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Title: Around the world in eighty minutes: Photographic reproductions of the most magnificent edifices, the most interesting remains and the most beautiful scenes on the earth's surface
Author: Walsh, William S.
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Around the world in eighty minutes: Photographic reproductions of the most magnificent edifices, the most interesting remains and the most beautiful scenes on the earth's surface" ***
MINUTES ***
AROUND THE WORLD
IN
EIGHTY MINUTES
PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTIONS OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT EDIFICES,
THE MOST INTERESTING REMAINS AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
SCENES ON THE EARTH’S SURFACE
WITH DESCRIPTIVE TEXT
BY
WM. S. WALSH
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALTEMUS
1894
Copyrighted, 1894, by HENRY ALTEMUS
ALTEMUS’ BOOKBINDERY, PHILADELPHIA
INTRODUCTION
Travel is the greatest of educators, the greatest of civilizers. To
come in contact with men and manners different from those to which
we have been accustomed by birth is to broaden the mind; to teach it
forbearance, sympathy, wisdom; to rob it of its philistinism; to make
it cosmopolitan and not provincial. To come face to face with the great
monuments of the past and of the present, to see what man has done
and is doing, is to get a new idea of the vastness, the imaginative
strength, the creative power of the human mind, to renew your respect
for your kind and for yourself, because you belong to that kind. It
may teach you your own littleness, indeed, in itself a useful lesson.
But it also teaches you the greatness of that aggregate of little
individuals to which we give the generic name of man. And to learn this
lesson of reverence for man is to kin yourself with what is best and
holiest in man.
Horse-power, sails, steam, electricity are all at your bidding to-day,
ready harnessed to transport you where you will. If you wish to travel,
the world is yours to command. Fictitious heroes have circled it in
eighty days; real men and women have accomplished the feat in less
time. A little leisure and a little money will enable you to do what a
century or so ago would have been impossible to the greatest potentate
on earth, with twenty-four hours of leisure every day, and the wealth
of Indies at his beck and call.
But if you have not the little leisure, if you have not the little
money, you can travel without them. You can travel without passing out
of your room, without quitting your chair. The resources of modern
science are inexhaustible. Mahomet, though a prophet, had to go to the
mountain because the mountain would not come to him. But you need not
go to the mountain; modern science will make it come to you. You have
but to say the word.
Here, in this book, for example, are one hundred photographs of one
hundred of the most famous sights, scenes and monuments in the whole
world. To see these sights, these scenes, these monuments, is to attain
a liberal education. Now what is seeing? Seeing, the philosopher will
tell you, is to have certain waves of light strike your eye and create
an impression on your retina of the objects that are in front of you.
The retina, in other words, is nothing but a natural camera obscura.
And what is a photograph? A photograph is a modern invention whereby,
by means of an artificial camera obscura, the sun, the author of all
light, is cunningly induced to bind upon paper forever the impression
made by the actual waves of light set in motion by certain objects.
Remember it is not a picture of that object formed by some individual
man and blurred by the personality of the individual who made it. It is
the actual sight, the actual scene, the actual monument, or what not,
just as it would have met your natural retina if you had been there,
and simply reflected from the artificial retina into your natural one.
The sun is the true realist--faithful, literal, exact. Would we not
cheerfully exchange Giotto’s portrait of Dante for a photograph by
Sarony, had Sarony and his camera existed in Dante’s day; or Wagner’s
Chariot Race for an instantaneous photograph of the great Colosseum,
with its surging crowds of humanity? The men and women in Wagner’s
masterpiece are vivid and life-like; as types they are faithful and
exact, but the instantaneous photograph would give you the very outer
form and semblance, the body and almost the soul, of individuals who
had once lived, who are now once again living before you. Savages
are said to shrink from being photographed, deeming that a part of
themselves passes into the picture, and the superstitions of savages
are metaphors in which civilized men read a poetical hint of the truth.
Here, then, are one hundred of the greatest of human monuments and the
most magnificent of earthly scenes brought into your very presence by
the witchery of modern science. The selection has been made with the
greatest care so as to be truly representative of all ages, people and
climes. Each photograph is accompanied by a pains-taking and accurate
description which briefly but succinctly sums up the information that
the reader needs for his guidance. Here, therefore, is a trip round
the world with the services of a guide thrown in, and that trip can be
accomplished pleasantly and without fatigue at an expense which is too
ridiculously small to mention.
Well may the modern laugh at Mahomet and his mountain, and snap his
fingers at Phineas Fogg and Nelly Bly. Eighty days quotha! Seventy?
Sixty? Nay, eighty minutes will suffice.
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Statue of Liberty 12
The Tower of London 14
Westminster Abbey 16
St. Paul’s Cathedral 18
Houses of Parliament, London 20
Bank of England, London 22
Mansion House, London 24
London Bridge 26
Trafalgar Square, London 28
Thames Embankment, London 30
Kenilworth Castle, England 32
Warwick Castle, England 34
Windsor Castle, England 36
Shakespeare’s House 38
Osborne House, Isle of Wight 40
Blarney Castle, Ireland 42
The Lakes of Killarney, Ireland 44
Giant’s Causeway, Ireland 46
Edinburgh Castle, Scotland 48
Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh 50
Melrose Abbey, Scotland 52
Abbotsford, Scotland 54
Fingal’s Cave, Scotland 56
Forth Bridge, Scotland 58
Balmoral Castle, Scotland 60
Loch Katrine, Scotland 62
North Cape, Norway 64
The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia 66
The Church of St. Basil, Moscow 68
Royal Museum, Berlin, Germany 70
Brandenburg Gate, Berlin 72
Cologne Cathedral, Germany 74
Heidelberg Castle, Germany 76
Ehrenbreitstein, Germany 78
The Cathedral, Antwerp, Belgium 80
Palais de Justice, Brussels, Belgium 82
Field of Waterloo, Belgium 84
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris 86
Place de la Bastille, Paris 88
Place de la Concorde, Paris 90
Place Vendome, Paris 92
Garden of the Tuileries, Paris 94
Arc de Triomphe, Paris 96
Napoleon’s Tomb, Paris 98
Chamber of Deputies, Paris 100
Grand Opera House, Paris 102
Eiffel Tower, Paris 104
The Trocadero, Paris 106
Chateau de Fontainebleau, France 108
Garden and Fountains, Versailles, France 110
Grand Trianon, Versailles 112
A Bull Fight, Seville, Spain 114
The Alhambra 116
Cordova, Spain 118
Rock of Gibraltar 120
Monte Carlo 122
Lake Lucerne, Switzerland 124
Mont Blanc, Switzerland 126
Mer de Glace, Switzerland 128
The Matterhorn, Switzerland 130
Rigi-Kulm, Switzerland 132
Thun, Switzerland 134
Jungfrau from Interlaken 136
Cursalon, Vienna, Austria 138
Cathedral, Milan, Italy 140
Panorama of Venice, Italy 142
St. Mark’s, Venice 144
Grand Canal, Venice 146
Doge’s Palace, Venice 148
Cathedral and Leaning Tower, Pisa, Italy 150
Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy 152
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence 154
Cathedral of Florence 156
The Capitol, Rome, Italy 158
Castle of St. Angelo, Rome 160
St. Peter’s, Rome 162
The Colosseum, Rome 164
The Pantheon, Rome 166
Tomb of Cecilia Metella, Rome 168
The Forum, Rome 170
The Bay of Naples, Italy 172
Pompeii, Italy 174
The Acropolis, Athens, Greece 176
The Bosphorus, Constantinople, Turkey 178
The Mosque of St. Sophia, Constantinople 180
The Sphinx, Egypt 182
The Pyramids of Gizeh, Egypt 184
Ruins of the Temple of Amenophis, Karnak 186
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem 188
Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem 190
Ruins of Baalbek, Syria 192
Taj Mahal, Agra, Hindostan 194
The Pearl Mosque, Hindostan 196
Yosemite Valley, California 198
Big Trees, Mariposa Grove, California 200
Geysers, Yellowstone Park, Wyoming 202
Grand Canon, Yellowstone Park 204
Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico 206
Masonic Temple, Chicago 208
Niagara Falls 210
The Thousand Islands 212
Victoria Bridge, Montreal 214
The Capitol, Washington, D. C. 216
The White House, Washington, D. C. 218
Independence Hall, Philadelphia 220
The Brooklyn Bridge 222
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. This colossal statue, by Auguste Bartholdi,
stands on Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor. It is distinguished, not
only by its immense height (three hundred and five feet six inches
from foundation to torch), but by the elegance of its proportions and
its imposing dignity. At night, especially, when the torch is lighted
by electricity, its effect is unique and commanding. The statue was
presented to the American people by France, the cost being defrayed by
public subscription. The sculptor himself took no remuneration. Public
subscription here put up the pedestal. The statue was formally handed
over to the President of the United States by the French delegates on
October 28th, 1886.
