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Title: The Mentor: Beautiful Buildings of the World, Serial no. 33
Author: Clarence Ward
Release Date: January 22, 2016 [EBook #51001]
Language: English
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THE MENTOR
"A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend"
Vol. I No. 33
BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS of the WORLD
TAJ MAHAL SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
THE ALHAMBRA [Illustration] CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
AMIENS CATHEDRAL NEW YORK CITY HALL
_By CLARENCE WARD_
_Professor of Architecture, Rutgers College_
Beauty in architecture is as difficult to define as beauty in nature.
No single factor renders a building beautiful. Size and proportion,
style and decoration, age and setting, all enter into account. And
moreover there is the power a building possesses to appeal to the
ideals of the beholder, to his mind as well as to his sight and touch.
Even when judged from this broad viewpoint, the number of beautiful
buildings in the world is legion. It would be impossible to point to
anyone as the finest, or even to select a dozen without leaving a dozen
more that were equally beautiful. Every age, and every nation, has left
to us some crowning achievements of the builder's art. The following
are therefore merely selections from this storehouse, illustrating to
some degree the wealth of architectural treasures that is our heritage.
Few if any buildings in the world have been the subject of such praise
as that bestowed upon the Taj Mahal ("Gem of Buildings"). Travelers,
painters, authors, and poets have all sought to express in word or
color the indefinable charm of this gem of Indian art. Built at Agra,
in India, by the great mogul of Delhi, Shah Jahan, as a tomb for his
favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj is a veritable translation into
stone of human remembrance and affection. It was begun in 1632, and
was completed in twenty-two years. The material of which it is built
is pure white marble, and inlaid in its walls are jaspers, agates, and
other stones in marvelous designs. But it is perhaps the dome that
gives the greatest beauty to this tomb. Of typical Eastern shape, it
rises a mass of white against the deep blue of the Indian sky, or
shines like silver in the radiance of the Indian moon.
[Illustration: THE TAJ MAHAL
_The approach through the splendid gardens seen in the foreground is
bordered by dark cypress trees, which contrast admirably with the color
of the marble domes beyond._]
THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL TOMB
It cannot be denied that the Taj Mahal (tahzh mah-hahl´) owes much
of its beauty to its setting. Not merely has it the contrast of the
brilliant sky above, but also the deep green of the gardens at its
feet, and more than this the four tall, graceful minarets standing
like sentinels at the corners of the marble terrace on which the tomb
is placed. The interior is scarcely less impressive than this outside
view. Its subdued light serves only to show more clearly the beauty
of the garlands of red and blue and green inlaid along its walls as
never-withering memorials of the queen who sleeps beneath the lofty
dome.
It is perhaps beside her tomb that the traveler sees a vision of the
proud and mighty Jahan, cruel in many ways, but steadfast in his love,
building this glorious resting place for his fair consort, whom he
called by the familiar name of Taj. One may see even farther still and
picture to himself this once proud ruler, bereft of all his power and
even of his throne, looking out from his chamber window toward this
same Taj Mahal. Perhaps its wondrous dome gleamed in the moonlight on
that last night before he came to rest beneath its shades as it gleams
today to the enraptured gaze of thousands who take the pilgrimage to
Agra to see this wonder of the Eastern world.
THE PALACE OF THE MOORISH KINGS
It is not such a step as it may seem from the Taj Mahal to the Alhambra
(al-ham'-bra). Both are oriental. Both are the products of Mohammedan
art, and mark in a way its Eastern and its Western expressions. As
early as the eighth century of our era the Moors of northern Africa
crossed to Spain and made the Iberian peninsula a Moorish califate
or kingdom. Its capital and last stronghold was Granada. And here on
a lofty hill, overlooking the city, King or Calif Al Hamar began the
mighty fortress of the Alhambra in the early years of the thirteenth
century.
