RHEIMS IN RUINS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVII, Issue 165563, 15 June 1918, Page 5

RHEIMS IN RUINS.

CATHEDRAL A MERE WRECKRheinis, wh;eh has -.icon on firo >or a week, is now nothing but a yro.it I>fi!o of s.aokinj; ruins, savs a clespatch fret.i Paris at Jho oiul of AprilDuring ttio jkisi wook the Germans lave tired juoro than I<X>,(X>.) shel|> into the- heart of the city. according ti» iiu> correspondent of the "Matin " and tlam.s from tho burning buildings '.-.m In; si-on liy av:ators sixty and x vniiy miltvi away. There are no traces*of streets ami thoroughfares, which have disappeared from view under the accumulation of debris. Ancient buildings in the Phi'.--' Itavnld and tho market place and fie musicians' home, which date* from tl" lGtli century, havo boon reduced to diKt and ashes. The vaulting of tho famous Ttheims Cathedral, the correspondent says, '.s railing stone by stone, and soon will he «io«l»ing left but tho west frcnt nnd the pillars. Shel!s_ are stili hurst - iiiir "H around ihe huilding. Xc.twithstanding the terrible bom-b.-rdment. forty Paris firemen remainml in the city working to save >e riirn : ture ami portable effects of the inhabitant:-. Some of them havo 10-t their liv.*>-. There are also lrx-.il firemen. one f.|" whom, Sergeant- Kioi. h;u t>en on duty in ltlieims sime tl.r outbreak of war and has l>een wound etl l-l ti-.iis. Rheims l»eforo the war was a ei'v of more «han KX'XXtO souls. In their first advance in tho fall of 1914 the Get mans held Itheims for several days, but the battle *»f the Jlarue stopped rheir advance, and they fell back to a line a few ni l's north and norili-oa-'t ef the city. Since then big German guiu have been liombarduig the ct'y ami its f:imous_ cathedral. The population of the city until a f.w tuontiis ago was ie>s than IS.OOO. but. these ptryotis lived in dugouts or in cellar.and ill-' city was virtually dead. Th«» cathedral was one of the most magnificent exantp!es of early Goth ••• nrchitccture. and was Wsmi in 1212"ihe west facade has three |v>rta!s wc.ieli contain about- ">3O statues. Almvo tho portals was the gorgeous rt.se window, forty feet, in diameter, and one of the finest specimens of Iho art of s'ainc-1 glass construction. l"j» tw Ist November, l'Jlsi, the Germans l:aU tired tho-isaiuis c>: ahel.s into the citv. IOC'J of which bad muck tho cati»edr;;l. Stuce sh-u whenever the German troops mov with rwerx-s the enemy guns took up the iKunlunlmcnt anew. Un'-il th-i l;i»t. bombardment the ca-h.-d.:!) liad tulf'-'ivd jjreatly. The ieaiien rsofs had Ik en destroyed and the roso window aJiuo-t v-ruially ?>>. In Januatv, 1917, Enioaror AYiliam, ill to a request from _Popo Benedict, said ho wcuhl p-vinit repairs to be made to the cat htlral u his endeavour "to preserve from the terrors of war veuerablo places of religious worship aud monuments of which I co;is;dcr aj tho common ptoperty of humanity." i The German militarv nuUioritie.; have attempted to ex<-i»so Uie Ix.mbardinent of the cathedral on tlireround that it was be-ii- u-cd for mi'itnrv pnrooses by tho French, •"hi* «!;>!••.! li:i< ""on repoat.Ml- »>" I'.v T.ircon. who until : f«-w wt»t'J:s o"ii :i):>de Irs I'ome in ;i;, riwil'iifi" lw'<i'<!o the cathedral i:umiisdful of German liatrcd.