Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/86

70 POINTED STYLE IX GERMANY. Part II. St. Stephen's of Vienna ranks fourth or fifth among the great churches of Germany, both for size and richness of decoration. Its length, internally, is 337 ft., its width 115, and it covers about 52,000 square ft. It is situated too near the eastern edge of the province for us to expect anything very pure or perfect as an example of Gothic art, and it certainly sins against every canon that a purist would enact. The three aisles are nearly equal in width and height, — there is no clerestory — no triforium. There are two very tall windows in each bay. The pillars are covered with sculpture, more remarkal)le for its richness than its ajtpropriateness, and the tracery of the vaults is very defective. Yet, with all these faults, and many more, no one with a trace of poetry in his composition can stand under the great cavernous western porch and not feel that he has before him one of the most beautiful and imjDressive buildings in Europe. A good deal of this may be owing to the color. The time-stain in the iiave is untouched, the painted glass perfect, and the whole has a venerable look, now too rare. The choir is being smartened up, and its poetry is gone. Meanwhile, no building can stand in more absolute contrast with the cathedral at Cologne than this one at Vienna. The former fails because it is so coldly perfect that it interests no one; this impresses, though offending against all rules, because it was designed by a poet. We feel as if the Rhenish architect would certainly have been Senior Wrangler at Cambridge had he tried, but that liis Danubian bi'other was fit to be Laureate at any court in Germany. It is the same with the exterior. The one great roof running over the three aisles, and covering all up like an extinguisher, ought to be abominable, but it gives a character to the whole that one would be sorry to miss, and is not out of harmony with the excei^tional character of the whole building. The great glory of this church consists in its two s])ires, one of which is finished, the other only carried up to about one-third of its intended height. Their position is unfortunate, as they are placed wdiere the transepts should be, so that they neither form a fa9ade nor dignify the sanctuary ; they occupy, in fact, the position of the lateral entrances which the Germans were so fond of and are the principal portals of the building. In itself, however, the finished spire is the richest, and, excepting that at Friburg, perhaps the most beautiful of all those in Germany. Its total height, exclusive of the eagle, is 441 ft., rising from a base of about 64 ft. square, gradually sloj^ing from the ground to the summit, Avhere it forms a cone of the unprecedently small angle of little more than 9 degrees. The transition from the square base to an octagonal cone is so gradual and so concealed by ornament, that it is difiicult to say where the tower ends and the spire begins. This gives a confusion and weakness to the design by no means pleasing. Indeed, the whole may be taken as an exemplification of all the German principles of design carried