Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-18
MYSTERIES Of ROME
NOT ONE Days TALE
G. A. Lyon, Jr., DepIores Snap
Judgment of Brief
/ Observers.
FOUR HUNDRED CHURCHES
/ WORTHY OF MANY VISITS
st. Peters Alone Not to Be Passed Up
With Casual Notice-Guidebook
Tourists Miss Rare Scenes.

STAR Correspondence OF The Star
ROME, May a.-Rome. traditionally
styled the eternal is city OF infinite
interests and attractions. To see II
thoroughly Is task requiring many
weeks, even months.
And vet tourists come here for single
week, or even in some cases Tor three
days. and leave in the belief that they
have covered its possibilities hes
visit St Peters and the vatican, per
haps devoting an entire day TO tna'
stupendous aggregation of religious ms
torical and artistic marvels. They may
give day to the Forum and the Pala'
tine hill. taking the Colosseum in pass
ing-or perhaps devote to that comn'na-
ton the afternoon of the St Peter
day. They arrange a series of churches
for another morninS-St Maria Mag
Eiorc, St John Latern. st. Peter IN
Chains, St. Maria of Victory and st.
Paul Beyond the Walls-and give
fifteen or twenty minutes to each,
with cab in waiting while they
rush from chapel to chapel from
sacristy to crypt from confessio to
choir. They drive over the Appian way
and see some Roman tombs and perhaps
one Of the underground cemeteries. They
give small section of an afternoon to
the Pincian hill and the park of the
Villa Borghese. and, If possible. extend
the drive to the Janiculum to obtain the
sweeping view of Rome there afforded
and a close inspection OF the Garibaldl
statue.
This process. with cleverly sand
wiched peep into a gallery or two, per-
haps brief call at one of the great
Roman baths and maybe half-hour
promenade through the two Capitoline
museums, complete the espresso sur
vey Of Rome that constitutes the visit
of thousands of mountaineering tour
lists. They have seen some hundreds
pictures. together with the most famous
churches. and. laden with memory -st:m-
ulating postcards, they leave in salts
faction, to relate later to their friends
at home how they did Rome in week"
or less.
Four Hundred Churches.
To illustrate the difficulty of really see
ing Rome on a rush basis, let me state a
mathematical proposition. There are in
round numbers 400 churches in Rome.
and for one reason and another each is
worthy of visit. Each has some work
Of art. painting or sculpture, a cell
Ing. an altar. tomb or another feature
Of interest that will repay a call.
To see all of these 400 churches at the
rate of ten a day, including Sundays.
would take forty days or. granting two
margin for indisposition mis-
of other needs, six weeks And
1t ten churches each day-the doors
being closed usually from u to 5 O'Clock
is an almost impossible task.
Of course. no one tries to see ali the
900 churches of Rome. There are about
twenty, however. which one should sure
ly visit, to include the most famous paint
ings. sculptures and tomos. and to do
these properly, some of them requiring
more than one visit is at least week s
sightseeing. St. Peters alone demands
three or four visits. 1t is so vast. so
varied in its quality. SO full of important
and beautiful things that the mere hur-
RED inspection of the rapid-fire tourist is
really an affront to its age and richness.
Pictures Lighted for Pay.
Each church has its own individual
quality and each possesses some jewel
for display to the visitor who Is not
in a hurry A study of the marbles
alone will repay the devotion of many
hours within these walls. Most of the
paintings. are very badly lighted. and
some of the finest art in Rome is viz
tually lost i'll consequence. The sacris-
tans have in some instances devised
canvases in lure of centessimi.
For example. in the SiXtine chapel
of ST. Maria Mag giore the other day a
very impressive st. Jerome was
brought into view by means of "a
shaded Oil lamp raised upon pole. pro-
ducing a remarkable effect This sacris-
tan, however. was chiefly concerned in
luring US into a side room ON the plea
of seeing a Guide REM fresco. in order
to display small collection of sup
posedly antique gems, which he offered
for sale at. of course. shamefuliy low
prices.
Whenever d sacristan opens d gate to
give admission 10 a chapel or other
poets :: tip Ee asks for nothing but
is Sr;evodsiy disappointed il he gets
nothing. and one will sometimes dis
tlnguish mutterinSs Of malediction
when the unobtrusively ready palm re-
mains empty. II is well to have good
supply of coppers in the pocket on
visiting a large church. for there may
be half q dozen points of special in
terest. each with its own particular
guardian and each calling for at least
ten ceniessimi q cents>. 1t matters
seli-arpointcd gaide IS merely in du-
piication of that which the book has
already supplied: the proper thing To
do is 10 accept ii gratefully and pay
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