[Illustration]
THE TOWER OF LONDON, ENGLAND. In all the world there is no more famous
fortress than this ancient citadel of London. Situate in the oldest
portion of the city, on the north bank of the Thames, it at once
arrests the attention of every stranger in the English metropolis.
Tradition ascribes its erection to Julius Cæsar, but tradition is
unsupported by historical evidence, and at the most it is only
conjectured that the Romans had a fortress on this site. It may be
stated authoritatively, however, that the Keep or White Tower (so named
because it was formerly whitewashed), which is now the oldest extant
portion of the citadel, was built by William the Conqueror. As the
council chamber of the ancient kings of England, and subsequently as a
prison of state for political offenders, its glory and its shame are
part and parcel of the glory and the shame of all England. Some of the
most momentous events in the history of the country were enacted within
its walls. From an early period it has been the depository of the
ornaments and jewels of the crown.
[Illustration]
WESTMINSTER ABBEY, LONDON. This is the supremely interesting spot in
all London. Its exquisite architecture would alone ennoble it. But as
the sepulchre of sovereigns, heroes, statesmen, authors and poets, as
the scene of some of the most hallowed events in English history, it
makes an even more serious appeal to the imagination. Its very history
is involved in becoming mystery. Tradition asserts that on this site
Sebert, King of the Saxons, built a church and dedicated it to St.
Peter. More authentic history ascribes its inception to Edward the
Confessor, who designed it for his own burial place. Hence, other royal
interments followed. William the Conqueror was crowned here within
a few yards of the Confessor’s tomb, and every succeeding sovereign
of England has followed his example. It also has continued to be the
favorite spot for royal weddings and funerals. As it now stands the
Abbey was for the most part rebuilt by Henry III. Henry VII added the
famous chapel which bears his name, and the two towers on the front
were placed there by Christopher Wren. The Poet’s Corner in the south
transept contains tombs or monuments in honor of many of the most
famous of English literary worthies.
[Illustration]
ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, LONDON. This, the metropolitan church of London,
is one of the largest and, without exception, the most conspicuous of
its edifices. Built on a slight eminence, which is said to have been
anciently occupied by a temple to Diana, it is the last of a series
of Christian churches that succeeded to the Pagan temple. The first,
founded about 610, was destroyed by fire in 1087. The second succumbed
to the Great Fire of 1666. The present church was begun June 21st,
1675, and was finished in thirty-five years, under one architect, Sir
Christopher Wren. The whole cost, £747,954 2_s._ 9_d._, was paid by
a tax on every chaldron of coal brought into London. The structure
is five hundred and fifty feet from east to west by one hundred and
twenty-five feet in width; the front is one hundred and eighty feet
wide, and the top of the cross is four hundred feet from the crypt
floor. Carlyle said of it that it was the only edifice that struck him
with a proper sense of grandeur.
[Illustration]
HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, LONDON, ENGLAND. This is the largest, and
in some respects the most imposing, of all the public edifices in
England. Gothic in style, in size, at least, it surpasses any other
Gothic building in the world. And in respect to its equipments and
the excellent adaptation of every part to the purposes for which it
was erected and for the transaction of the business to which it is
consecrated it is absolutely unrivaled. Both Houses, Lords and Commons,
meet within its walls. Yet it is a comparatively modern structure.
Occupying the site of the Royal Palace, dwelt in by every English
monarch from the time of Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth, the
corner-stone of the present building was not laid until April 27th,
1840. It covers about eight acres of ground, and has four fronts, the
longest and most effective of which, facing the river Thames, is nine
hundred and forty feet long. The Victoria Tower at the south-west
angle, which is about three hundred and forty feet high and admirably
proportioned, is one of its most effective features.
[Illustration]
BANK OF ENGLAND, LONDON. This, the most celebrated moneyed institution
in the world, is situated on Threadneedle Street. Hence, it is
sometimes facetiously alluded to as “The Old Lady of Threadneedle
Street.” It has a branch in the West End of London and nine branches
in the provinces. It was founded July 27th, 1694, as a joint stock
association, with a capital of £1,200,000, which was lent at eight per
cent. interest to the government of William and Mary. And as it began
as a servant of the government so it has continued. At the present
moment it has the management of the public debt and the paying of
interest thereon, it holds the deposits belonging to government and
aids in the collection of the public revenue. It is the bank of all the
other banks in England. Its notes are legal tender, and are convertible
into coin. Its credit and reputation have been absolutely unequaled by
any other establishment of the sort. Hence, the recent discovery of a
deficit of £5,000,000 shook the financial world to its centre. But the
bank has been able to meet the emergency.
[Illustration]
MANSION HOUSE, LONDON, ENGLAND. The Lord-Mayor of London has his
official residence at the Mansion House. It is situated nearly opposite
the Royal Exchange, on the site of the ancient Stock’s Market; was
begun in 1739 and finished in 1741. In its great banqueting hall,
known as the Egyptian Hall, are given the state banquets. Formerly it
was the ambition of every great London merchant and banker to become
Lord-Mayor, but since the district actually under his jurisdiction has
come to be a very small part of what is known as London, the importance
of this functionary has greatly diminished in the eyes of all save
foreigners. As the dispenser of civic hospitality he receives £8000 a
year, with the use of the Mansion House, furniture, carriages, &c.
[Illustration]
LONDON BRIDGE, LONDON, ENGLAND. This is not the London bridge of
Shakespeare’s time, for that was a wooden structure, lined with houses
on either side. The present London bridge is substantially built of
granite on the site of the older one. It cost £2,566,268, and was
opened to the public on August 1st, 1831, by King William IV. There are
five arches, the central one having a span of one hundred and fifty-two
feet. The entire length is nine hundred and twenty-eight feet and the
width fifty-four. A curious interest attaches to the lamp posts along
the side, which are cast from the metal of French cannon captured in
the Peninsular War. The constant stream of traffic that pours across
this bridge is prodigious. It is estimated that every twenty-four
hours no less than twenty thousand vehicles and one hundred and seven
thousand pedestrians are borne along in the opposing currents.
[Illustration]
TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON. The battle of Trafalgar (22d October, 1805)
was won over the combined French and Spanish fleet by the English,
under Lord Nelson, who lost his life at the very moment of victory.
One of the finest open places in London is named after the conflict.
In the centre a massive granite column, one hundred and forty-five
feet in height, rises to the memory of the great admiral, whose statue
surmounts it. The pedestal is adorned with reliefs in bronze, cast
with the metal of French captured cannon, and representing scenes in
the career of Nelson. Four colossal bronze lions, modeled by Sir Edwin
Landseer, in 1867, crouch upon pedestals running out from the column
in the form of a cross. The square is paved with asphalt. Statues
of Sir Henry Havelock, of Sir Charles James Napier and of George IV
are distributed around it. Towards the north side are two fountains,
and on the terrace to the north rises the National Gallery, with the
interesting old church of St. Martin in the Fields by its side.
[Illustration]
THAMES EMBANKMENT, LONDON, ENGLAND. At an early period the banks of the
Thames River had many wide stretches of marsh land, covered by shallow
lagoons. From time to time embankments have been erected, some of them
dating from the time of the Romans. The greatest of all these works is
the new Victoria Embankment, leading from Blackfriars Bridge towards
the west, along the north bank of the Thames as far as Westminster.