[Illustration: COURT OF THE MYRTLES, ALHAMBRA
_The pool is bordered on both sides by beautiful old hedges._]
As is the case with almost every Mohammedan building, its exterior
is extremely plain. But once the door is passed one seems to have
stepped from Europe to the Orient. Courtyards and porticos, halls and
passages, open before the visitor in a truly oriental maze of color and
decoration. The first important court is known as that of the Myrtles.
In its center is a marble basin a hundred and thirty feet long,
bordered with trees of myrtle and orange, and flanked at both ends by
two-storied pavilions with slender marble shafts and graceful Moorish
arches. From one of these pavilions opens the Hall of the Ambassadors,
the throne room of the califs, and the largest chamber in the palace.
THE ALHAMBRA'S BEAUTY
But it is not its size that makes this room imposing. Here, as
elsewhere in the palace, it is the decoration. Rising for three or
four feet from the floor is a band of colored Moorish tiles. All the
wall above is of stucco, molded in lacelike patterns and painted
in blues and reds and brilliant golden yellows. The designs are
largely geometrical or floral, frequently interspersed with Arabic
inscriptions. Some of these when translated read, "God is our refuge,"
"Praise be to God," familiar phrases in Mohammedan faith, or "There is
no conqueror but God." Add to this decoration of the walls imposing
stalactite domes, and ceilings often of cedarwood inlaid with mother of
pearl, and imagine the floors and windows again adorned with oriental
rugs and hangings, and the beauty of the Alhambra will be easily
understood.
[Illustration: HALL OF REPOSE OF THE BATHS, ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: THE GATE OF JUSTICE
_A part of the Alhambra palace not well preserved._]
But neither the Court of the Myrtles nor the Hall of the Ambassadors
is the crowning glory of the palace. This honor belongs to the Court
of the Lions. One hundred and sixteen by sixty-six feet in size, this
court compares with any apartment in the world for pure, exquisite
beauty of design. An open portico, its ceiling borne on a hundred
and twenty-four slender and beautiful marble columns and delicately
ornamented arches, incloses the central space, in the middle of which
rises a magnificent fountain, its basin cut from a single giant block
of alabaster, and supported on the backs of twelve lions of white
marble, emblems of courage and strength.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE ALHAMBRA
_Arched window in the "Tower of the Captivity of Isabel."_]
It is small wonder that the last of the Moorish kings, Boabdil
(bo-ahb-deel´), looked back with many tears at this glorious palace as
he surrendered it in 1492 to his Christian conqueror Ferdinand. Sadly
indeed he and his followers must have crossed again to the dreary
deserts of Africa, since they left behind them the whole fair land of
Spain, which they had adorned not merely with the Alhambra, but with
the Alcázar at Seville, the mosque at Cordova, and other monuments of
their civil and religious greatness.
THE GREAT CATHEDRALS
At the very period when the Mohammedan conquerors of Spain were
building their palace of the Alhambra, the Christians of northern
France were erecting those vast cathedrals which stand today as
the crowning achievements of the builder's art. Paris, Chartres
(shahrtr), Bourges (boorzh), Rheims (reemz), Rouen (roo-ong´), Le Mans
(lee-mong´), Beauvais (bo-vay´) and Amiens (ah-mee-ong´) are but a
few of the long list of French Gothic cathedrals of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. From such a list it is most difficult to choose.
Each one has its distinctive claim to recognition, and its distinctive
features which are not surpassed in any of the others. This fact,
indeed, has caused it to be said that the ideal cathedral should have
the façade of Rheims, the spires of Chartres, the nave of Amiens, and
the choir of Beauvais. But even such an ideal cathedral would not
be perfect without the addition of features from each of the other
churches in our list.
Since, however, it is necessary to choose, let us choose Amiens; for
perhaps this church is most widely acknowledged as the finest example
of the Gothic style. Its façade is a masterpiece of decoration. Three
deeply recessed portals in the lower story are covered with a wealth
of sculptured figures in the round and in relief. Bible lessons and
the events of human life and history, carved here in stone, taught the
terrors of sin and hell and the joys of a godly life as preached in
the church beyond these lofty doors. Nor is the decoration confined to
sculpture; for the whole façade, and in fact the entire church, is a
tracery of stone.
