Mexico weekly ledger., 1900-08-16

through the celebrated St. Gothard
tunnel, which Is o. miles long and
which was IL years under censtruc-
ton, employing $500 men daily. IL IL
q double track, % feet broad and u
feet high. The total cost was 2,270,-
600 pounds. We were just twenty
minutes by my watch in passing
through. 1T is a marvellous feat Of
engineering being several thousand
yards longer than the Mt. GEMS
tunnel. Passing this tunnel we soon
came into the plains OF Lombardy and
this old city Of Milan, which has been
the heat Of 90 many marked events in
history, civil, military and ~eccIeaias-
tic. The center OF attraction here is
the great Cathedral, 800 feet high, $50
feet long and 1888 feet In width, being
third In eize Of all the O~atkredrals in
the world, Rome being FIRST and the
one In Seville Spain being next. You
might set all the churches in Mexico,
Fulton and Columbia In the Cathedral
and there would be room left for
several more. The original church
was destroyed by Attila. The present
structure was commenced in 1888 and
10 not yet complete. The chief points
Of interest TO me were the three large
windows In the east end, one picturing
the history Of the Old Testament, one
the hook of the Kings and the other
the New Testament; the Flaying Of
81. Bartholomew BY Agratti; Michael
Angeles Eve; On the Roof; Adam by
6olare. The form OF the Cathedral is
that Of q Latin cross, divided into Ave
naves, Terminated by an octaganal
apsis and supported by ffty two pill
lara, the interior being ornamented
with fretwork, carvings and paintings.
The whole building including the roof
lie of marble. 1t has q facade OF white
Carrara marble, and the building 10
adorned with 106 pInnacles, and $500
structures. On the highest pinnacal 10
q colossal bronze figure OF the Virgin.
Napoleon the first did much toward
finishing and adorning this magnih-
cent Cathedral and he is honored by
q statue on one Of the p~innicals by
Cornavo. In fretwork, carving and
statues, some think this Cathedral
surpasses all the churches In the
world not excepting st. Peters.
We also visited the old Santa Maria
della Oracle church In which we saw
the original OF Leonard's "Lsst Sup
per-" perhaps the most numerously
copied OF any picture In the world.
1t is now greatly desaoed.
Al the time Milan was In the possession
of Napoleon this convent was con-
verted into barracks and as the re-
fectory became u stable for the
cavalry horses, the already mutillated
painting received still further injury.
We also had the pleasure Of visiting
the Kings Palace,and passing through
all the apartments. Some of them
were very fine, especially the ball
room and the audience room Some
Of our party avaIled themselves Of
the opportunity Of sitting In the
Kings chair. In one room the whole
life of Napoleon is represented In
statuary.
In the old museum In Milan we saw
some fine old paintings by Bernardo
Luini, Paul veronese's "Ohrist in the
House OF the phsrisee," Raphael's
"Marriage OF Joseph and Mary"
Guido's "Peter and Pauln and Ru-
ben's "Christ C~onsecrating the Wine
and Bread.n Tonight we took q walk
around the grand old Cathedral and
bid It goodbye. Tomorrow we 60
TO Pisa and see the "Leaning Tower"
and many other things. The weather
here lie excessively hot.
II. K. HMDE.