Built in 1864–70, under the direction of Sir Joseph W. Bazalgette, it
cost nearly $10,000,000. It consists of a macadamized carriageway about
two thousand three hundred yards in length and sixty-four feet wide.
The foot pavement on the land side is sixteen feet broad and on the
river side twenty feet. This entire area was formerly covered by the
tide twice a day. A granite wall eight feet thick protects it on the
side next the Thames. Rows of trees have been planted along the sides
of the Embankment, which will eventually make it a shady and delightful
promenade. At intervals are large openings, with stairs leading to the
floating steamboat piers. It is illuminated at night by electricity.
[Illustration]
KENILWORTH CASTLE, ENGLAND. One of the stateliest of feudal remains
in all England is this ruined castle, situated on rising ground to
the west of the village of Kenilworth. Picturesque in itself, famous
as it is in history, it yet derives its chief charm from the glamour
thrown over it by Walter Scott in the novel which he has named after
it. Kenilworth Castle first takes a prominent position in history as
one of the strongholds of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in his
rebellion against Henry III. Subsequently it passed into the possession
of John of Gaunt, who enlarged and beautified it. But its highest
fame results from the fact that Queen Elizabeth bestowed it upon her
favorite, Robert Leicester, Earl of Dudley, and it was here that Amy
Robsart ended her unhappy life. Cromwell dismantled the castle. Since
his day it has suffered much from the ravages of time, but even in
ruins it retains a potency to delight and to impress.
[Illustration]
WARWICK CASTLE, ENGLAND. Beautiful in itself, famous as the residence
of the Earls of Warwick, and especially of him who went by the title
of the King-maker, Warwick Castle is one of the most notable edifices
in England. Nothing could be more picturesque than its situation on a
rock washed by the Avon. Its two towers are surpassingly beautiful. The
one known as the Clock Tower is here represented. Its battlements and
turrets are full of quaint interest. The grounds which surround it are
a triumph of landscape gardening. And the castle itself is almost a
thousand years old. Legend declares that it was founded in 915 by the
daughter of King Alfred, Ethelfleda. In the war with the barons in the
reign of Henry III it was partially destroyed. In the reign of Edward
III it was restored and strengthened. Additions and improvements have
successively been made. In the reign of James II it passed into the
hands of the Grevilles, and has remained their property ever since.
[Illustration]
WINDSOR CASTLE, ENGLAND. The favorite residence of the English
sovereigns, which distinction it merits through its own beauty, the
beauty of its surroundings and its opulence of historical and legendary
associations. Long before the Normans landed in England it was the
seat of the Saxon Kings. But William the Conqueror founded the present
castle; it was rebuilt by Edward III, was extended by successive
sovereigns, and, finally, in the reign of Queen Victoria, was brought
to its present perfection. The town of Windsor is some twenty miles
from London. On a promontory, overlooking the Valley of the Thames,
stands the castle. Its chapels and its terrace are among the noblest
in Europe. The interior is lavishly decorated, and contains valuable
paintings, statuary, furniture, tapestries and plate. In its vaults lie
the bodies of the Kings and Queens of England.
[Illustration]
SHAKESPEARE’S HOUSE, STRATFORD-ON-AVON, ENGLAND. The birth-place of
genius must always be full of interest to his fellow-men. How great
then must be the interest in the birth-place of the greatest of
geniuses! That interest is attested by the fact that the walls of the
small, mean-looking edifice in which Shakespeare was born are scrawled
all over with the names of potentates, princes, statesmen, poets and
other great and little men. These, indeed, form a not insignificant
part of the curiosities of the place. The house became the property
of the English nation in 1847, and has been carefully restored. The
actual room which witnessed the birth of the poet is shown, and is in
substantially the same condition as when that event took place. In
another room there is a small museum of Shakespearean relics.
[Illustration]
OSBORNE HOUSE, ISLE OF WIGHT, ENGLAND. This is the seaside residence
of Queen Victoria. Even in the Isle of Wight, a place famous for its
magnificent private residences, it occupies a pre-eminent position.
Situated in the immediate neighborhood of East Cowes, almost opposite
to the mouth of Southampton Water, no place could be more favored by
nature in its surroundings, and art has come to the assistance of
nature. The grounds, though not large, are exquisite specimens of that
princely art of landscape gardening in which the English have achieved
the highest success. The palace itself is in excellent taste. A high
tower in one corner is a conspicuous object for miles around. From its
summit a magnificent view of the surrounding country may be obtained.
[Illustration]
BLARNEY CASTLE, IRELAND. This imposing ruin of an ancient fortress is
situated in the village of Blarney, about four miles from Cork. It was
built in the early part of the fifteenth century by Cormac McCarthy,
Prince of Desmond. Little now remains of it but the massive donjon
tower, one hundred and twenty feet high. Its main celebrity arises
from the famous Blarney stone, which endows whoever kisses it with the
gift of flattery, palavering rhodomontade or wheedling eloquence. No
one exactly knows the origin of the stone, nor whence it derived its
mysterious powers. The date 1703 is carved upon it. It is preserved and
held in place by two iron girders between huge mertons of the northern
projecting parapet nearly one hundred feet above the ground. To kiss it
has been the ambition of many generations who laboriously climb up to
its dangerous eminence. But the lip service of so great a multitude is
gradually wearing it away.
[Illustration]
LAKES OF KILLARNEY, IRELAND. These are three connected lakes in County
Kerry, of extraordinary beauty and interest. The largest, known as
Lough Leane, is fifteen miles long by three broad. It contains some
thirty islands, the chief of which is Innisfallen, celebrated in
history and story. On the sides of these lakes rise the loftiest
mountains in Ireland, intersected by the wildest ravines, and full of
the boldest cascades. The beauty of the scenery is enhanced by the
varied coloring of the thickly-wooded shores, the gray rock forming
an effective contrast to the dark firs, the brown mountain heath,
the light green arbutus and other features in an infinite variety of
foliage and verdure. In the immediate neighborhood of Lough Leane
is Muckross Abbey, founded by Franciscan monks in 1340, now a most
picturesque ruin.
[Illustration]
GIANT’S CAUSEWAY, IRELAND. A singular mass of basaltic columns,
situated on the coast of Antrim, Ireland, has obtained this name from
the legend that it was the commencement of a road planned by the giants
of old to project across the channel from Ireland to Scotland. And,
indeed, it looks almost like a deliberate work of mightier men than we
rather than a frolic of nature. It resembles an immense pier jutting
out into the sea from the base of a stratified cliff about four hundred
feet high, to the length of about seven hundred feet. The pillars
composing it are close-fitting, dark-colored and somewhat irregular
hexagons, varying in diameter from fifteen to twenty inches and
sometimes reaching the height of twenty or even thirty feet. Whinstone
dikes separate it into three divisions, known as the Little Causeway,
the Middle or “Honeycomb” Causeway and the Larger or Grand Causeway.
Altogether, it comprises about forty thousand columns, each consisting
of several pieces.
[Illustration]
EDINBURGH CASTLE, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. Picturesquely situated on a
rocky eminence, three hundred and eighty-three feet high, in the very
heart of the old portion of Edinburgh, is this ancient fortress. The
rock is perpendicular on three sides. On the fourth it slopes away
gradually so that it can be ascended with ease. The fort is supposed to
have been erected in the seventh century, the city gradually growing up
around it. In early Scottish history it was frequently captured by and
recaptured from the English. In the twelfth century it became a royal
residence. By the articles of union it is one of the four fortresses
which are to be kept constantly fortified. It contains accommodations
for two thousand soldiers, and its armory affords space for thirty
thousand stands of arms. The Scottish Regalia are preserved here, and
one of the chief objects of interest is the room where Mary, Queen
of Scots, gave birth to James VI, in whom the crowns of England and
Scotland were united. The picture is taken from the Parade Ground.
[Illustration]
HOLYROOD PALACE, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. This spacious building occupies
the site of an Abbey, founded in A. D. 1128 by King David I, of
Scotland. The palace itself was begun in the reign of James IV, was
nearly destroyed by Cromwell in 1650, and was rebuilt by Charles II.
