The Pulaskian., 1919-08-29

" T is more than 20 years since
first saw that mighty Palace of the
Popes at Avignon which Froissart
called "the finest and strongest
house in the world;;s and the most inn
portant occurrence in that period,
from the point OF view Of the architect
and the historian, is that in 1907 the
huge building was at last relieved from
its dangerous task Of sheltering SOL
diers, who cared as little FOR its beauty
rs for it's associations, writes Theodore
Andrea Cook in Country Life 1t was,
perhaps, better to be the barracks of a
regiment than TO be a prison like Tar
ascon, or a disintegrating ruin like
Beaucane. But none of these three
glorious relies Of Provencal history de-
served SO ignominious a fate, and the
department of historic monuments
earned the thanks of every scholar by
its change of policy toward these
splendid castles of the stored Rhone.
One invaluable result of clearing the
Palace of AYignon has been that fol
the FIRST time it is possible to compare
the actual constructions of this ex-
traordinary building with the records
preserved in the Vatican and investi-
gated by Eugene Muntz, Maurice Eau
con and f. Ehrle. This comparison
was carried on by Felix Digonnet, the
learned guardian Of the museum at
Avjgnon, and when again the continent
[ hope that visitors will be able not
only to see the whole of the palace,
but to understand the original inten-
ton OF its builders, and to realize, the
skill and care with which all the an
Gent masonry is being preserved or
reproduced after the century of de-
Placement and neglect which followed
the most deliberate vandalism of the
Revolution
Color and Massiveness.
The vast and deserted esplanade in
front of this giant block of masonry
is 4 fitting framework to so massive a
memorial of dead majesty, and the
whole atmosphere of the scene is as
different as possible from anything
you have passed on your way through
the modern town from the railway
station of the republic. The exquisite
color of the pale gold masonry-"teinte
uniforme de feuille seche," said Henri
Beyle-is one of the loveliest attributes
of the buildings of Provence, as it is
of our own Dorsetshire houses; but it
is the titanic strength and elemental
pride of this enormous building which
first impress themselves on the be-
holder who stands before its ruined
western entrance gate. The huge and
bony carcass of somoe creature of the
prime, fossilized in bygone ages of the
world, and couchant still within its
ancient lair, seems brooding like some
monstrous menace over the Valley of
the Rh0ne. Ruined and mutilated, as
it is, Of all its former splendor, this
cliff of cut stone stands stupendous
above the petty highways of our small
er life.
The octagonal turret jutting from
the tower Immediately on your left
of the main entrance preserves, in its
name Of "The White CARDINAL the
memory Of that humbly born Cister-
clan monk who, in December, 1885, as
sumed the title of Benedict XII, and
really began the foundation of the
palace as we see it. Two-thirds of
the whole, at any rate, he planned
and his Is the portion that is the sim
plest and strongest of it all.
No marble was used anywhere in the
palace, which was wholly of French
workmanship and Provencal design,
with the square towers which mainly
differentiate that school from the
round-towered style of the French
Kings which is so massively exhibited
in the contemporary Fort st. Andre
just across the river. The deeply
carved manifestations, still to be seen
here and there anG originally placed
on every tower and wall, had only just
been introduced by the end of the
fourteenth century. Those on the
great facade are the largest in the
world, sometimes two yards in length
by Is inches deep, sufficient to hurl
down timbers that could sweep a
dozen storming ladders off the wall or
crush whole company of sappers.
The only luxury observable in the
palace was to be found in its interior |