The Minneapolis journal., 1906-07-08

FALLING MASONRY DAMAGES
-. HISTORIC STRUCTURE.
Cologne, Greatest Piece of Gothic Ar
chitecture: in the World, in Really a
Dangerous State-P Passers-By Have
Had Marrow Escapes from Falling
Stone.
Special Correspondence of The Journal.

Special Correspondence of The Journal.
Cologne, July 7.-Cologne cathedral,
the. glory of the famous Rhenish city,
IS in really dangerous state. Re
Gently several. pieces of carved stone
fell to the. street and passers-by had
tai of the, cathedral was Immediately
closed. Since then great blocks Of
masonry have fallen away and more
serious damage is feared. A committee
of architects was summoned and scaf-
folding erected. From this the archi-
tects made an exhaustive examination
and discovered that the masonry of
both the chief entrance and the south
entrance is loose and has crumbled to
such an extent that the two portals
were in danger Of falling. Should this
have occurred the damage might, have
been enormous. The facades have been
shored up and the work of restoration
will be at once begun. Rain is be:
lieved, to have hastened the crumbling
Romanesque builders Of the thirteenth
century, for the columns are found not
to be solid pillars but pilasters or piers.
OF these at least 400 blocks are found
to be loose. -- s-'@:
Cologne cathedral is almost as we'll
known in the United States as in Eu
rope. It took over 600 years to COM
plete, largely. because of the neglect
and apathy Of the church authorities in
teeath. The cathedral is. acknowledged
to be the finest piece of Gothic archi-
lecture in the world. There have been
modern critics, who, while conceding it's
beauty and terming it noble and i'm
pressive example. still declare it disap-
points because the compass had been
too much for the creative genius. The
oo{h I1.ol ct os% oc
vious structure built in sl4, but burned
down in the twelfth, century. In 1248
the present cathedral was begun The
choir was finished in, 1922, the nave in
1890 and the south tower in 1447. Then
came centuries of neglect. In 1896 the
French army used the cathedral to store
hay, in and also stripped, the leaden
roofs in order to make bullets.
In 1923 an attempt was made to rem
ovate and complete the structure, but
little work was done until 1842, when
| the work was seriously taken in hand.
The final touches were given in 1880
and on Oct. Is Of that year the COM
pletion was celebrated by service at
which the kaiser, William I, was press-,
100000. The cathedral is 44o feet long
! the world, are 52S feet. The central
| portal is SO feet high and 81 feet wide
and the south portal SO feet high and
IS feet wide. These are the two por.
tions at present in imminent danger
In shape the cathedral Is; q :cruciform
basilica. There are two, ichoirs, the
eastern dedicateds to-. St. Peter, the
western to St. Mary. Surrounding the
choirs are eight, chapels! = A feature OF
great beauty is an external gallery
round the apse. ,.,..,,, -...' ,.......
The reputed bones. Of. the; Legendary
three kings Of the east are preserved in
a golden shrine in one. of the chape1s
which are used as the ;cathedral's g treas
ure vaults. The, chapelss also contain
| the. tombs of several of the :: arch
bishops. ..r. =
The narrow, crooked streets, contain
ing houses of The fifteenth and six
teenth certuries,, have been obliteratet
from the :neighborhood of the cathedral
which now stands, revealing all it:
beauty, in the center q of a fine, ope1
=! space. * .|:s,....
Some year or two ago it was humor
ously stated in the German press tha
j. ~Pierpont Morgan was negotiating 70
the purchase. Of Cologne cathedral, de
string to remove It bodily to the United
States to take the place of the Angli
can cathedral of St. John the Divine
now slowly building in New York city