But the chief interest of the place centres upon its associations with
Mary, Queen of Scots. Luckily her apartments are preserved in almost
their original condition. The royal chapel, where she celebrated mass
to the indignation of the Protestants, is almost intact. So is the
audience chamber in which she disputed with John Knox. And even to this
day is pointed out a deep stain at the foot of the private stairway to
her apartments which is said to be the blood of the murdered Rizzio. In
recent times the palace has been seldom used as a place of residence.
It stands on the top of a huge rock four hundred and forty-three feet
above the sea, and is built in the shape of a quadrangle with a court
in the centre.
[Illustration]
MELROSE ABBEY, MELROSE, SCOTLAND. This is the most famous and the most
picturesque ruin in Scotland--indeed in all Great Britain. Originally
founded for the Cistercian monks by David I, of Scotland, in the
twelfth century, it was nearly destroyed by the English--Edward II--in
1322, and shortly after was rebuilt by Robert Bruce, whose heart is
fabled to be buried under the east window. The abbey was again burned
by Richard II in 1385, and though again restored it was considerably
altered after the Reformation to suit the demands of Presbyterian
worship. Later it was plundered by builders to secure ornaments for
houses, and is now in utter ruin. As it stands, therefore, it belongs
mainly to the middle of the fourteenth century and the first half of
the fifteenth, with a good many portions of much later date. Even in
ruins it is one of the noblest exemplars of the Middle-pointed style of
Gothic architecture. Sir Walter Scott made it the scene of his novel
of “The Monastery,” and also celebrated it in some well-known lines in
“Marmion.”
[Illustration]
ABBOTSFORD, SCOTLAND. As the residence of Sir Walter Scott, who erected
it in the days of his greatest financial success, and as the scene and
the cause of his eventual ruin, the castle of Abbotsford must ever
retain a picturesque and pathetic hold upon the lover of literature.
It is situated on the south bank of the Tweed, near Melrose Abbey,
and about twenty-eight miles southeast of Edinburgh. Scott’s aim was
to erect a great mansion on something like feudal principles, where
he would dispense a lordly hospitality akin to that of the ancient
nobles whom he loved to celebrate. The scheme was too grand to
succeed. The kindly baronet was involved in ruin, and spent his last
days in a courageous and almost successful effort to battle against
terrible odds. At present Abbotsford has passed out of the hands of
his descendants and become a boarding-school for young ladies. But
it is still a museum of interesting relics, and on account of its
associations is much visited by tourists.
[Illustration]
FINGAL’S CAVE, SCOTLAND, one of the most remarkable of all cave
formations. It is situated on the Island of Staffa, seven miles off
the west coast of Mull. The entire island is almost entirely encircled
by cliffs of columnar basalt, hollowed out here and there into caves.
Fingal’s, known also as the Great Cave, is the greatest of these.
The entrance is almost like that of a huge Gothic Cathedral. A lofty
arch, sixty feet high by thirty wide, is supported by columnar ranges
of basaltic rock, whose native blackness is whitened with calcareous
stalagmite. The cave is two hundred and thirty-two feet deep. Its floor
is the sea, which flashes many colored lights upon the ceiling with its
pendant clusters of columns, and on the great cavernous sides, with
their countless complicated ranges of gigantic columns, beautifully
jointed and of the most symmetrical though varied forms.
[Illustration]
FORTH BRIDGE, SCOTLAND. The largest and, in many respects, the most
magnificent bridge in the world, is that across the Firth of Forth, at
Queensbury. Here the estuary of the Forth is divided by the island of
Inchgarvie into two channels, whose depth--two hundred feet--precluded
the construction of intermediate piers. A design for a gigantic
suspension bridge, by Sir Thomas Bouch, had almost been adopted, when
the collapse of the Tay bridge, in 1879, led to the abandonment of
the project. A new plan was accepted from Benjamin Baker. This was a
cantilever bridge of steel. A cantilever is a structure overhung from
a fixed base. Work was begun in 1882 and completed in 1889. There
are three granite piers, the central one being on the island; and on
those piers three double lattice-work cantilevers are poised in line,
reaching towards each other, and connected at their extremities by
ordinary girders three hundred and fifty feet long, by which the two
main spans are completed. These main spans are each seventeen hundred
feet long, and the total length of the bridge is eighty-two hundred and
ninety-six feet, or a little over one and one-half miles. The under
side of the bridge is one hundred and fifty-two feet above high water.
[Illustration]
BALMORAL CASTLE, SCOTLAND, the Highland residence of the Queen of
England, situated in Braemer, Aberdeenshire. Its situation is of great
beauty. It stands on a natural platform nine hundred and twenty-six
feet above sea level, which slopes gently and gradually down to the
margin of the River Dee. The castle is in the Scottish Baronial style
of architecture. It is entirely of granite, and consists of two
separate blocks of buildings united by wings. A tower eighty feet
high is surmounted by a turret twenty feet higher. The entire estate,
including a deer forest, comprises over twenty-five thousand acres. It
was purchased by Prince Albert in 1832 from the Earl of Fife. He pulled
down the older castle, finding it not exactly suited to the needs of
the royal family, and put up the present imposing structure in its
place.
[Illustration]
LOCH KATRINE (ELLEN’S ISLE), SCOTLAND. The Scotch lakes are famous
the world over for their beauty. Loch Katrine is the most famous of
them all. It lies in Perthshire; is eight miles in length, and has
an average breadth of three quarters of a mile. Ben Venue and Ben
An are celebrated mountains on its banks, and it contains a number
of exquisite islands. Among the latter is Ellen’s Island, chosen by
Sir Walter Scott as the scene of “The Lady of the Lake.” Wordsworth
and other poets have thrown the glamour of their genius around Loch
Katrine. But it has a more practical use. Its waters, which are
remarkably pure, supply the city of Glasgow, twenty-five miles off;
being conveyed thither by a series of tunnels, aqueducts and pipes.
[Illustration]
NORTH CAPE, NORWAY. A promontory, situated on the north extremity of
the Island of Mageroe, which is divided by a narrow channel from the
mainland of Norway. It is celebrated, not only for the sombre grandeur
of its scenery, but as the northernmost point of Europe. It consists of
a precipitous slate rock, fissured with many clefts, which rise to a
height of some twelve hundred feet above the sea.
[Illustration]
KREMLIN AND GREAT BELL, MOSCOW, RUSSIA. The Kremlin is the name given
to an inner enclosure or citadel in Moscow crowded with palaces,
churches and towers, surrounded by a wall sixty feet in height and
two miles in circuit. The Tartar style of architecture, with gilded
domes and cupolas, forms the predominant feature. The palace of the
Kremlin is the residence of the czars. It suffered much damage in the
conflagration of 1812, which drove Napoleon out of the city, and was
rebuilt in the reign of Nicholas I in 1838–49. In its restored shape it
is rather a mass of buildings, old and new, than a single, harmonious
structure. But it is full of historical and immediate interest. The
tower of Ivan the Great, whose five stories rise to a height of three
hundred and twenty-five feet, is close to the palace. At its foot lies
the Great Bell, the largest in the world--cast in 1730. It was broken a
few years afterwards by the burning of the wooden tower in which it was
suspended. Its height is twenty-six feet four inches, its circumference
sixty-seven feet eleven inches.
[Illustration]
CHURCH OF ST. BASIL, MOSCOW, RUSSIA. This remarkable edifice, standing
on the site of an ancient church and cemetery where St. Basil was
buried, was built in 1554 by Ivan IV. He is said to have been so much
delighted with it that he put out the eyes of its Italian architect,
so that it might never be surpassed. It is a bewildering medley of
great and little domes and towers, not only of different shapes and
sizes, but gilded and painted in all possible varieties of color. There
is no main chapel or church, but each dome surmounts its own chapel,
dedicated to some particular saint, and services are carried on in
each without disturbing the worshipers in any other. Bayard Taylor
appropriately styles this church the “apotheosis of chimneys,” and
describes it as the product of some architectural kaleidoscope, in
which the most incongruous things assume a certain order and system.
