Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-01-23
GLORY OF ST. MARKS.
Marvel of Decorative Art Arouses
Admiration Of the World.

| VENICE. Nov. 23.-CWilliam f.
Curtis in Chicago Record-Herald.-
Volumes have been written about the
beauty of st. Marks, and although
an ordinary citizen cannot see all that
Ruskin saw in it, or see things as he
saw them, nevertheless everyone who
has travelled about the world must
admit that there is no church more
beautiful or brilliant or diversified
in its decoration, and that such tap.
estry of stone and glass;" as Ruskin
called the mosaics in the roof and
walls, can be seen nowhere else
the finest examples of the mosaic
art. man who does not believe in
anything holy must feel a holy awe
when he enters the great arched
doors. The gloom that hangs about
of the other great churches Is never
never felt here. Sometimes 1t is
difficult to determine gloom from
solemity. or determine where one
ends and the other begins | have
seen churches and churches in all
parts of the earth-the exquisite tenn
pies of Buddha at Nikko, Japan, the
sublime shrine of the Virgin of Copo-
cobana in the Andes. Westminster
Abbey. Winchester, York and Canter-
bury. the gilded monuments of NAL
achite and lapis-lazuli in Russia, the
incompatible mountains of marble
in Milan and Florence. the venerable
| closters of Salamanca and Seville.
I the gorgeous mosques of the Mos
lens. and that magnificent dome
rises higher than any other in the
world. in honor of st. Peter-but
nowhere, in no place of worship,
| Prostestant, Catholic, Greek, Budd-
hist, Jewish. Taoist or Mohammedan.
spiritual and artistic beauty as comes
over one in the Cathedral of St.
Marks at Venice.
| When you enter the portico your
admiration is excited by the wonder
iul mosaics above the doors and
pass through the little swinging door
of leather that is sticky from the un-
clean hands of the hoi-polloi you hes
itate and look about you. Instinct
tells you that you are in holy place,
you creep silently to the nearest
bench, and if you are an impression
able person you sit there silent for
an hour and let the grandeur and
beauty soak in.
| | do not intend, upon the first page
of a crowded newspaper,-to- -rhapso-
1ize over artistic and architectural
| triumphs that have been the theme
of poets, artists and critics for near
ly thousand years, but every man
who comes here should pay a trib-
ute to st. Marks as monument of
art as well as to the sanctuary that
has seen so much of crime and cruel
ty and so much sacrifice and suffer
| ing in the name of Him whose dis
ciple's dust is entombed here. Rus
| kin, whose pictures of Venice are
more accurate and instructive than
any others that were ever penned,
compares St. Marks to vast cave
hewn out into the form of a cross
and divided into shadowy aisles by
many pillars; ''the roof sheafed with
alabaster which give back at every
curve and angle some feeble gleam-
ing to the flames of the silver lamps
ceaselessly burning in the recesses
of the chapels." He describes "the
glories that stream from the heads
of the sculptured saints" Under
foot and over head" he says-and he
means the mosaic work upon the
floor and the ceiling-"is continual
succession of crowded imagery, one
picture passing into another as in a
dream ; forms beautiful and terri
BILE mixed together, dragons and SER
pents, and raving beasts Of prey,
and graceful birds that in the midst
of them drink from running fountains
and feed from vases of crystals; the
passions and the pleasures of human
life symbolized together-and the
mystery of its redemption, for mazes
of interviewer lines and changeful
pictures lead always at last to the
cross. lifted and carved in every place
and upon every stone"
One wishes that the priests and
the people would stay away and not
disturb the silence and solemity, so
that he could sit and look and think
and wonder and admire without in
terruption. but soon the senses are
dlelt WIFI heW lupTebslOn, lot lue
soft, sweet tones of an organ come
floating from some uncertain source
through the semi-twilight that al
ways dwells in st Marks. You
hold your breath, half fearing that 1t
may not continue and half expecting
to hear the voice of an angel rise
in song. A group of priests and
shuffling altar boys appear in the
foreground. carrying lighted candles
in her hands, and move about in a
mysterious way at the farther end
and women with black shawls over
their heads pass swiftly across the
tessellated floor. kneel upon rude
wooden supports, bow their heads
and move their lips In silent prayer
The hypnotic influence OF this scene
upon sensitive persons must be in
tense, and one can understand how
SO many rhapsodies have been writ
ten concerning 1t, and how many
visions of saints and martyrs have