THE GOTHIC GLORY OF AMIENS
[Illustration: SOUTH PORTAL OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL
_The statue of the Virgin which stands in the portal replaces that of
St. Honoré, which was moved to the north transept. The carvings about
the south portal are taken from the life of St. Honoré._]
[Illustration: NAVE OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL]
It is from a side view, however, that Amiens shows at its best the true
glory of Gothic architecture. Nearly five hundred feet long and over
two hundred feet to the ridge line of the roof, it rises high above the
buildings of the city in which it stands, a symbol of the supremacy
of spiritual over earthly things. To be sure it has its faults. The
towers are too low and the central spire is of awkward shape; but the
huge windows, with their tracery in geometric patterns, occupying the
entire space between the buttresses, and these buttresses themselves
with their soaring arches spanning the aisle roofs below, afford an
unsurpassed example of beauty of design combined with the utmost
structural daring. Moreover, the interior is even more imposing. Lofty
piers and pointed arches separate the nave from the aisles. Slender
shafts carry the ribs of the huge vaults of stone forty-three feet in
span, which seem suspended in air one hundred and forty feet from the
pavement below. In the support of these vaults lies the keynote of
Gothic architecture. Though they seem hung as if by magic over walls
of glass, with very little masonry for their support, their weight and
thrust are borne by the sweeping arcs of the exterior flying buttresses
and the huge piers of masonry from which they rise beyond the side
aisle walls. Viewed from a central point, the majestic sweep of the
nave, the soaring height of the eastern apse, the wondrous window of
the northern transept, and the maze of piers and arches and chapels,
all unite to produce a glorious whole which cannot be surpassed in any
monument of any age.
SALISBURY'S SIMPLE BEAUTY
[Illustration: SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
_A view from the northeast, showing plainly the double-cross shape of
the foundation._]
[Illustration: NAVE OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
_A number of interesting monuments were placed between the columns by
James Wyatt._]
If the interior of Amiens personifies in the highest degree the majesty
and glory of Christian faith, the spire of Salisbury may be said to
embody its hope and aspiration. Rising four hundred and four feet from
the ground, this spire has few to rival it in all the world. Other
cathedrals might dispute its claim to first place among spires; but
none is set upon a church so fine. That Salisbury is the most beautiful
cathedral in England is not claimed. As was the case in France, so
here, there are too many churches, each with its own distinctive
points of beauty, for anyone to be the finest of them all.
But Salisbury at least must find a place among the first, and is
especially interesting because it is exactly contemporary as to date
with Amiens in France. Architecturally both are Gothic; yet the
difference in design is as great as the distance in miles between
them. Low instead of lofty, with little decoration, and set in the
midst of nature's grass and trees instead of in a crowded city,
Salisbury's appeal is through the quiet beauty of its line, and the
simplicity of its construction in contrast to the complex structure
of the French cathedral. The Gothic of England was rarely the Gothic
of carefully balanced thrust and pressures, of flying buttresses and
huge window spaces. Here at Salisbury the walls are still quite heavy
and the windows only moderately large. They have no tracery of stone;
but are simple, narrow openings in the walls, with pointed heads so
like a lance in shape that they have given the name of Lancet to this
period of English Gothic architecture. Slow to throw off their earlier
traditions, the English builders clung, even in Gothic days, to many
of the characteristics of the Norman era, which had produced such
masterpieces as Durham and Peterborough, Ely and Norwich, cathedrals.
The result of this is especially evident in the interior of Salisbury;
for here, in spite of the shafts of Purbeck marble, one for each hour
in the year, and in spite of the rich moldings of the piers and arches,
the lack of structural unity, and the comparative smallness of the
windows and lowness of the vaulting cause Salisbury's nave to fall far
short of that of Amiens in beauty of construction. Viewed from the
west, the cathedral is also disappointing; for the façade is an ugly
screen wall, badly decorated, and deserving of little praise. But when
seen from north or south or east, with its spire rising from the very
heart of the church, Salisbury is truly inspiring. In its quiet close
it seems the very expression of the church at peace.
CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
[Illustration: CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
_Showing the Mansard roof put on by the celebrated architect, Mansart,
at the order of Louis XIV, to accommodate a large court._]
[Illustration: HALL IN THE CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
_The two stairways seen in the back wind around the same central shaft
and never join._]
Between the construction of Amiens and Salisbury and the building of
the Château of Chambord (shong-bore´) lie two centuries of history.
In them the spiritual power of the church, and the temporal power of
the pope and clergy, which had been supreme throughout the Middle
Ages, gave way to a large extent to a spirit of individualism and a
rising power on the part of the king and nobles. This change had its
effect upon the arts. The palace took precedence over the church in
architecture as the secular took precedence over the religious in
painting and the other arts. The Château of Chambord dates from the
earlier stages of this new architectural era. Built by King Francis
I in the early years of the sixteenth century, it is but one of the
hundreds of châteaux erected by the kings and nobles of France, from
Francis to the fall of the monarchy. Its architectural style is what is
known as early Renaissance. The claim of Chambord to beauty is due,
not so much to its decoration as to its imposing size, to the sense of
spaciousness it conveys, and to the manner in which it reflects the
spirit of its age.
Four hundred feet square along its outer walls, this vast château was
designed by Francis I merely as a hunting seat. The chief exterior
attraction of the building lies in its roof. This is a very maze of
gables, dormers, chimneys, and cupolas, dominated by the lantern that
crowns the center stair, and in which lights were hung to guide belated
hunters from the forest.
THE STAIRWAY OF CHAMBORD
[Illustration: TOWER OF THE GRAND STAIRCASE
_Château de Chambord._]
This stairway is the chief attraction of the interior. Sweeping round
a central newel which forms an open well, it rises the full height of
the building. Moreover, it is not a single flight of steps, but two,
so placed that one person may go up and one come down, yet never meet.
From this stairway four large halls open at every floor, and four
hundred and forty rooms and fifty other stairs fill up the wings of
this great palace. The interior, when richly furnished, must have been
magnificent.
In spite of its size, Chambord has little history of which to boast.
Nothing of importance or even of special interest took place there.
NEW YORK CITY HALL
[Illustration: STAIRWAY IN THE NEW YORK CITY HALL.]
We are fortunate indeed as a nation to have had in our earlier days an
architecture that could boast of such pleasing monuments as the New
York City Hall. Our ancestors in both the North and South were strongly
influenced from the point of view of art by that English Renaissance
which reached its culmination in the hands of Sir Christopher
Wren. Many a New England church and many a Southern home boasts
an architectural beauty of rare charm and in rare accord with the
natural setting of this new land. Nor were we less fortunate in public
works. The old and new statehouses in Boston, Independence Hall in
Philadelphia, and the Capitol in Washington are but a few of the early
buildings in America that, like the New York City Hall, are worthy to
rank among the best in beauty of design. The latter was the work of
John McComb, Jr., and was built between 1803 and 1812 in a style based
largely upon the Italian Renaissance. Though not of very great size,
its proportions are remarkably fine, and its architecture beautiful.
For good taste and for excellence of workmanship it is as worthy of the
city of millions today as of the city of thousands for which it was
first built.
[Illustration: OLD COLONIAL CHAMBER
_The office of the Borough President of Manhattan in New York City
Hall._]
That the source of beauty in architecture is indefinable, this brief
account of six of the world's finest buildings has clearly shown.
No two are alike; yet all are beautiful. And this quality lies not
merely in size and proportions, in design and decoration, but in the
appeal that each one makes to the mind as well as to the eye. Thus
the Taj Mahal fairly speaks of human remembrance, the Alhambra is the
embodiment of oriental luxury, Amiens affords a majestic picture of
religious power, and Salisbury of quiet Christian worship, Chambord
conjures up visions of gay kings and courtiers, while New York in its
City Hall possesses a worthy monument of civic interest and pride. Many
another building could be added to such a list as ours, and in the case
of each it would be found that added to its visible and tangible beauty
was an invisible character that marked it above its fellows. It is from
this broad standpoint that all architecture should be judged.
