WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 23, 28 January 1911, Page 12

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.

A NOVEL LIGHTING SCHEME. Two magnificent electric light pendants have recently been hung ill the great nave of Westminster Cathedral. They are part of an elaborate and rather novel scheme by which, in course of time, as the money comes in, the whole of the naVe will be illuminated. The Chronicle states that some time ago a firm of art metal workers provided lamps for the sanctuary, and then asked permission to erect lamps in the nave of the cathedral Archbishop Bourne hesitated. Lamps for the nave, of a character, design, and size in keeping with the cathedral would be a costly undertaking, and no money was available ior the purpose. Ultimately an agreement was reached that the lampfl should be provided, but that no claim for payment should be made until they were used by order of the cathedral authority. It was decided to have six pendants oh each side, suspended froth cantilevers fixed into the walls a few fqet below the springing of the domes. These cantilevers are- on the level of the floor of the passages that run the whole lehgth of the nave, just above the vaulting of the galleries. It is interesting to note that the wuole scheme of lighting is based on the illumination of the Church of Saint Sophia in Constantinople, a description of which may be read in a poem once sent to the Emperor Justinian. The effect of the lighting in that church, according to the ancient poet, wan "as though some midnight oun illuminated the gldries of the temple," and that " the night aeemed to flout the light of day, and be itself as rosy as the dawn." The arrangements consisted of a thousand lamps showing their gleaming lights, and hanging aloft by chains of rnatiy windings, Some high, some low, "in comely curves of light," and from twisted chains they " sweetly flash in their courses, like stars rising from point to point." Sn Saint Sophia the lalnp3 were hung in the galleries and aisles, between the columns, around the dome, and also from a large central corona suspended by radiating chainß from the cornice of the dome. Under the terms of the agreement between the Archbishop and tin makers the pendants will not be used until a sum of £2005 has been raised to defray the cost. " The uulighted lamps aloft,' 1 said one of the clergy to our representative, "may spur the generosity of our Congregation. No money is to be forthcoming so iong as they are not turned on. but directly a Ipmp is lighted the makers may ask for payment."