task to attempt to trace the history OF
the buildings. The Pope's private
apartments occupy the eastern wing OF
the part built round the court OF st.
Damascus; that Is to say, they are mt
the extreme end of the Vatican, nearest
the city. and over the colonnade, and
the windows of the Pope's rooms are
visible from the square. The vast mass
which rises above the columns to the
right Of st. Peters Il only small part
Of the whole palace. but Is not the most
modern by any means. 1t contains. for
instance. the Sistine Chapel. which II
considerably older than the present
church. having been built by Sixtus
w.. whose beautiful bronze monument
Is In the Chapel Of the Sacrament. 1t
contains. too. Raphael's Stance, or
halls, and Bramante's famous Loggic,
the beautiful architecture Of which
Ia a frame for some Of Raphael's best
work.
But any good guide-book will furnish
all such Information, which 1t would
be frultless to give In such a paper as
this. In rhe pages Of Murray the trav.
aler will And. set down In order and &c.
curately. me ages. the dimensions, and
the exact positions Of all the parts Of
the building, with the names Of the
famous artists who decorated each. He
will not ind set down there, however
what ONE may call the atmosphere OF
the place. which II something as pecul
lar and unforgetable, though In differ
ent way, as that Of st. Peters. 1t Il
quite unlike anything else, for II IL part
Of tho development Of churchman's ad
ministrntlon to an ultimate limit In the
high center Of churchma nism. No doub,
there was much Of that sort Of thing In
various parts Of Europe long ago, and
In England before Henry WILL, and l,
Ia to be found In small degree In Wen
ma to this day, where the traditions Of
the Holy Roman Empire are not quite
dead. It IL hard to define II, but It !,
In everything; In the uniforms Of thu
attendants. In their Old-fashioned faces
IN the spotless cleanliness Of all thu
vatican--thOugh no one u over to bt
seen handling broOm--in the noise
lessly mcthOdical manner Of doing CIV
erythins that IL to be done, In the achol
arly rather than scientific arrangement
Of the objects In the museum and gal
leries-above all, In the visitors OWL
sensations.
No one talks loudly among the statues
Of the Vatican, and there IL feeling OF
being In church, so that one IL disagree
ably shocked when guide, conducting
a party of tourist, occasionally raise,
his voice In order to be heard. 1t Is al
very hard to define, while It Is quit,
impossible to escape feeling It, and 4
must ultimately be due to the dOminat
Ing influence of the churchmen, wht
arrange the whole place as though 4
were a church. An American lady, OF
hearing that the Vatican cOntaini
eleven thousand rooms. threw up he
hands ana laughingly exclaimed
Think of the housemaids" But ther'
are no housemaids In the Vatican, ant
perhaps the total absence Of even thu
humblest feminine influence has some