[Footnote: SUPPLEMENTARY READING:--"History of Architecture," Hamlin;
"Indian and Eastern Architecture," Fergusson; "Medieval Architecture,"
Porter; "Handbook of English Cathedrals," Van Rensselaer; "Renaissance
Architecture in France," Blomfield.]
THE MENTOR
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381 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y.
Volume I Number 33
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, FOUR DOLLARS. SINGLE COPIES TWENTY CENTS.
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CENTS EXTRA. ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y., AS
SECOND-CLASS MATTER. COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION,
INC. PRESIDENT, THOMAS H. BECK; VICE-PRESIDENT, WALTER P. TEN EYCK;
SECRETARY, W. D. MOFFAT; TREASURER, J. S. CAMPBELL; ASST. TREASURER
AND ASST. SECRETARY, H. A. CROWE.
_Editorial_
A man much occupied in his business was asked how he came to know so
much on so many different subjects. His answer was: "Not by study--I
have had no time for that--I have got my knowledge from the men who
could give it to me, and from the reading that they have suggested to
me. When several of my friends who know a subject have told me about
it, I have got it in a way that I could not get in study. I have got it
from different points of view."
***
These words were said in the course of a conversation about The
Mentor. Someone had referred to the variety of subjects offered in
the schedule of The Mentor Association, and had asked whether certain
regular courses of reading could not be included with advantage. With
the thought of that business man and others like him, we are aiming
for something larger and more beneficial than a fixed set of reading
courses. We have planned to give in The Mentor the broad, liberal
knowledge that comes not from a strict course of study closely adhered
to, but from contact with writers of authority in varied fields. The
readers of The Mentor get the rich benefits afforded by many minds, and
the year's reading is wide in its reach and well balanced.
So much for the general plan of The Mentor Association. But there is
something to be said for the reader who wants to have a logical course
of reading through the seasons. So while we offer variety from week to
week, we plan to cover the larger subjects in groups of articles that
are definitely related to each other.
***
If one wants to follow out a certain subject, whether it be travel,
history, or art, he can take up the reading of his Mentors in groups.
Look at the schedule of 1913. In the varied program of the year's
reading you will detect numbers that naturally belong together. You can
select a set of Mentors that will take you on a trip to interesting
places, with Mr. Dwight L. Elmendorf as a companion. If literature is a
subject of interest to you, you can select Mentors on literary matters
prepared under the advice of, and some of them written by, Mr. Hamilton
W. Mabie. Suppose that history is what you are after; Professor Albert
Bushnell Hart gives you the "Story of America" in several numbers.
It is hardly necessary to point out what Professor John C. Van Dyke
has done for fine art in the numbers of The Mentor prepared under his
direction. And so groups of Mentors on other subjects may be brought
together out of the schedule.
***
In preparing the schedule for 1914 we have taken thought not only for
the wide scope of the whole year's plan, but for the treatment of
special subjects in a way that will form natural groups. We have found
this condition has met with favor, and it seems worth while to assure
ourselves that all the readers of The Mentor appreciate it. We are
told that some are gathering the numbers relating to a single subject
together so as to have a small library on each subject available for
reference. Not a bad idea. Imagine what an attractive set of volumes
could be made out of twenty or thirty Mentors on travel by Mr.
Elmendorf! Think what a beautiful and valuable set of books could be
had by binding up the art numbers! Keep your back numbers. They are
just as valuable as the ones to come.
[Illustration: THE TAJ MAHAL]
_Taj Mahal_
ONE
At the top of a precipice overhanging the River Jumna in India stands
the most poetic mausoleum in the world. The Taj Mahal, "a dream in
marble, designed by Titans and finished by jewelers," is the tomb built
by Shah Jahan, the Mogul emperor, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, whom he
called Taj-Bibi. She was the loveliest beauty of the Indies, and Shah
Jahan loved her so passionately that he thought of no other woman while
she lived and was lost in grief after her death. He vowed that her tomb
should be the most beautiful building in the world.
