The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-17
NOVA sANCTA SOPHIA.
Largest Church in the World De
 spoiled by the Turks.

more CdpdClOuS tHdn St. feter S or ftOIfle, says Harpers Weekly. The latter holds 50.000 people; the drawings for the New York structure are on a scale calculated for between 1000 and 70,0o0. Rev. F'ath- CT J. Bouillon, canon of the Roman Cath olic Cathedral of Ottawa the capital of Canada, is the. designer. He calls the new church Nova Sancta Sophia. At the first step inside Nova Sancta Sophia it is intended the full glory of the dome shall burst at once upon the view. In St. Pe- ter's of Rome, St. Paufs of London and other famous cathedrals the dome is yelled by intervening obstacles until the worshiper stands almost beneath it. The approaches through the naves must first be traversed; immense arches everywhere impede the gaze. It will be possible to hold services in the basement of the pro- posed edtfice by the time $15oo.ooo has been expended.
 The dome, in mosaics, will sit like a resplendent crown upon a vista of defi- cate columns of the rarest marbles and brilliant reproductions of the greatest works of the old masters of Rome. The costly character of the mosaics may be realized when it is remembered that a single reproduction, only fifteen by thirty feet in size, will average an outlay of e100.000. and the whole of the church is to be covered with them. All the splen- dor of this dazzling interior win be brought out by the uninterrupted light of tier upon tier of windows rising 45t feet to the dome. The last tiers of win dows are to be reared half a hundred feet nearer Heaven than the cross on the dome of St. Peters.
 Father Bouillon visited Constautinople in 1883 and there saw St. Sophia. He was deeply impressed by the features of the church. For years he had been a de- voted student of ecclesiastical architec- ture The famous temple of the city founded by Constantine and dedicated to Christian worship was to him a reve- lation of almost perfect beauty, and he resolved. if ever the opportunity came to him to design a sacred edifice, the lead ing chara cteristics of which should be planed on similar lines. The opportunity has come and these drawings are the re- suit. Father Bouillon found the snonu- ment originally reared by Justinian to the Christian religion lovely still, with the rarest marbles. with gold. silver and precious 'stones. Rome and the cities of Europe and Asia had been despoiled of their richest statuary to adorn the Chris tian temple Fire twice swept over 1t, but a second time and a third time 1t arose more wondorusiy beautiful than be- lOEe. TSSOlNCu tt sHOuiu bCCouAo the most magnificent monument ever rais- ed by the hand of man since the creation of the world. Orders were sent the gov ernors of all the Roman provinces to col lect and forward all that was richest and rarest in the countries over which they ruled that could be counted worthy of a place in the temple. The palaces of Egypt, Greece. Italy and Asia were laid under tribute to furnish the sanctuary to be raised to the glory of the Most High God. Ephssus gave eight columns of green marble variegated with black from the temple Of Diana. The Lady Marcia of Rome sent eight columns of porphyry of the most delicate proportions and beau ty from the Temple of the Sun at Baal- bek. Marbles of the purest white veined with rose tints from Phrygfa, blue mar bles from Ltbya. and the porphyry of Saes supported the arches.
 No description can do justice to the sumptuous ornamentation of that period. The woodwork of the sanctuary was covered with plates of solid gold and silver. The curtains were of the richest tissues the world could produce. The pill lars of the altar were of massive gold; the table of gold, silver. precious stones and pearls The mosaic of the dome and most of the pictures were on a foundation
 
 their brilliance, everywhere reflected by gold produced an effect never to be for gotten. The pilage and destruction wrought by the followers of Mohammed when Constantinople fell before the Turk. deprived St. Sophia of many of It's treas ures but the features of the architecture which made the Temple of the Cross the wonder of the old world. remained. though now admlxed with minarets and symbols of the crescent A glance at any good illustration of the exterior of the St. Sophia of the thirteenth century will show by comparison with the photograph published of the Nova Sancta Sophia of the twentieth. the points of difference in favor of the latter.
 With the features of St. Sophia, Father Boullon has introduced fin his drawings for the Nova Sancta Sophia all the modern Roman ornamentatton for both the exterior and the interior. The ex- treme length of the New York building will be 800 feet. and the breadth 400 feet. The dome rises from the center, starting with a breadth of 15O feet. to height of l5o feet from the pavement to the sum init. The cupoIa above the dome will be larger than that of St. Peters, which is roomy enough to accommodate fourteen persons, whilst that of Nova Sancta So- phia will hold thirty. having a diameter of twenty-five feet
 Nova Sancta Sophia will rise. in tiers of seven stories. with seven lows of windows the entire circumference of the building, expressive of the seven gifts that enlighten those who believe. On the outside, on the buttresses of the first row, there are inches containing the saints who have written on the blessed On the second row, on the buttresses, are angels who have inspired the saints to write about the blessed sac A Above the third row are seen rising in succession the domes of eleven chapels. of which the attics are visible from the outside, with round windows. between each of which is the symbolic pelican.
 There are four naves, seml-circular in form, around the dome. and an imposing row of windows encircling the whole. On the gable of each window there is chal- | ice, with the rose and rays, and between the gables are the saints who adore the | blessed sacrament. l
 rba anAx of tha touar of Una dorne