Evening star., 1899-04-08

The grounds now extend into the very
heart of the capital. creeping down the
river and embracing a large section of
Champs Elysees. The ordinary Sunday
crowd that throngs this promenade is be-
yond all counting. During the first weeks
of the exposition the Place de la Concorde
will be a human ocean of Parisians, not
counting strangers. From the south the
east, the north and the center they will
come trooping to this central square, the
most spacious public place in Europe.
Something extraordinary in the way of
an entrance here was seen to be absolutely
necessary from the first. The plan selected
calls for an immnese arch of the most fiorid
celoring and design, backed by giant
dome that is to CLEAN and glitter in the
sunlight. It's colds and whites it's heavenly
blues and celestial pinSs, it's jewel-like eff
fects of glazed tiles, glasses and enamels
are to mark an era in the history of archi-
lecture. By night it will blaze with elec-
tricity as never any monument has blazed
before. No such setting as that of the
architecturally parfect Place de la Con-
corde could be found for it's gorgeousness
In any other part of Paris-or the world
Will Prevent Crowding.
Yet, after all. it is only gigantic combi-
nation of gateways. There is nothing to
prevent the crowd however large. from
sweeping into the open space beneath the
dome. Immediately the Sixty entrance gates
are seen extending In arsemi-circle at the
back. Radiati ting like spokes of a wheaI.
they swallow the crowd. bnIy to disperse it
around a much wider semi-crcle inside the
exposition grounds. These radiating pas
sage ways will be ON alternating up and
down grade, the slant rbsing very slight
Entering one. thers is qno turning back.
Past the ticket offices the Indian files will
sweep, according toEthel radiation of the
gigantic wheel spoke into part of the
grounds around the donna where there can
be no crowding. 1t is calculated that 1000
people may be pressing Into the dome space
at the same moment The sixty entrances
VIII VIII dlvide them into sixty Indian files. If
the gate keepers can each take seventeen
tickets minute then oife minute will he
sufficient to clear ther dome of a thousand
visitors. A thousand a fminute 6OOOO an
hour-this is the calculation. 81 -.
Serves a. Al Ersntispiece.
Much has been saidb about the bizarre style
OF this extraordinary monument Archf-
tecturalIy its only object is to serve as a
frontisRleces to the exposition. 1t Is not
triumphal arch. "a triumphal arch is
raised to the glory of man or a nation.
Republican France has no king or emperor
to demand an apotheosis; while to raise a
monument to her own genius at the en-
trance to an International exposition would
be lack OF taste These are the words of
the architect. Nevertheless, the impression
will remain that the new art of this ex-
laordinary effort expresses very actually
the neo-barbaric state of the soul of Paris
at the end of the century The Eiffel tower
an unarchitectural mass of bolted iron,
painted a muddy red, whose only beauty is
the beauty of the engineer. represented
very perfectly the Paris of 1889, the Paris
of Progress-and of Panama. 1t was in the
year 1850 that President Carnot. himself an
engineer, constructed new wing to the
palace of the Elysee of glass and galvanized
iron
The present monument is in keeping with
the gorgeous lawlessness of a generation
long ago ashamed of the Eiffel tower. To-
day in Paris every woman's gown is gilt
tering with imitation jewelry. There are
jeweled buttons, jeweled trimmings, jew
eled hats. 1t is a mark of the new art"
The colossal entrance to the exposition will
be its apotheosis. In addressing the jury
the permanent Palais des Champs Elysees.
M. Pascal spoke openly his fears of this
tendency.
Extreme Tendencies.
"All that which is merely Of temporary
character, feast-like, decorated to excess,
all that which brings too much to mind the
fete internationale, with its amusing and
hasty improvisations. but whose results
fall rapidly out of style. should be received
by you with disfavor," said he.
Though the colossal entrance is not to be
ming the risks of originality. as his ad-
mitted that its architect, M. Binet, is rum
ming the risks of originality as his ad-
mirers put it. His extreme tendencies
toward color and fancy may have been
picked up in Tunis, Italy and Spain. where
has something Moorish in it. The two
lofty minarets that tower above it on each
side are certainly Arabic. There is also
an eastern look about the great dome,
except that 1t Is supported as no dome was
ever supported before. Heretofore all domes
have rested either on an architectural cyl
inder of their own diameter or else on four
supports formed in square. This dome
rests on three points, from which 1t derives
an extraordinary effect Of hghtness. And
this effect of lightness Is strangely en-
hanced by the immense amount of orna-
mental open-work that is to let the sun
light In by day and the1 electric light out
by night Scintillating with the most gor-
geous coiors every hour in the twenty-four,
the new art Will make itself heard
Gorgeous Wight Fetes.
1t is now settled that night fetes are to
be one OF the great features of the exposi-
tfon. On some oceas1ons two daytime. tick
cts will be required for one night entrance;
on others five and even ten day tickets will
be demanded. when fhe grounds and build
ings will be barb4ric feast of color. By
day the monumental entrance will glow in
the sunlight with a spolychromic brilliance..
Athough Attic n the prevailing tones are cream
decoration is all planned For violent colors.
Enamels are to be 9sed On it as they were
never used on building before. Mosaics
are to shine among metals like precious
stones in jewelry work. AT night the min
arets, transformed into light houses, will
throw their electricsrays across the place,
while all the glass and mosaic decoration
will burn with its daylight colors enhanced
a thousand times by the electric lights. NJ
Blnet at first feared the brutality of this
illumination on dark nights. He has now
arranged to soften all these coiors and re-
neve the architecture from the danger os
heavy shadows by bathing the whole monu-
ment In soft white light. So the jewelry-
like effect will glow discreetly, as in SUI
perior kind of moonlight 1t win be safe to
say no visitor will ever forget the monu-
| mental entrance to the Paris exposition
of 1900.
Specuiatfngsin In Tickets.
Meanwhile the speculation in tickets to
the exposition has been going on for more
than year. As for the exposition Of 1880.
the government has authorized the present
management. instead of issuing stock or
bonds, 20 Issue '.Exposttion Bons." which
are essentially, sheets of tickets. As they
call only for entrances to the show, the
money Will be lost unless their owners can
use or sell them. Each boY1. ie<71red a m