The Taj is of snow-white marble outside and jeweled mosaic within. It
was planned by a Persian, Ustad Isa, who designed in the Persian rather
than the Indian style of architecture. Twenty thousand men worked
twenty-two years to finish it. In the center of a great square, paved
with white marble and having a slender tower of the same stone at each
corner, rises the memorial of Taj-Bibi--not merely a masterpiece of
architecture, but also a perfect interpretation of womanly nature. The
spirit of Mumtaz Mahal seems to have been carved into the marble.
The mosaic work of the interior is the finest to be found in any
eastern country. Precious stones are used unsparingly--jasper and
agate, carnelian and chalcedony. Marble lacework of wonderful lightness
screens the windows and doorways. In the center are the tombs of Mumtaz
Mahal and Shah Jahan; but their bodies, according to the Indian custom,
lie in a vault beneath the building. Shah Jahan had begun a tomb for
himself on the opposite side of the river, which he never finished
because Aurantzeb, his son, rebelled against him and took away the
empire. He was therefore buried by the side of his beloved wife.
Shah Jahan was a cold and haughty man; but he ruled India well, and
his pride was softened in later life by the death of his wife. It is
said that during his reign he brought India peace and prosperity by
putting all his rivals to death. Besides the Taj Mahal, two other
famous buildings, the Pearl Mosque at Agra and the great mosque of
Delhi, which were built by Shah Jahan, have made his reign one of the
most memorable in Indian history. The emperor's treasury must have been
practically unlimited; for the peacock throne, made during his reign,
was estimated by Tavernier to be worth sixty million dollars. The
festival at his coronation alone cost eight millions.
There is a legend that when he had finished the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan
ordered the architect to be thrown over the cliff into the River Jumna,
for fear he might plan another building as beautiful as the Taj.
[Footnote: PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. I, No. 33. SERIAL No. 33 COPYRIGHT.
1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.]
[Illustration: THE ALHAMBRA--COURT OF THE LIONS]
_The Alhambra_
TWO
The people about Granada have always held that the Palace of the
Alhambra was built under a magic spell. To their minds human
workmanship and the power of wealth are too feeble for the erection of
a structure so enduring and magnificent. Indeed, great architects can
hardly conceive the skill that balanced those halls and gardens and
towers one against the other with perfect symmetry, or the patience
that worked out each interlaced design without error in either the art
or the chiseling.
Pains and expense were not spared in the construction, and it is no
wonder that the Spaniards should have thought the work supernatural.
Slim pillars of the rarest white marble give grace to every court
of the palace. The carvings and designs are everywhere gilded, and
where these are painted between the gilding, blue, red, and yellow,
the purest colors only are used. The blue is ultramarine, made from a
precious stone, the lapis lazuli of the Egyptians, which never fades.
Besides warmth of color and grace of form, the Moorish architects
worked for durability. The aqueducts they built still bring an abundant
supply of water from the mountains to fill those baths, fountains and
marble-bordered ponds for which the courts and gardens of the Alhambra
are famous. In spite of earth-quakes the columns and arches have nearly
all held their place and their perfect form. The palace that Charles
V built there in a vain effort to rival the Moorish masterpiece, and
for which he made room by removing part of the Alhambra palace, stands
today an uncompleted and roofless ruin; while the much older Alhambra
is still clothed in a glory of bright, fresh color.
The Alhambra is not one building, but a collection of buildings on
a high plateau. Long before the erection of the great palace the
hilltop was surrounded by a wall with many towers for defense, and the
Alcazaba, the first palace built on the Alhambra hill, was used as a
residence by the early kings of Granada. Older than all, the "Vermilion
Towers" stand on a neighboring hill, some distance outside the now
ruined Alhambra wall.
