The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-24
HIDDEN TREASURES OF ART.
The MarveIs of the GaIerie Des Re-
Iiefs.

Iiefs.
From the Figaro.
Under the very roof of the Hotel DIES
d3valdes, five or six stories up, there is
little door upon which the following words
are written: "GaIeriei des Plans-reliefs."
Inside is one of the most curious museums
in Paris. A Partisan Journalist, who re-
Gently made flying visit to this museum,
makes the following pen picture of it;
The first impression is strange. The Wis
itor almost fancies that he is up in bal
loon. Far as the eye can reach the fields
appear in their green, yellow and gray
colors, the grass, the corn, the lucerne,
and the ploughed lands are clearly repro
duced. Winding through the prairies and
in The shade of trees there Is u river rum
ming between two lines of poplars; @here
stands an inn at an angle of one of the
roads Further on are the suburbs. and on
tie nights appear a fortified city with its
bastons, tiny gates and draw bridges that
q fly might set in motion. The heap of
roofs, the narrow streets, the great square
and the old cathedral bristling with its
little Gothic towers and slender steeples
are hewildering. This is Laon. One step
further on and the scene changes We
find ST. Omer in the center of its plains,
Arras with its old belfry and Avesnes on
the nights surrounded by prairies,
OF course it is the duty of every cicer-
one who understands his trade to avoid
superfiuous descriptions, but in this case a
few points in regard to the origin of this
astonishing collection cannot be out of
place. 1t is nothing more than the work
of courtier endeavoring to win the fav-
or of his mates. Two hundred years ago
sovereigns could not travel with facility,
and Louis XIV certainly liked to know
something about his conquests. The king
could not go to see the towns that his
army took from the enemy; consequently
the towns were brought to the king. Mo-
manned was not so fortunate with his
legendary mountain. On Jan. 1, 1868, a sur
plus gift was made to the "Rol-soliel,'
in the form of a relief plan of the town of
Ath. He found the playtoy so beautiful
that he manifested desire
to possess other works of the
same sort; and from that time on
to IT'S, at enormous expense, forty plans
We're made for his majesty. AS each one
was finished 1t was placed in the Grande
Galerie of the Louvre, which at that time
was q vast hall devoted to no particular
purpose.
Under Louis XIV the collection was con-
tinued, and the first relief plan of his reign
was that of Briancon. In 1775 the number
whose passion for geography is known
the National Library still has a plan Of
Cherbourg traced by his hand-was eX-
tremely fond of the Gelerie des Reliefs.
1t was he who gave the order to trans
port all the plans under the roof of the
Invalides, where the space is enormous,
and where the series might be continued,
sheltered from the dust and under COW
erings that we're rarely removed. A guide
for travellers in Paris, printed at that pc
Rod mentions the Galerie des Reliefs as
marvel that nobody could see without
an express order from the king
Under the directory, when France was al
war with almost all her neighbours the war
ministry, not knowing where to recruit its
generals, conceived the singular idea OF
placing these miniatures of fortified towns
under the eyes of citizens DESTROYS OF
learning the strategic art. A thousand adj
mission tickets to the Galerie were issued
But the thing did not turn out as the gov
eminent expected. Napoleon, as everybody
knows, undertook the task of showing the
world how great conquerors are made. Not
that he despised the relief plans: on the
contrary he manifested on several occa.
sons peculiar passion for them. His Wis.
1t to this gallery on the 9Th of March, 1913
Is recorded The plan of Brest had just
been finished. Accompanied by the en-
press and all the court, he climbed up The
six floors. He passed through the entire
gallery, leaving his company behind, anc
stopped in front of the new plan, which
filed him with admiration An eye witness
took the trouble OF noting down his words
THAT is beautifully" said he, ut is per
fectly magnificent work. Oh. how truly
beautiful the thing Isl Where Is the EN-.
l press? Go seek the empress! Tell her that