Relics of St. Basil and of St. John the Idiot are shown to visitors.
[Illustration]
ROYAL MUSEUM, BERLIN, PRUSSIA. Architecturally, this is the finest
building in Berlin. It is an admirable specimen of the Greek style,
with its Ionic portico of eighteen columns and its broad flight of
steps leading up to the entrance. The central part of the structure,
rising above the rest of the building and corresponding with the
rotunda in the interior, is adorned at the corners with four colossal
groups in bronze. Two other bronze groups are on the steps. This
building is usually known as the Old Museum to distinguish it from
its annex, the New Museum, by which it is connected with a short
passage, crossing the street at the back. The two buildings contain
a magnificent collection of antiquities and of ancient and modern
sculptures, paintings, etc.
[Illustration]
BRANDENBURG GATE, BERLIN, PRUSSIA. This gate, at the west end of the
famous Unter der Linden, the principal street in Berlin, forms the
entrance to the city from the Thier-garten. Next to the Arc de l’Etoile
in Paris, this is the most magnificent triumphal arch in the world. It
even eclipses the ancient monuments of this kind in Rome. Yet it is
not entirely original. It was erected in 1789–93 by C. G. Langhans in
imitation, or rather as a glorification, of the model presented by the
Propylacum at Athens. The height is eighty-five feet, the width two
hundred and five. There are five passages (that in the centre reserved
for royal carriages), separated by massive Doric columns. The material
is sandstone. A notable feature is the triumphal car on the summit, the
Quadriga of Victoria, done in copper. Napoleon carried this to Paris
in 1807, but it was recovered in 1814. Adjoining the gate on the side
next the town are two wings resembling Grecian temples, of which that
on the right or north side contains a telegraph office and a pneumatic
post-office, while that on the left is the guard-house.
[Illustration]
THE CATHEDRAL OF COLOGNE, GERMANY. This church, known officially as the
Cathedral of St. Peter’s, is, next to St. Peter’s at Rome, the largest
church edifice in the world, and is, without any exception, the most
magnificent specimen of Gothic architecture extant. Begun in 1248, the
work went on very slowly. In 1322 the choir was consecrated. Then the
work lagged still more, and at the beginning of the sixteenth century
came to a sudden close, not being resumed till 1816, since which
time more than two millions of dollars have been expended to bring
the edifice to its present state of completion. The spires are five
hundred and twenty-one feet high, and before the building of the Eiffel
Tower this church was the highest edifice in the world. The height
of the roof inside is one hundred and forty-five feet, the length
of the building is four hundred and forty-four feet and the breadth
two hundred and one. The choir is rich in statues, frescoes and fine
carvings. A chapel, known as the chapel of the Three Kings, contains a
gorgeous shrine, in which are exhibited the skulls of the three wise
men who came from the East with presents for the infant Saviour.
[Illustration]
HEIDELBERG CASTLE, GERMANY. On a height above the city of Heidelberg
are the ruins of this old-time palace and fortress. Founded by the
Elector Rudolph in the fourteenth century, and altered and added to
by his successors, it partakes of the architectural style of all the
three centuries. The French sacked and partially burned it in 1693; it
was subsequently restored, but being struck by lightning in 1764, it
has since been suffered to remain in ruins. As such it is one of the
most magnificent remains of the Middle Ages--a square massive building,
roofless, with a round tower at one end and an octagonal one at the
other. Some idea of its strength may be gained from the fact that the
walls of the round tower are twenty-two feet thick. In one of the
cellars is the famous Tun of Heidelberg, a huge copper reservoir, bound
with iron hoops, whose capacity is forty-nine thousand gallons.
[Illustration]
EHRENBREITSTEIN, GERMANY. This fortress, whose name signifies the Broad
Stone of Honor, is situated on a precipitous rock three hundred and
seventy-seven feet above the Rhine, just opposite Coblentz. The rock
is known as the Gibraltar of the Rhine. The ancient Romans recognized
its commanding position and erected here a castrum or camp. In 1018 the
Franconian king, Dagobert, presented it to the bishops of Treves, who
made it their stronghold. It has successfully resisted many sieges,
but was twice captured by the French, first in 1631 and again in 1798.
After the Peace of Luneville in 1801 they blew it up. Restored to
Prussia with the Peace of Paris, the French were forced to contribute
15,000,000 of francs to place it in its former condition. At present
it is defended by four hundred cannon, and fifty thousand stands of
needle guns are stored in its armory. It is capable of accommodating
one hundred thousand men, but five thousand are sufficient to man
it properly. The summit of the rock commands a magnificent view of
the surrounding country. A bridge of boats connects the village of
Ehrenbreitstein with Coblentz.
[Illustration]
THE CATHEDRAL OF ANTWERP, BELGIUM. Though inferior to the great minster
at Cologne, the cathedral at Antwerp is an exquisite and notable
specimen of Gothic architecture. It is unfortunately situated in a
narrow street, just away from the Place St. Antoine, and is hedged in
by shops, which are backed up against its very walls. It is unfinished,
only one of the towers being complete. The other is but half-way up,
where it has been capped over, and has remained so for centuries.
Nevertheless, nothing can detract from the majesty of the church
itself. Out from the littleness of its surroundings it calmly rears
its splendid front. Its solitary tower soars upward to the height of
four hundred and three feet, with delicate open arches that look like
fretted work, so that Napoleon said: “It looked as if made of Mechlin
lace.” The chimes of ninety-nine bells are deservedly famous. The
interior is glorified by the presence of Rubens’ two greatest pictures,
“The Elevation of the Cross” and “The Descent from the Cross.” Begun
about the middle of the thirteenth century, it suffered seriously from
fire in the sixteenth century, and the greater part of the present
edifice dates from that period. In the foreground of the picture is the
monument to Rubens.
[Illustration]
PALAIS DE JUSTICE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. The new Palace of Justice, or
Court-house, in Brussels, is the largest architectural work of the
present century, and one of the most magnificent. It was begun in 1866
and completed in 1883 at a total cost of $10,000,000. It is splendidly
situated on a height commanding a view of the whole city. This massive
pile covers an area of two hundred and seventy thousand square feet,
considerably more than St. Peter’s, at Rome, and is five hundred and
ninety feet long by five hundred and sixty wide. The avowed aim of the
artist was to accommodate Assyrian form to modern requirements. Above
the main body of the building rises another rectangular structure,
surrounded with columns, this, in turn, supporting a columned rotunda,
the whole crowned by a dome which is four hundred feet above the
pavement. In details the Græco-Roman style has been generally adhered
to, with an admixture of rococo treatment.
[Illustration]
FIELD OF WATERLOO, BELGIUM. The scene of the greatest battle of modern
times, if not of all times, is necessarily of perennial interest to
the world. It is a matter for rejoicing, therefore, that the field of
Waterloo is retained in much the same condition in which it was left
on the fateful day of June 18th, 1815, when the power of Napoleon was
crushed by Wellington and Blucher. To be sure, Wellington is reported
to have said: “You have spoilt my battlefield,” when he saw the
artificial mound surmounted by a Belgic lion of cast-iron, which has
been raised in the centre of the field. But at least its one hundred
and fifty feet of height afford the opportunity for an excellent
bird’s-eye view of the entire field. And the old house of Hougemont,
whose building and orchard were occupied by the British Guards, and
where some of the fiercest fighting of the day was carried on, remains
as it was, with the bullet holes in the walls and other damages
unrepaired. The monument represented in the foreground is dedicated to
the soldiers who fell in the battle.
[Illustration]
NOTRE DAME, PARIS. The cathedral of Notre Dame, one of the great
historical churches of the world and one of the most beautiful
specimens of mediæval architecture, was founded in 1163 on the site
of an earlier church, was consecrated in 1182 and was completed in
1420. It suffered sadly during the Revolution, when it was made a
Temple of Reason; was restored in 1845, and during the time of the
commune narrowly escaped destruction by fire. The form is that of a
Latin cross, with a nave and double aisles, which are continued around
the choir, the earliest example known. The façade is one of the most
admired pieces of early Gothic. The triple portal is ornamented by
rich bas-reliefs. In the second story is a great rose window, flanked
by double windows, enclosed in wide-spreading Gothic arches. The third
story is an open gallery of slender arches and columns. In one of the
towers is a famous bell, weighing thirty-two thousand pounds, which is
only rung on state occasions. The interior of the church is adorned
with sculptures, bas-reliefs and paintings and magnificent rose windows
of stained glass.