The Palace of the Alhambra is said to have been started by Mohammed:
but the foundations were probably laid by Calif Al Hamar, who is also
distinguished for having begun to pay a yearly tribute to the kings
of Castile. The construction went on during several reigns, and was
completed by Yusuf with the building of the Gate of Justice in 1348.
All the later kings of Granada lived in it until 1492, when the Moorish
power fell before Ferdinand and Isabella, and Boabdil was banished
forever from the home of his fathers.
[Illustration: AMIENS CATHEDRAL]
_Amiens Cathedral_
THREE
It was at Amiens that the renowned Saint Martin gave half of his cloak
to a beggar who stood shivering by the roadside. Other saints in that
city, though we know less of their life histories, must have exercised
even more generosity during the Middle Ages to build and rebuild the
old cathedral in the face of repeated misfortune. The patience and zeal
with which those men of Amiens raised up their cathedral four times
from its ashes, remain forever in the fame of this most perfect of
French Gothic churches.
When the Norsemen plundered the coast of France in 881 they sent
a great fleet up the River Somme. Amiens, taken by surprise, fell
before the attack of those reckless and powerful old Vikings, and the
cathedral, then a flimsy wooden structure, was burned to the ground.
A new building which the people of Amiens put up in the same place
when they had sufficiently recovered from the losses of the invasion,
was destroyed by lightning in 1019. The next structure was burned in
1107, and the one that replaced it was struck by lightning in 1218 and
completely ruined. Then in 1220 the present cathedral was begun. Even
that has not escaped entirely from the lightning and conflagration that
had wrecked so many structures on the same spot. In 1258, before the
work was completed, the woodwork caught fire, and was so badly charred
that part of it had to be taken down and rebuilt. Traces of fire may
still be seen on some of the arches. Later the slim central spire,
which is one of the striking features of Amiens Cathedral, was so badly
damaged by lightning that it had to be made over.
The chief treasure of Amiens is part of the head of John the Baptist,
naturally a religious relic of extraordinary interest. It is kept in
the chapel of Saint John Baptist, and shown only at the most important
ceremonies. All that remains is the front part of the skull, including
the face, and this is inclosed in a hood of silver-gilt. The relic is
said to have been kept for a long time in one of the churches in Asia,
from which it was removed to Constantinople, and later taken from that
city to Amiens, where it has rested ever since.
[Illustration: SALISBURY CATHEDRAL]
_Salisbury Cathedral_
FOUR
The Cathedral of Saint Mary at Salisbury is not filled with gilding
and warm color as the churches of southern Europe are. Its builders
aimed rather at simplicity such as their forefathers used--plain gray
walls, unornamented columns and arches, and few paintings. The edifice
seems to reflect the antique dignity of those upright pillars of the
Druids at Stonehenge, which is not far from Salisbury. Here we have the
outcome of British race feeling in splendidly finished architecture
placed almost side by side with that early crude expression of it.
The cathedral was begun in 1220 by Richard Poore, the bishop at Old
Sarum, who was so much annoyed by the officers of the king that he
decided to move the church to a site on his own land which has since
been named Salisbury. Old Sarum Cathedral, built on a bleak hill, had
suffered for lack of water. In his choice of a foundation Bishop Poore
went to the other extreme; for the swampy fields by the Avon, on which
this new cathedral was erected, were so often flooded that services
sometimes had to be suspended for days.
The beautiful Lady Chapel was built in five years. The entire building,
except the spire, which was not in the original plan, took only
forty-six years to complete. It was consecrated in 1266. But when the
spire was erected the architect in charge failed to strengthen the
foundations sufficiently. The pillars and arches bulged; for they had
never been intended to support such weight. In spite of arches walled
up and buttresses built, the tower sagged nearly two feet toward the
south, and has remained in that position ever since.
Though simplicity and calmness are characteristic of the original
Salisbury Cathedral, they have been emphasized to the point of bareness
by the restoration of James Wyatt, who destroyed nearly all the stained
glass windows, two chapels, and a belfry, and moved many of the tombs.
