Evening star., 1902-08-21
DECAYING MONUMENTS
OLD STRUCTURES OF EUROPE AND
AFRICA cRUMBLINa.
viii the Sphinx or the Parthenon
Follow the Cam
panileP

From the New York Mail and Express.
There seems to be an epidemic these days
among ancient landmarks monuments and
public buildings of that disease which used
to be called the failing sickness" From
various widely separated regions of earth
comes news every now and then OF some
historic structure giving evidence that the
burden of the centuries is Weighing too
heavily upon 1t longer to be borne. Tower
and monument and cathedrals shrine
which the long ages have rolled over and
left still standing amid the mighty shad-
ows of dead empires give indications that
the time has come when they desire 10 lie
down and die.
In Venice the Campanile OF St Marks
has fallen and dissov' d in broken fray
ments, after a life OF over a thousand
years The bell tower of San Stefano is
threatening to fall after having stood for
more more than nve hundred years. and a por-
tlon of the front of the Church of Saints
John and Paul has tumbled bodily out
ward. with its storied window, through
which the light used to stream in softened
splendor on the scuIptured tombs of the
long array of dead doges
The Sphinx is Aweary.
From Egypt comes the news that the
Sphinx whose sightess eyes for three
thousand years have gazed from the bor-
oers of the Lfbyan desert is at last show
ing signs of old age. She is beginning to
crumble and disintegrate. and to show that
she is at last weary of propounding her
riddle to the sands of the desert and the
swarms of 'trippers" who visit her daily
by trolley from Cairo The neighboring
pyramids seem to be at present in fairly
GOOD health, but there is no telling how
soon they will contract the falling sick
ness 1t would be too bad IL the Sphinx
m riS
ish and decay. should now vanish away TO
the accompaniment of the jangling of
trolley car bell.
Church Of st. John.
From Rome it is reported that the rich
wooden ceiling of the Church of St John
Lateran is In danger Of falling. 1t is crack
ed In several places and commission has
reported that something must be done
quickly or the carved and gilded roof will
tumble down upon the heads of the
Worshipers who frequent the church. This
mother and head of all the churches" as
81 John Lateran has been called, has had a
career or many disasters anyway, but the
calamitfes which have befallen II before
nave been due to fire, earthquake and war.
NOW II seems simply to feel that 1t is get
ting old and is ready to drop.
1t is doubtful If any of the original
church built by Constantine in Sg6 remains
with the exception of the baptistry as the
structure has thrice been rebuilt the last
time In 1850. The fiat, wooden roof which
now threatens to fall, is richly ornamented
with, ornate sunken panels In the style
known as "coffered," and its fall would be
loss to the world. both on account of its
antiquity and its beauty. 1t is estimated
that 1t will cost $4,000 to make the roof
safe, and the pope has ordered a subscrip-
ton to be started to raise the required sum.
Belfry Of Bruges Crumbling.
N ba
Bruges' is reported to be crumbling to de-
cay This great cathedral tower has stood
for nearly five hundred years without hav-
ing shown signs of weakness until IL re-
Gently began to get shaky Its present
condition is source of anxiety to the in
habitants of Bruges, for the cathedral
tower is the great show piece of the town
and attracts pilgrims from all over the
world In 1t hangs a celebrated chime of
bells, OF which poets have sung for CEN
turtles. One of the most beautiful of the
short poems Of our own Longfellow tells OF
his standing on the tower which now
threatens to fall, while below him
Like shield embossed with silver, round
and vast the landscape lay