[Illustration]
PLACE DE LA BASTILLE, PARIS, FRANCE. This square ends the line of
the original boulevards, and marks the beginning of the Faubourg St.
Antoine. It is historically interesting as the site of the Bastille,
the former state prison of France, whose destruction by the Parisian
mob on July 14th, 1789, marked the real beginning of the French
Revolution. The column in the middle, known as the Colonne de Juillet,
was reared in 1831 in honor of the citizens who fell in the revolution
of July, 1830, which drove Charles X from the throne and put Louis
Philippe in his place. The names of six hundred and fifteen of these
are inscribed upon the sides of the column, and their ashes, together
with those of combatants in the revolution of 1848, repose in two vast
sarcophagi in the vaults below. The column is of bronze, one hundred
and fifty-four feet high, and is divided by four collars into five
divisions. Bas-reliefs, by Barye, adorn the exterior. Inside there
is a spiral stair-case, also of bronze. The top is surmounted by an
emblematic figure of Liberty, in gold bronze, the work of Dumont.
[Illustration]
PLACE DE LA CONCORDE, PARIS, FRANCE. This square, situated between the
Rue Royale and the Pont de la Concorde, is perhaps the most beautiful
and effective in all Paris. It dates from the year 1748. Originally it
was adorned with a statue of Louis XV, which was pulled down in 1792 to
make way for a colossal figure of Liberty. The place was then called
Place de la Revolution. It was here that next year the guillotine was
erected, upon which perished Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and nearly
three thousand of their adherents. Under the Directory the Statue
of Liberty was removed and the great place became the Place de la
Concorde. Since then it has undergone many alterations. It was laid out
as it now stands by Napoleon III. In the middle is the great Obelisk
of Luxor, presented to Louis Philippe by Mehemet Ali, and on each side
are two large fountains. At the different corners of the square there
are seated figures, representing eight different towns, formerly the
chief towns of France. But one of them, Strasbourg, is now a portion of
Germany.
[Illustration]
PLACE VENDOME, PARIS. A handsome octagonal square, between the
Boulevard des Capucines and the Tuileries Gardens. It was designed by
Louis XIV, in 1686, to contain public buildings, such as the Mint, the
Royal Library, the various academies, &c. This plan was subsequently
much modified. The buildings, which are of Corinthian architecture of
a severely uniform appearance, are mainly occupied by banks and other
fiscal institutions. A grand equestrian statue of Louis XIV once stood
in the centre of the square, but it was destroyed in 1792, and in 1806
its place was taken by the famous Vendome column, a stone shaft one
hundred and forty-three feet high, covered with the metal of cannon
taken from the Prussians and Austrians. It is surmounted by a statue of
Napoleon, and is ornamented by bas-reliefs commemorative of that hero’s
campaign in 1805. In 1871 column and statue were both pulled down by
the Commune, but the Republic under Thiers repaired and replaced them.
[Illustration]
THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES. The Tuileries is but the remains of its
former glory. The main front of the building was burned by the Commune
in 1871, and after remaining a picturesque ruin for some years was at
length removed. The wing nearest the Rue de Rivoli shared the fate of
the front, but was rebuilt, together with the Pavillon de Marsan, which
formed the angle. The Pavillon de Flore, at the other end, suffered
much less, and had only to be restored. Both wings, and, indeed, the
entire building, are a marvel of exterior ornamentation. Before the
Revolution the Tuileries was only the occasional residence of the
French sovereign, but Napoleon made it his principal abode, and his
example was followed by his successors. The picture is taken from the
exquisite gardens of the Tuileries facing the Place de la Concorde.
[Illustration]
ARC DE TRIOMPHE, PARIS, FRANCE. This, the distinctive triumphal arch
of Paris, is more specifically known as l’ Arc de l’ Étoile, to
differentiate it from three other triumphal arches of less celebrity.
It stands at the west end of the Avenue des Champs Elysées on the
summit of a slope, which makes it visible from all parts of Paris
and the environs. It is not only the largest arch in existence, but
the most magnificent ever erected. Begun by Napoleon in 1806, to
commemorate the wars of the Revolution and of the Empire, it was
completed thirty years later by Louis Philippe. The total cost was
about $2,000,000. The height of the arch above the ground is one
hundred and fifty-two feet, its width one hundred and thirty-eight
feet, its thickness sixty-eight feet. The main archway measures ninety
feet in height and forty-five in width; the smaller lateral archways
are each fifty-seven feet by twenty-five. The bas-reliefs represent the
most famous events of 1792–1815. Finest of all are the two colossal
groups on each side of the central arch facing the Champs Elysées, cut
in full relief and representing the “Departure of the Troops in 1792”
and “The Triumph of Napoleon after the Austrian Campaign.”
[Illustration]
NAPOLEON’S TOMB, PARIS, FRANCE. Under the splendid dome of the Church
of the Invalides, in a huge circular crypt below the level of the
floor, is the tomb of the Great Napoleon I. The sarcophagus, hewn out
of a single block of granite brought from Finland, was the gift of the
Emperor Nicholas, when in 1841 the remains of the Emperor were brought
back from St. Helena by the Prince de Joinville. The crypt is adorned
with marble reliefs symbolical of Napoleon’s reforms and with twelve
colossal figures of victory and sixty mouldering banners captured from
the enemy. There are also monuments to Vauban and Turenne, Napoleon’s
most illustrious predecessors in the field. At the entrance to the
crypt lie the bodies of Bertrand and Duroc, the near friends and
companions of Napoleon. The monuments or the remains of various members
of the Bonaparte family are in the upper part of the church.
[Illustration]
CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, PARIS, FRANCE. This is sometimes called the
Palais Bourbon. It is the seat of the French parliament. It is a large
classical building on the left bank of the Seine, facing the Pont de la
Concorde. The old façade was in the Rue de l’ Université at the back;
the new one, with its Corinthian colonnade, was erected in 1804. The
hall is a semi-circular room, with the President’s chair facing the
extremity of the half circle. Here sat the Council of Five Hundred,
Louis Philippe’s Chamber and Napoleon III’s Corps Legislatif, and here
at present sit the deputies elected from the various districts of the
French republic. Orators address the Chamber from the tribune, which is
placed immediately under the President’s chair. Voting is done by means
of white or blue cards, placed in tin receptacles that are handed round
by the ushers; the white being an “aye,” the blue “nay.”
[Illustration]
THÉÂTRE DE L’OPERA, PARIS. The new Opera House, in Paris, is the
handsomest, though not the largest, temple of amusement in the world.
It will hold twenty-one hundred people, while La Scala, in Milan, holds
three thousand. The stage, however, in cubic and superficial area, is
the largest known. It is equaled by others in depth, but surpasses
them all in breadth. The exterior is bewildering in the richness of
its decorations. The grand staircase and the foyer are in magnificent
keeping with the exterior. This building is one of the creations of the
Second Empire. More than one hundred houses were torn down to clear the
square on which it stands. It was inaugurated on January 1st, 1875.
The total cost is estimated at $8,000,000. The opera is managed by a
director, who receives from the State an allowance of eight hundred
thousand francs a year. He has to supply what is necessary and run all
risks.
[Illustration]
EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS. This is the highest structure in the world, being
three hundred metres or nine hundred and eighty-four feet in height, as
against the five hundred and fifty-five feet five and one-eighth inches
of the Washington Monument, which comes next in altitude among all
the edifices of man. The tower was constructed by Alexander G. Eiffel
for the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Its foundations are sunk to a depth
of fifty feet in the sandy soil of the Champs de Mars, and the four
massive piers, which form the first stage of the tower, are so planted
as to distribute the enormous weight of the structure (sixty-five
hundred tons) in the best way possible. In spite of this weight the
general impression is one of grace and lightness. The summit is crowned
by a cupola with an exterior balcony, whence a magnificent panorama of
Paris and its surroundings is unveiled. Elevators carry passengers up
to the summit, the time consumed by the ascension being from six to
seven minutes.