There are niches in the cathedral for over a hundred statues, which for
some reason were nearly empty at the middle of the last century. The
statues now in place are almost all modern: sculptured, however, with a
view to holding the original significance of the architecture. They are
arranged to represent the Te Deum.
[Illustration: CHATEAU DE CHAMBORD]
_Château de Chambord_
FIVE
In the park of the château, near the banks of the Loire, great ragged
trees reach out across the sky, cutting off the faint light of the
stars. It is midnight. Indistinctly from the direction of the château
comes a baying of deerhounds. It passes overhead through the middle
air, with trampling and the sound of horns, then dies away into the
distance. The ghost of Tibault de Champagne, first hereditary Count
Blois, a black hunter followed by black dogs, is chasing the stag. Each
midnight, so the people of that country say, the grim old baron rides
by with a full pack.
Count Tibault had a castle there by the Loire, and for centuries his
descendants used it as a hunting resort. In 1397 it passed into the
hands of Louis d'Orléans. Francis I, a king of the house of Orléans,
who knew the abandoned structure in his boyhood, developed in the
country round this castle his well known passion for the chase, and
that is why he chose the ruined feudal stronghold in the heart of a
great forest for the site of his royal palace, when he might have built
on any one of a hundred lovely spots not far away along the Loire.
The king's taste did not please his courtiers, who were less found
of hunting and solitude. They would have preferred a large city, or
at least some fertile valley nearby. Chambord was a palace in the
wilderness. It could not be seen from a distance, and the view from its
windows was only a dreary wood. The building has been described as a
dream from the Arabian Nights come true.
Louis XIV made many alterations in the château. He ordered Mansart to
construct rooms enough for the accommodation of a large court, and the
architect, after racking his brains over the problem, cut up the roof
for projecting windows in that style which has since become known as
the Mansard roof. The principal door of the court is also Mansart's
work.
In 1793 the revolutionists sold everything of value that could be moved
from the château, and Chambord was stripped of its glory in a few days.
It has never been completely restored. Though by no means a ruin today,
the château suffers for lack of the magnificent furnishings for which
it was originally designed.
[Illustration: CITY HALL, NEW YORK]
_City Hall, New York_
SIX
With the highest buildings in the world rising in rivalry nearby,
attracting every eye because of their novelty, the New York City Hall
often escapes notice, or is given shorter consideration than its
excellent architecture and historical significance deserve. Though
it is neither large nor expensive, it is better designed and more
carefully executed than any of the older public buildings in the
country.
John McComb is generally accepted as the architect; but it would be
safer to speak of him as the builder, since most of the designing
seems to have been done by a French surveyor, Joseph Mangin. To Mangin
are probably due that shapely and dignified architecture which gives
it a place among beautiful buildings, and the skilful design of its
decorations. McComb carried out the work of building with great care,
receiving six dollars a day for his time. The construction was begun
in 1803. The first intention was to use brownstone. McComb, however,
saw that no meaner material than marble could do justice to the purpose
or the workmanship of the proposed City Hall. Accordingly he persuaded
the committee in charge to let him use marble on three sides. The
stone was hauled over from the Berkshire Hilts by horses and oxen; for
locomotives had not yet been invented.
One room of the City Hall was set aside for the State governor's
use; and it has lately been restored to the original condition. Many
excellent portraits hang on the walls. The furniture of the Governor's
Room was largely taken from Federal Hall, where Washington was
inaugurated and the city government was located before the building of
the City Hall. Federal Hall has unfortunately been destroyed. It stood
at the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets, and was built with stone from
the wall that gave Wall Street its name.
A number of years ago there was a proposal to remove the City Hall from
its present position because it was no longer large enough for the city
government and was too far from the center of Greater New York. Then,
because of its architectural merit as well as its history, such protest
was aroused that both building and park have been kept intact.
In May, 1917, a fire burned the tower and destroyed the clock of the
City Hall.
Transcriber's Notes:
'inclose' is an older form of 'enclose', probably still in use when
this book was written.
Italic writing is shown like this: _italic_
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