Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-29

.G1r A
 N 1M N that is past. yet even in
 SAWWgX our own time the building
 e of 2 new ss cathedral ,s.t1SslIt asan can interest and significance. It is. true that no longer can it be-as was the case in England in the great ca thedral-building days of the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries-the most absorbing interest, apart from warfare, of great masses of the pop ulation. The multiplication of in terests in modern life, modern con- ditions of industry, and differences of creed and church order make it impossible for the modern cathedral to be, as the medieval cathedral was, the supreme material embodiment of the spirit of an age, the highest ex- pression of the art, the civilization, and the religious faith of whole people. Yet in spite of all changed conditions, the building of a new cathedral is much more than an ar tistic problem for an architect and a big job for contractor. The project opens up wide field of human in- terest; the cathedral still touches very closely the lives of large sec tions of the community.
 There are problems which present themselves for solution to the build CTS of a modern cathedral-or, rath- CT, to the organizers of the under taking-of which the old cathedral builders knew nothing. The choice of a site, which was once such Q simple matter, is now in many cases matter of immense difficulty; the best sites in our great cities have long since been appropriated, and it is often only after long waiting and anxious negotiations that even a moderately convenient site is ob- tained. Then there is the question of the style of architecture to be adopted. For the builders of the older time there was but one pos sible style-they built naturally and inevitably in whatever was the na- tional style of the period, giving ill. deed to the traditional forms infinite variety and beauty, but no more dreaming of marking back to a past age than of inventing a brand-new building method of their own. Now, however, as the new cathedrals pro- iected or in course of construction clearly illustrate, the area of choice in the matter of style is vastly wider. At Truro we have faithful reproduc- tion of the forms of English church building in the thirteenth century; at Westminster the new Roman Catholic cathedral is based upon the style in vogue among the earliest Christian churches of eastern Flu rope; in New York cathedral modi- fled phase of Romanesque-the style prevailing in western Europe from about 500 to 1900 A. D.-is being adopted; and in Berlin great ca thedral is being built in the style of the classical renaissance.
 Altogether seven great cathedrals are either now in course of construc- tion or have been completed within comparatively recent time. Truro cathedral in England was consecrated on November 3, 1887, and the great building was but seven years under construction, and is to-day one of the most beautiful places of worship throughout the world. Another Eng fish cathedral is the new Roman Catholic Westminster, the exterior of which is now virtually completed after seven years of labor. This structure when completed will have but few equals in the world. A third magnificent cathedral is the one now building at Brisbane, Australia. It was begun in 1887 as a memorial of the jubilee of Queen Victoria, though the foundation was not begun until last year Still another new ca thedraI was begun at Cape Town, South Africa, last year. The charac- teristics of the German people and their method of government are re- flected in the great new cathedral they are now building in Berlin. Whereas in all the other cathedrals to which reference has been made the work is being carried out with money voluntarily subscibed and with out state assistance or interfere the building of the Berlin cathedral is entirely state affair. According to a