[Illustration]
TROCADERO, PARIS, FRANCE. The Eiffel Tower is not the sole remaining
monument of the French Exposition of 1878. Overlooking the Champs de
Mars is the Trocadero, which was begun in 1876 for the same exhibition.
It is a fantastic structure in the Byzantine style. The central portion
consists of a circular edifice one hundred and eighty feet high and
one hundred and eighty-nine feet in diameter, crowned by a dome, and
flanked with two minarets two hundred and seventy feet high. On each
side extends a wing in the form of a curve, six hundred and sixty feet
in length, giving the entire edifice the appearance of an imposing
crescent. On a level with the spring of the dome is a terrace adorned
with thirty statues. The view of Paris from the terrace or the towers
is superb. Below the balcony, in front of the central building, gushes
a large cascade, which descends to a huge basin one hundred and
ninety-six feet in diameter. Afternoon concerts are often given in
the elaborately decorated Salle des Fetes, which seats six thousand
persons. There are also collections of sculptures and antiquities.
[Illustration]
CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU, FRANCE. Fontainebleau is a small town
thirty-five miles south-east of Paris. It is famous for the royal
palace, which is situated in a magnificent park or forest, fifty miles
in circumference, and covering an area of forty-two thousand five
hundred acres. The building itself is said to occupy the site of a
fortified chateau, built by Louis VII in 1162. But it was Francis I who
transformed the mediæval fortress into a palace of almost unparalleled
extent and magnificence. Henry IV did much towards its embellishment.
Here his successor, Louis XIV, revoked the Edict of Nantes. It was
a favorite residence of Napoleon I, whose sentence of divorce from
Josephine was pronounced here. Louis Philippe and Napoleon III spent
large sums in restoring it. The exterior of the building, with the
exception of several pavilions, is only two stories in height. The
interior is a splendid example of decorative work. Some of the greatest
French and Italian artists of the epoch of its creation were employed
upon it. Especially beautiful is the chamber of Anne of Austria,
the mother of Louis XIV, and Queen-regent in his minority, who made
Fontainebleau her favorite residence, and spent money lavishly in the
decoration of her chamber.
[Illustration]
GARDEN AND FOUNTAINS, VERSAILLES, FRANCE. The Palace of Versailles is
in the town of the same name, ten miles from Paris, was built by Louis
XIV in 1661, and became a royal residence in 1681. As such it has held
a great place in the history of France. It is now used as a historical
museum. The garden which surrounds it is justly celebrated for its
extreme beauty. Among its chief marvels are the fountains, richly
adorned with bronze statues, and from the centre of each rises a column
of water to the height of forty feet, encircled by sixteen inclined
jets of water, the whole forming a sort of basket. The water which
feeds the fountains is brought from the Seine by the machine of Marly,
constructed at enormous expense after the failure of the plan to turn
the River d’ Eure from its course.
[Illustration]
GRAND TRIANON, VERSAILLES, FRANCE. A charming residence near the palace
of Versailles, built by Louis XIV in 1688 for Madame de Maintenon, but
chiefly interesting for its associations with Marie Antoinette, whose
favorite residence it was. Here she amused herself with her Swiss
village, and here, as well as in the adjacent Petit Trianon, she and
her court played at shepherds and shepherdesses. The Grand Trianon
is built in the Italian style, with the rooms all on one floor. The
interior is exquisitely furnished and adorned. In the surrounding
gardens are cottages and artificial “mountains” (some nearly ten feet
high) and glens and grottoes and pebbly-bottomed brooks.
[Illustration]
BULL FIGHT, SEVILLE, SPAIN. The bull fight is the national sport of
Spain. The sport has been described as a tragedy in three acts. First,
the bull is let out and goaded to fury by the lances of the mounted
picadores. If a picador is thrown or his horse is wounded the chulos
rush in and attract the bull by waving their cloaks in front of him,
saving themselves, if need be, by leaping over the palisade which
encloses the circus. When the bull begins to flag the chulos attack
him with barbed darts, called banderillas, which they stick into his
neck. The third act introduces the matador, who enters alone. He holds
in his right hand a naked sword, in his left a muleta or small stick
with a piece of scarlet silk attached. The bull rushes blindly at the
muleta. The matador, if he be skillful, plunges the sword into the left
shoulder and the animal drops dead. Sometimes, however, he misses his
first aim and then he has to try again. Sometimes he is wounded or even
killed and then a new matador appears on the scene.
[Illustration]
THE ALHAMBRA, GRANADA, SPAIN. Alhambra means the “Red Castle.” This
fortress and palace of the ancient Moorish kings--“the pride of
Granada and the boast of Spain”--is a vast and irregular collection of
buildings built of bricks slightly reddened. The principal building
was begun in 1248 and finished in 1314. Here the Moorish kings lived,
surrounded by their court and nobility, a total population of some
forty thousand souls. Its degradation dates from the day of the
Castilian conquest, for the alterations and restorations made by the
Spanish kings were without judgment. Philip V, early in the eighteenth
century, was its last royal occupant. After his desertion the place
was allowed to fall into decay until 1862, when the Spanish government
took it in charge. Happily, the most important portions still exist,
and present a bewildering array of pavilions, courts, colonnades,
fountains, baths, gilded ceilings and every kind of Oriental
decoration.
[Illustration]
CORDOVA, SPAIN. This is one of the most ancient and picturesque of
Spanish towns. Its walls, built on a Roman foundation with Moorish
superstructure, inclose a large area, dotted with Roman and Moorish
remains. Chief among the latter is the cathedral, which looms up almost
in the centre of our picture. It dates from the eighth century, and
was formerly a mosque. Authorities generally agree that it is the
finest specimen of a Moorish mosque in all Europe. The southern suburb
communicates with the town by means of an ancient bridge across the
River Guadalquiver, whose sixteen arches exhibit the usual combination
of Moorish and Roman architecture. At one end of the bridge is an
elevated statue of the patron saint, St. Raphael, whose effigy abounds
all through the city. Our picture is taken from the southern suburb.
[Illustration]
ROCK OF GIBRALTAR, SPAIN. An inaccessible rock, buttressed by an
impregnable fortress, which juts out from the southern extremity of
Spain, in Andulasia, gives to the English, who hold it, the virtual
command of the Mediterranean. The rock is fourteen hundred and thirty
feet high at its highest point; its length, from north to south,
about three miles; its circumference about six. It is mainly composed
of compact limestone and dense gray marble, varied by beds of red
sandstone and tissues of osseous breccia. The north face is almost
perpendicular, but the east side is full of tremendous precipices.
It came into possession of the English by conquest during the war of
the succession in 1704. Since then they have spent immense sums in
its fortification, with so much success that they have retained it
against the combined efforts of France and Spain. From the sea the
rock presents a grim enough aspect with its immense cannon, its piles
of balls and bombs, and its apparent lack of vegetation. But a closer
view shows patches of fruit trees, together with a great variety of
odoriferous shrubs.
[Illustration]
MONTE CARLO, MONACO--THE CASINO. Monaco is a small principality on the
Mediterranean, ruled by Prince Albert, of Monaco. It is chiefly famous
for the notorious Casino at the small town of Monte Carlo, where alone
in Europe public gaming is authorized by law. The first stone of the
Casino was laid in 1858, and gambling tables had existed in Monaco two
years previous to that date, but it was not till 1860, when M. Blanc,
expelled from Homburg, took possession of the place, that Monte Carlo
began to be famous. The gaming establishment is now in the hands of a
joint stock company, with a capital of 15,000,000 francs, who leased
the ground from the prince. It employs nearly one thousand people
and is annually visited by about four hundred thousand visitors. The
inhabitants of Monaco are not allowed at the tables. Their good will,
however, is secured by their exemption from taxation and by the flood
of paying visitors who are attracted hither. Monte Carlo is in itself a
place of exquisite beauty, natural and artificial.
