THE COLOGNE CATHEDRAL.

Western Star, Issue 426, 12 March 1881, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE COLOGNE CATHEDRAL.

Ihe cathedral has bean discussed over and over ajgainby writers so unsparingly in their adtoiration that perhaps the tide has latterly turned the other way. The world of Ecclesiastical art has always felt an overpowering sense of gratitude to the fabric to have had subh a beneficial influence on the human mind. Cologne Cathedral saw the last of the attempt to work Romanesque, or the latest form of Roman architecture, tO the sublime results of the modern cathedral. Notwithstanding the doctrine of architectural evolutionists, that there cannot or ought not to be two contemporary styles, it is a fact that the foundations of a Romanesque basilica were laid at Cologne about the same date. The style of the Cathedral was a daring leap into tbe future, as may be measured by the fact of its foundation being only twenty years later than that of Salisbury Cathedral. We are not disparaging the effect of all our grand ecclesiastical structures to keep alive the sentiment in favor of mediaeval art. That sentiment has never been quite extinct, Wrenn was deeply imbued with Gothic grace of form and outline. All through the last century the taste lingered, but held its ground as an 131

ineradicable superstition, and works of geriins as well as learning were written to f describe the great achievements of Gothic architecture, and to analyse its beauties, | very long before there was a single iridividual in England; or any other country, | who could have 1 been trusted to design the humblest village church in one of the I Gothic styles. Nevertheless, so far as it I is possible for one edifice; Cologne bathes drill hris done more than ever to sustain | the character! of that style throughout the i whble period of the Palladian revival, and it 6 hnrig a,bont the revival of the medife- ■ val or so-called Gothic style; Yet praise is df littlie worth if it is not' discritiiiriaI tirife 'arid therie' are some necessary qrialiifieatiOris in thiS fease.* The proportions of this - blinding/ seetri rather matheiaatio; thari really Esthetic. The’ towers—over SOO as high as the cathedral is |lOiig, Which is ;ridt long; enough for either liriterrial or external effect. ! The external ■height! Of the'/rdof is aborit eiqu'al to the iwidth of the transepts—that' is’more than *280; feet. Thd internal Height, of the ' building is dtpr 160 /feet. Which is twice ItheuSttril iriternarheight : of;Our first-class icathedrals, and 60 feet higher than the highest part in the interior, of Westmirisiste'r/Abbey. Yet at Oolbgrie the width of ’the 'nave arid 5 choir, without the aisles, is yerjr‘little over 40 feet, arid in that imimehse'iriterior there is positively no space | clear* df pillars 1 larger than a square of 40 ! feet; The extra therefore, is objtaixied by double aisles, and the result’ is ja forest of tall; pillars. Tourists with a quarter of ari* hour tb utilize generally isperid most of it in trying to. see the 5 roof, and inake out soiae bosses of special bearity and iriterest; but ! the mere; distance x£ that vaulting .froin the eye interferes' with its pffect as a vista stretching before the spectator, as well as above ;hiriri; But there 5 are graver faults even ■the* these, or.’ even , the dumpy: arid icrGwded effect of the exterior. Ingenious icritibs tell ns that the legend Has marveljlorisly Hit the 5 character of the design, or ■rather that the dpsign bears out the jlegerid; 1 It' warits originality.' It wants free, inventive and creative grace. It is an endless repetition of the same identical. forrns —the same pillars, the same ■wiidows/ the ‘' same niches, the same 'mouldings,- the saine pirinacles, the same 'ornamental. features. When you have Isben/a part ypu Have seen 5 all, that is SO frir ris details are concerned., This seeiris 1 to reduce the edifice to an enormous exagIgeratibn arid multiplicatiori, a merbfeat of arithmetic instead of a work of Jtrtie ’’art. Thrisb briticiskris haVe ! been made; arid they speak for themselves. It must be remembered that the variety dei siderated is often the result Of successive and alterations than of one 'original design. Such a design there was in this instance ; it wap left incomplete for ages, and therefore bbuld riot be added to ; it survived by centuries the disuse o|E/Gothic architecture. Had there bebri sriccessive additions, Arid had fresh architects been allowed to indulge in their own fancies, most probably we should have had the Cathedral plastered over with Palladian. In firie, : we must take the Cathedral as it is, and thank heaven for it—London Times. / ’ !!