BEAUTY IN ARCHITECTURE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 91, 11 January 1919, Page 5

BEAUTY IN ARCHITECTURE

. THE WELLINGTON ANGLICAN • " ' CATHEDRAL. s • Since the beginning of man's sojourn on this earth, the beautiful in nature has always been a spur to his better instincts and ambitions. The colours of land and sea and Sky, the beauty of the human form, the tall columns of the forest trees—lie has copicd thcni into pictures and sculpture and architecture. As objects of art mnny of these works have been treasured for hundreds' ot yeare, ; and history teaches that a peoplo that has neither art nor literature cannot survive; they fall steadily but surely into ■ oblivion, being merged into other nations in whom the divine love of the beautiful lias found free, expression. In no region'of the realm of art', has mankind achieved greater triumphs than in "that of., architecture; and no-' whero in architecture more Ihan in tho building of glorious cathedrals. In earlier days .. men and )vomen gladly laboured with their hands, at skilled or unskilled work connected with the building, while the masters in art and architecture planned and directed. To-day sees different fashions and customs in tlio world. Yet in the building of a splendid memorial cathedral such as the Anglican Cathedral, which it is proposed to erect iii' Wellington, whea'o St. Mark's Church now stands, everybody can help just as effectively as if they made mortar with their, hands or carried water, or fashioned tlio stone. It is by free-will offerings that this cathedral is to bo built, and there is a gradation of gifts which may be made, so that everyone may givo definitely a portion of the cathedral. , A tower may be built for .£IO,OOO, and be dedicated either as a memorial or a thankofferihg, for a soldier lost''in the war or a soldier safe-returned. And so tlio. list Tuns down—transept, Galileo porch, bnptietry, roso window, and a score of others—down to tlio lesser ornaments, of tho hugo building, which 'the widow's mito may. purchase, and. tho widow's heart'dedicate. To learn nioro of this splendid seliemo it is only' necessary to communicate with tho lion, organising secretary, Bov. C. P. Askew, St. Mark's Vicarage, Wellington.—Advt.