The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-03
A FRENCH GOTHIC CATHEDRAL.


much enjoyed by a thoroughly appreci-
ative audience.
1t is a common saying, said the SPEAK
er, that the choir of Beauvasis, the nave
of Amiens, the portal OF Rheims, anu
the towers Of Charities would together
make the finest church in the worio.
These churches are of enormous size,
especially as regards height. Beauyasls
for instance, which is few feet higher
than the others, would entirely conceal
Bunker Hill monument from sight with
n its vast interior. To height, however,
Is added perfect proportion, consistent
adornment and wise use of the artist
skill. France held the cradle of Gothic
art, and nursed it to its fullest stature
| and noblest strength. The foundations
OF the most of the greatest Gothic Ca
thedrals were laid in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. There was no
France as we now know it. The people
were just passing out of feudalism. The
family of Capet was just growing into
power. 1t was during the reign of Louis
vi, Ql0S-ll37) a Capet, that the move
ment of cities to secure freedom of local
self government fret assumed large pro-
portions in Northsn France. This was
the breaking down of feudalism and the
development of the commune out of
which later France grew. 1t was Won
derful period of growth throughout
Europe: 1t was the time of the Nibelun
gen Lied, of Parsifal and Titurel, of the
| legends of Arthur and the Round Table.
| ST. Francis of Assist was born the year
the Cathedral of Paris was dedicated.
Dante WAS born only five years before
Amiens was finished.
France proper in those days included
| the so-calIed Royal Domain" that is
Paris and territory for from forty to
one hundred miles about the city. The
cathedrals were the expressions that the
natural Joy of men took, who were COM
ing out of the thraldom of Feudalism.
They were "odes of communal freedom"
where the old religious and the new civil
spirits came together In one glad harmo-
I ny. And yet, Of course, a cathedral is an
ecclesiastical idea The power of religion
was strong in those days. The bishop,
conscious OF his dignity, with sense of
his vicarship from Christ, wished his
place on earth to he the most majestic
the mind could imagine. Religion was
not simply what we understand by that
term It was the Roman civilization
preserved under religions name and bear
ing all the traditions Of the power and
unity.
Gothic architecture, difficult as it has
been to define the term, is really GER
tain system of construction. It is not
the pointed aroh, nor the peculiar method
of decoration that we have so often con-
sidered as defining Gothic. In building
with stone walls and stone ceilings, it
ia easy to see that the pressure from above
not only comes directly upon the walls,
but tends to force them apart. To pre-
vent this 1t would of course be necessary
tosbuild very thick walls. Gothic build
ers' by the use of ribs Brought the weight
from above to certain parts only of the
walls. These sections they made very
thick, but cut away all intervening
spaces. The builder expressed in stone
only that which is absolutely necessary
for oheying the laws of support. These
sections of walls became on the interior
sculptured columns, on the exterior they
became buttresses. We have in Gothic
structure a high series Of columns and
arches, whose tone vaultiug tends to
force them apart from within, but perfect
by the counter action of the buttresses
without.
The word Gothic was an epithet of
soorn in the mouth of the revivers of the
| Romanesuue in the Renaissance. 1t is
no longer used in that first sense of
barbaric, of rude, but is the name of one
of the most perfect and noble styles of
architecture ever developed. There is a
lightness and an airiness that can be
likened only to the trees of the forest
And the sculpture work of foliage and
animals is rival to nature itself.
The ground plan of Gothic church is
that of a Latin cross The long arm
forming the nave, the shorter arms at
| the sides forming the transepts, and the
upper arm the choir. The choir. is always
east and in France IS usually terminated
with an apse and apsidal chapels. Tran
septs and nave ara terminated in fronts
and portals which are filed with sculp
ture. Over the west front is usually the
largest and highest towers. At each en-
trance are usually three portals or door
ways corresponding to nave and aisles.
For the nave and transepts and the choir
generally have aisles.
English cathedrals are often surround
ed by close, green grass and foliage and
streams of water. A French cathedral
rises right out of the most .thickly portion
of the town. The reason is that in Eng
land tho churches were mainly monas-
teries, and naturally apart. In France
they were churches of the people, centres
of civic pride and the great meeting
places Of all citizens.
Turning to one of these great struc-
lures, Chartres was examined somewhat