Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/127

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CATHEDRAL 119 of the holy see, and in 1185 Heraclitus, patri- arch of Jerusalem, officiated in the church. The west front was finished by Maurice de Sally, the bishop, in 1223. The southern tran- sept with its portal was completed in 1257, and the northern transept and portal in 1312 by Philip the Fair. The western doors with their iron work were made about 1570-'80 by Biscourette. The dimensions are as follows : length 390 ft., width of transept 144 ft., height of vaulting 105 ft., height of western towers 224 ft., width of front 128 ft., length of nave to transept 186 ft. The pillars of the nave are 4 ft. in diameter, resting on gravelled beds 18 ft. below the surface. The style of architec- ture is pure pointed. The nave and side aisles are paved with marble ; the aisles around the choir are paved with stone and black marble. An immense vault, extending the entire length of the nave, was constructed in 1666 for the interment of chaplains, &c. The organ is 45 ft. high, 36 ft. wide, and has 3,484 pipes. The interior of Notre Dame is not so rich in deco- rations as the exterior. The arches of the nave are pointed ; the piers are circular pillars, with large and well formed capitals. The pil- lars of the aisles are alternately circular and clustered. The cathedral covers 64,108 sq. ft. England has many cathedrals worthy of par- ticular mention. That at Salisbury is the most perfect and beautiful specimen. It was founded by Bishop Richard Poore in the year 1220, in the reign of Henry III., and was finished hi 1260. Its plan is a double cross, in extreme length 442 ft., length of greater transept 203 ft. The cathedral at Canterbury dates from shortly af- ter the Norman conquest. It was built on the site of an earlier cathedral, and modelled after that of St. Stephen at Caen, from which plan subsequent alterations have deviated. It has three towers, one in the centre and two at the west end. The northwestern tower, of Nor- man date, was replaced by a new one in 1832. The centre tower, which is 235 ft. in height, was begun toward the end of the 15th century. The cathedral is 574 ft. long and the greater transept 159 ft. The crypts, which extend under the entire building, are the finest in England. The interior of the eastern part, known as Becket's corona, had but recently been finished when the cathedral was partly destroyed by fire in 1872. Ely cathedral is 517 ft. in length and 190 in breadth, and has a nave 203 ft. long, 81 wide, and 74 high. The style of the building externally is Norman and early English. The centre tower and lantern, 270 ft. high, supported on eight large piers, is a remarkable feature. Lincoln cathedral is one of the most perfect examples of the early English style. It is 524 ft. long outside, and 482 inside. The greater transept is 250 ft. long outside by 222 inside. The chief tower is 300 ft. high. The cathedral at York is irregu- lar in plan, and its parts are of different date, yet its aspect is imposing from its grand di- mensions. It is 524 ft. long, 222 wide, and has a superb centre tower. The nave, from door to choir, is 264 ft. long, and is 106 ft. wide and 93 high. It has a small crypt, a consistory court, and an elegant octangular chapter house, which leads from the north transept. St. Paul's, London, was commenced in 1675, Sir Christopher Wren being the architect, and was finished in 1710. It is built of fine Port- land stone, in the form of a Latin cross, its length being 500 ft., the transept 285 ft. long, and the west front 1 80 ft. wide. The campanile towers at the west front are each 222 ft. high. The dome is 365 ft. from the ground, and 356 from the floor of the church, and it is 145 ft. in diameter. Simple ratios exist between the principal dimensions. The windows are main- ly 12 ft. wide by 24 high, the aisles 19 ft. clear width by 38 in height; the central avenue is 41 by 84 ft. ; the domed vestibule at the west end is 47 ft. square by 94 ft. high. The archi- tectural elevation has two orders, the lower being Corinthian and the upper composite. The interior lacks in ornament, disappointing one who has seen the cathedrals on the conti- nent. A still graver defect is the darkness un- der the dome, the light being scantily admitted and not well distributed. It was begun and finished under one architect, with a few mean exceptions. The organ was built in 1694 by Bernard Smydt. St. Paul's is the fifth in size of the great churches of Europe, being smaller than St. Peter's and the cathedrals of Florence, Milan, and Amiens. In America, the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul at Philadelphia was commenced from designs by Le Brun in Sep- tember, 1846, and opened for worship in 1862. It is built of red stone after the style of the modern Roman cruciform churches. The dome is 210 ft. in height. It has a fine organ, frescoes, and an altarpiece by Brumidi. At Baltimore the Catholic cathedral is built of granite, and is 190 ft. long, 177 ft. broad, and 127 ft. high from the floor to the top of the cross which surmounts the dome. It has a large organ of 6,000 pipes and 36 stops, a painting presented by Louis XVI., and one the gift of Charles X. of France. St. Patrick's cathedral, New York, now building (1873), was projected by Archbishop Hughes, who laid the corner stone, Aug. 15, 1858. The material is a brilliant micaceous marble, which is especially well adapted to the decorated Gothic style of architecture chosen for the work. It is 332 ft. in length and 132 ft. in general width, with an extreme width at the transepts of 174 ft. There will be two towers 328 ft. high. The cathedral of Notre Dame in Montreal is 255 ft. long and 135 broad, and is capable of seating 10,000 persons. It has two towers, each 220 ft. high, one of which con- tains a chime of bells and the other a single bell, the Gros Bourdon, weighing 29,400 Ibs. There are cathedrals, some of them of im- posing architecture, in several cities of south- ern America. That hi Mexico, begun in 1573, completed in 1667, is built in an irregular mixture of the Gothic and Italian styles, and is