Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-13
BEACON TO HONOR
COLUMBUS FEAT
Award for Best Lighthouse
Designed viii Be Made
by Judges Next Year.
BY GRETCHEN SMITH.

strange, new lana mao become visible.
After weeks Of doubt and hardshipS,
living under the threatening cloud OF
mutiny from desperate men, the great
Columbus had proven his theories and
had indicated himself before the eyes
OF the civilized world,
Before another year had passed,
bringing with 1t the anniversary of Co
lumbus' discovery OF the western hem
iSphere, the fortunate architect who will
design the great Columbus Lighthouse
Memorial to be erected by the nations
of the world to the memory of the great
Spanish admiral at Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic, will have gained
recognition and the $4,000 prize,
awarded to the winner OF the contest,
which has been entered into by archi-
tects from every part Of the world.
The idea of memorial to Columbus
had been entertained for many years by
leaders in affairs of Santo Domingo,
the last resting place of Columbus. In
1928, a resolution was passed at the
nth international conference of Amer
lean States, recommending that the
governments Of the American republics
honor the memory of Columbus by the
erection of a monumental lighthouse
which will bear his name, on the coast
of Santo Domingo, capital of the Do
minican Republic Of America, and any
others who may so desire"
In 1927, the Congress Of the United
States of America ratified the action
of the conference, approving the project
and expressing the desire of the people
of the United States to participate IN
the movement Ito honor the memory
of the great navigator and discoverer."
After due time, plans were formu-
lated, a site for the memorial was
selected and a contest held in which
architects from every corner OF the
globe submitted designs.
Five hundred architects submitted
drawings, exhibited In Madrid last April.
Out of the hundreds submitted 10 were
that the final contest VIII be held next
year in Rio Janeiro. The jury of three
men, representing Finland, Uruguay and
the United States. viii award prizes
to all 10 of the contestants. The win
ner will be awarded q cash prize OF
$4,000. Seven thousand dollars viii
go for the second best design, $4,000 for
the third, $4,000 for the fourth and
prizes OF $1,000 each for the other
six designs.
Guides Sea and Air Pilots.
The lighthouse will be erected with
the purpose of serving as beacon to
guide navigation both by land and sea.
1t win be built on site In the great
Pan-American Park, for which $500
acres of waterside property have been
donated by the Dominican government.
The reservation includes the location
of the original city founded by the
brother of Christopher, Bartholomew
Columbus, and upon 1t stand the ruins
of the Dominican Church of the
Rosary, the oldest Christian Church in
the Western Hemisphere.
Part Of the tract will provide for
an airport, measuring at least 1000
by 5000 feet.
Mention of this monument reviews an
interesting dispute which arose in 1877
and continued over period Of years.
The point at issue was, where actually
rested the bones of Christopher Co.
lumbus?" At least II italian cities had
claimed the honor of being his birth
place and in 1877 the cities of Havana
and Santo Domingo entered into a
heated dispute IS 10 which might
truthfully claim the honor Of being his
final resting place.
Shortly before his death at Valladolid,
Spain, in 1906, Columbus requested that
he be buried in Espanola, as Santo
Domingo was then known. After his
death, however, there was no place In
the new country considered worthy Of
receiving his body, as the great Cathe-
Oral of Santo Domingo had not been
built at the time: He was buried In
the church of st. Francis in Vallodolid.
A few years later his ashes were re-
moved to be buried beside his son,
Diego, in the church Of the Carthusian
Monastery near Seville.
1t is not known definitely when the
remains of Christopher and his son
were brought across the seas to be
buried in the soil of the land of his
discovery. But 1t is thought to have
been between 154l, when the Cathedral
of Santo Domingo was consecrated, and
1549, when the Archbishop of Santo
Domingo wrote in document stu in
existence that "tfe tomb of Don Girls
tobal Colon, which contains his bones,
is much revered in this cathedral"
Mistake in Coins Claimed.
The body of Christopher was buried
at the gospel side Of the altar with
that of his son. Later the body Of his
grandson, Louis, was buried at the
epistle side of the altar.
In 1895, when Spain coded the island
Of ESpanola to France, permission was
granted the Spaniards to remove the
ashes Of Christopher Columbus to
Havana, Cuba, their largest possession
in the Western Hemisphere. In Decem-
Der Of that year, amid great pomp and
ceremony, the vault on the gospel side
of the altar was opened, and a box,
containing some bones and human dust,
was removed under the impression that
the earthly remains of Christopher were
contained in that box. The whole was
placed in gilded leaden CONN and
borne with military honors to Havana,
where it was placed irf a niche pre-
pared in the wall of the cathedral
Eighty-one years later the world was
astonished by word from Santo Do
mingo that while engaged in extensive
repair and restoration work on the old
cathedral of that city, workmen dis
covered a small vault on the epistle
side of the altar, which on deciphering
the inscription on the lid of the case,
was said to be the casket of Don Luis
Colon, grandson of Christopher Column
bus. horn in Santo Domingo in 1920
and who died in 1872 in Oran and
had also been buried in the cathedral
next to his father and grandfather.
The discovery of this vault led to fur
Their extensive investigations and IN
September, 1795, on the right side of
the altar in addition to the vault which
had been emptied by the Spaniards in
1795, another vault was discovered con-
tanning a leaden case. the upper side of
which was incrusted with lime. On the
inside of the casket, an inscription was
discovered bearing in German Gothic
letters, the words "Illtre y Esde Varon
On. Criztoval Colon" which was later
interpreted as being Industrious and
Famous Baron Christopher Columbus"
A refutation of the claim of the Do
minican ecclesiaStics and authorities
was made Immediately by the Spaniards
who Indignantly claimed that fraud
was being perpetrated in order TO take
from them the honor Of guarding the
ashes of the explorer. But 1t was es-
tablished beyond doubt, by impartial
judges and learned persons, that the
leaden casket found In the Cathedral