Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-12-17
lib EUR0PE'S GEMS
81 ECCLIAsTICAL ARCHITECTURE
UNDER ONE ROOF.
,CDELS OF The GREAT CATH[DRALS
-auncs Londoncrs to Marvel mt the
BcwiIdcring Beauty Of Continen'"'
cburch buildings Photographed
Especially for Our Renders.
Correspondence Of the Dispatch)

churches OF which l wrote you some
months ago proved so interesting ana
successful that another Of similar ~"
lure has been arranged TO- this time the
subjects being the magnificent ecclesias-
lcal ediices of the continent SEM
you photographs OF some OF these nooels
which are marvellous Implications J"
rniniture of the splendid catnedrals, MIN
isters and abbeys OF Europe. Ihal %
81 Peters az Rome is OF course 'h.
Gnest. Pictures Of sections OF TINS siu''
pile have been seen before but VINO C"
ind anything superior to TINS pho,o-
rraph OF the model showing the ehu'c
building with every part OF the struc'u'0
displayed in one superb work.
st. Peters i'm Rome was fouhueu 81
1850. took 116 years in building, anu va
dedicated by Urban Will, in lo-0. lho'"
ing the superb oOlOnnades addeo uHuc'
Alexandria VII. and the works OF Pli'
VI, three and a half centuries We
spent on the perfect completion OF '"c
work. and during that time no ie"ei
than forty-three Popes occupied tno
Holy See. 1t has been estimated tha' w
TO the close OF the seventeenth century
the cost had been fifty millions Oh uool ''
lars. The building is 6l2 feet long, ~
feet wide, and 43l "a feet TO the TOP Oh
tho cross. -
II stands on the site Of a basiiica be-
gun I'm 306 by Constantine the GIed'
who worked at it with his own haiuS
and carried away twelve LOADS OF car
in honor OF the twelve Apostles /" .""'
ancient church Cedwalla, the west sax
ON King. was bapused; Concred, King oil
tba NIercians. consecrated his long haiI
and became 4 monk; Etneiwoiu' hlhs
The Ambassadors was crowned-douDt-
less in the presence OF his six year old
son. who Is sill remembered by an tn'
English speaking world as Alfred tue
Great. ...,.,
The collonnades, which are supported
on Isl columns, are 81 feet wac anu ~
feet hign. and enclose an area OF 49,
square feet. The obelisk Of red granll1
I'm tine centre was bought by Caiigula
from HeliopoIis. Ii is 50 feet high ana Oh
its pedestal rises to height OF ~ ieet
To remove it from the Circus oil nero
which il once adorned so men, loJ horae''
and 46 cranes were employed. l. ''
strange to think that this antique piiai
may have witnessed IN Hellopohs tne
meeting of Joseph and his aged Ia'heI
Jacob; that Moses and Aaron may nave
read its hierogiiphlc legend; that Pytha
aoras. Herodotus, and Patio may nave
eazed on il in wonder. When 1t was err
ected on the site in 1885, In the MIDST oil
dead silence commanded under pam o.
death. there was moment Wheh per
haps it would have been shattered 10
fragments had not sailor crled out
wet the ropes
one of the most interesting OF the ca
thedrals Is that of Beauvais. Inc MS
tory of this ediiice is long chapter OF
misadventure. The town itself occupies
the site Of the walled camp Of Caesafo ma
gus. and Christianity was preached there
o. an early date. for St Lucian was mar
tvred on the spot in $50. In $50 King Con
tran and Chiidebert founded over ms
grave the Abbey of st. LUCian, which De-
came one of the Wealthiest IN france
The Cathedral was originally ROUNDED III
the tenth century but was destroyed by
fire in the thirtea nth. and the present pie
was begun in 1928. The apse ana chOir
were finished I'm l2l2 The unknown archl-
tect who designed it seems to nave p-eh
carried away By his colossal aspirations.
The beautiful structure soard heavenward
till the roOf-fidge stood at an altitude oil
223 feet. and the internal height OF the
yaulting was only Go feet less. The pillars
ana buttresses, were. however. 100 siBhl
for the immense weight laid upon thein'
and the vaultlng fell y years later. over
half a century elapsed before the rum
was repaired, and then the work was us
continued till 1900 when the Uansepts
were begun. These were completed IN
fortv-eight years. and then, instead OF
undertaking the nave, the architect con-
centrated his efforts on stupendOus
spire the height Of which IS VariOusy
given at 455 and 40 feet. In he absence
OF the nave there was nothing 10 Will
stand the westward lateral pr ssure, and
the superb piece II masonry collapsed IN
1913. Though there is 10 more man a
choir and transepts. the Cathedral OF
Beauvas Is one of the most glorious Jew
els OF Gothic art. The choir alone be-
longs TO the thirteenth century, ana
though considerably reduced from what
was originally planned, 1t Is stll the loiti-
est in the wOrld-lJb feet. Glance at the
noble south portal, and though It has lost
its statuary, acknowledge that with IFS
delecate sculpture. it's vast rose WINDOW
and double gallery and thanking towers,
It excells both I'm dimensions and mag
nilcence the great west entrance Of many
cathedrals.
OF course no exhibition OF continental
cathedrals would be complete without
that Of Cologne, of which l send photo
graph. The great church was begun in
1913. The choir was completed thrce-quar-
tiers Of century later, and the building
Of the western towers was taken up I'm
1871; but through lack OF funds and the
troubles Of the times the work progressed
very slowly and az last came TO a stand
still and for centuries the crane used to
raise the stones for the masons stood on
the top Of one OF the unfinished towers.
Wordsworth, who visited the august
pile" In 1870 with his wife and sister,
wrote a sonnet beginning
o for the help Of Angles TO complete
This Temple,
while Dorothy Wordsworth expressed
her regret for the sublime design unac-
cOmplished and the devotion passed away
Germany, however. was awakened to the
glorious monument which had been
neglected for so many generations. In
1912 Frederick William ". laid the foun-
dation stone Of the transept, which with
the nave and aisles were thrown open six
years later The enterprise was pushed
forward with fervOr. the noble towers
rose to the height of 5l5 feet-higher by
hundred feet than St. Paul's and unriv-
allied by ST. Peters. Strasburg, or 81.
Stephens at Nienna-and at last on
October 10, 1850. the completion Of the
cathedral was solemnly celebrated. The
length of the building is 4sj feet. the
breadth across the transepts 23s feet
while the width of the nave and aisles is
ia feet and the height TO the line OF the
roof is 2i9 feet.
Others fine models exhibited are those
of Notre Dame at Paris. the Cathedral at
Antwerp. one of the largest and most
beautiful Gothic churches in the Low
Countries and the cathedral OF our Lady
Of Amiens, which, with the exception OF
st. Peters at Rome, st. Sophia at Con-