[Illustration]
LAKE LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND. Not only in wild and picturesque scenery,
but in its legendary and historical associations, this is one of the
most interesting lakes in the world. In Switzerland it is alternatively
known as the Lake of the Four Forest Cantons, because bounded by the
cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and Lucerne. The mountain peaks
surrounding it give it the form of a St. Andrew’s cross, whence comes
that cross on the Swiss flag. Mounts Pilatus and Rigi stand at the
north like sentinel outposts of the Alps. The beginning of the St.
Gothard Pass over the Alps is at Fluelen to the south. The lake is
intimately connected with the Tell legends, and at one of its most
enchanting spots a small chapel, attributed to the fourteenth century,
is said to mark the spot where he sprang out of Gessler’s boat as he
was being carried away a prisoner.
[Illustration]
MONT BLANC FROM CHAMOUNI, SWITZERLAND. This, the highest mountain in
Europe, and, by common consent, the most magnificent in its scenery,
rises at the southern end of the valley of Chamouni, fifteen thousand
seven hundred and eighty-one feet above sea level. During the last
century and a half it has been a favorite resort of tourists, and
especially of scientists, as its glaciers and other marvelous
features are full of interest and instruction. But it was not till
1786 that Balmat and Paccard made the first ascension, followed in
1787 by Saussure. Many accidents have happened here in the past. In
1870 a party of eleven, two of them Americans, all perished in the
snow-crowned heights. Nowadays the ascensions are more numerous,
and, with proper precautions, are considered absolutely safe, though
very fatiguing, and occupying three days. The view from the valley
of Chamouni is of extraordinary beauty. It has been celebrated by
Coleridge in one of his most famous poems, and has been the theme of
countless other pens. Not always is the “monarch of mountains” visible
from Chamouni, as his imperial front is frequently hidden from the
sight of his worshipers. But the photograph here presented is taken on
a fortunate day, when there was no cloud about the throne.
[Illustration]
MER DE GLACE, MONT BLANC, SWITZERLAND. This immense glacier fills the
highest gorges of the chain of Mont Blanc, and extends over a distance
of twelve miles into the Valley of Chamouni. It is formed by the masses
of snow and ice which collect during the long winters. In appearance
it is just what its name implies, a Sea of Ice, whose tumultuous
waves seem to have been suddenly frozen, not while they were being
lashed to fury by a tempest, but at the very moment when the wind had
subsided and left them high indeed, but rounded and blunted in outline.
Slowly--so slowly that the motion is imperceptible--it flows down the
inclined plane between two mountains cracking, groaning and melting
until it resolves itself into a torrent, known as the Arveiron. There
are other seas of ice among the Alps, but this by pre-eminence is known
as the Mer de Glace. It was in the study of this region that Agassiz
conceived his glacial theory.
[Illustration]
THE MATTERHORN, SWITZERLAND. This famous Alpine height is situated in
the canton of Valais, in Switzerland, overhanging the little village
of Zermatt. It is fourteen thousand seven hundred and five feet high,
and its peak is the sharpest and most acute in all the Alpine region,
rising like a sort of triangular obelisk into the clouds. Its sides
are so precipitous that the snow itself can hardly find a lodgment.
For a long period it was deemed inaccessible to man. On the 14th of
July, 1865, a party, consisting of Messrs. Hudson, Whymper and Hadow,
with Lord Francis Douglas and three guides, succeeded in reaching
the summit, but in the descent Mr. Hudson lost his footing, and all
save Mr. Whymper and two guides, who escaped by the breaking of the
rope, were precipitated to a depth of four thousand feet towards the
Matterhorn Glacier. The ascent is now made several times annually. The
rock has been blasted at the most difficult points and a rope attached
to it.
[Illustration]
RIGI-KULM, SWITZERLAND. The Rigi Mountain, five thousand nine hundred
and five feet above sea level, or four thousand four hundred and
seventy-two feet above Lake Lucerne, is not one of the highest
mountains of Switzerland, but the beautiful and extensive view
commanded from the Kulm, or summit, makes it one of the most popular.
The famous Riggenbach cog-wheel railway brings travellers up to the
Kulm, a small, bare space, whence the eye takes in a panorama of three
hundred miles in circuit. Immediately below lie the lakes of Lucerne
and Zug, their shores lined with picturesque little towns. Eight other
lakes, including a bit of Zurich, may be counted in the distance.
Snow-capped mountains--the Jungfrau, the Wetterhorn, the Schreckhorn,
the grand snow-covered peaks of the Bernese Alps and countless other
peaks of lesser note--stretch away on every side to the horizon. The
railway up the mountain is of ordinary gauge. Along the centre runs
a cogged track, into which a cog-wheel on the locomotive works, thus
giving the power for the ascent. In going down the brakes are worked
by atmospheric pressure. The construction of this five miles of line,
which in its ascent overcomes about one mile of altitude, cost about
$300,000.
[Illustration]
THUN, SWITZERLAND. One of the most picturesque of Swiss towns is
Thun, which is charmingly situated on the banks of the river Aar,
three-quarters of a mile below its efflux from the lake. Many of the
town’s buildings are very old. The Castle of Zahringen-Kyburg, whose
large square tower forms a noted feature of the landscape, dates from
1182. The principal street is curious. In front of the houses projects
a row of warehouses and cellars, on the flat roofs of which is the
pavement for foot passengers, flanked with the shops. The view here
presented is taken from the pavilion in the Bellevue Grounds, which
overlooks the city, and commands the old-fashioned town, the lake, the
Alps and the Valley of the Aar.
[Illustration]
JUNGFRAU FROM INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND. The town of Interlaken, as its
name indicates, is situated between two lakes (Brienz and Thun), in a
valley about three miles wide, on either side of which rises a ridge
of precipitous mountains six thousand feet high. The great attraction
of the place is not the scenery either way along the valley, but a
view that is caught through a depression in the mountains on the
southern side, revealing the Jungfrau (“Young Maiden”) Mountain and
her attendant galaxy of noble Alpine peaks, rearing their snow-crowned
heads far above the horizon. The Jungfrau is the most imposing
eminence in all the Bernese Alps. Surrounded by stupendous precipices,
her surface is broken by valleys, ravines and glaciers, which from
a distance look like creases in the mantle of snow that covers her
enormous flanks. The first ascent of this mountain was made on August
3d, 1811.
[Illustration]
CURSALON, VIENNA, AUSTRIA. This handsome structure, in the Italian
renaissance style, was put up in 1865–67. With its surrounding gardens,
it forms one of the most attractive spots in the city. Concerts are
given here on Sundays and Thursdays, when large crowds are always sure
to attend.
[Illustration]
CATHEDRAL, MILAN, ITALY. The Milanese look upon this church as the
eighth wonder of the world. In truth, it is a marvelous edifice.
“Gothic art,” as Taine says, “here attains its triumph and its
extravagance.” Nowhere else is it so pointed, so complex, so highly
embroidered, so full of delicate detail. It differs from most Gothic
cathedrals in being built, not of dark stone, but of beautiful,
lustrous white Italian marble. Begun in 1386, it was not fully
completed until 1805, at the direction of Napoleon. The design is said
to be taken from Monte Rosa, one of the loftiest peaks of the Alps. Its
ninety-eight sculptured pinnacles, rising from every part of the body
of the church, certainly bear a striking resemblance to the splintered
ice crags of Savoy. Next to St. Peter’s, at Rome, and the Cathedral at
Seville, this is the largest church in Europe, covering, as it does, an
area of fourteen thousand square yards.
[Illustration]
PANORAMA OF VENICE, ITALY. No city in the world is more fascinating
than Venice. Its very situation makes it unique, built as it is on a
cluster of small islands, a hundred or more in number, in the lagoon
of the same name. A long, narrow sand-bank, divided by several inlets,
separates the lagoon from the Adriatic. The largest of the islands is
the Isola di Rialto, which gives its name to the famous bridge. The
Grand Canal winds through the city in a double curve, like the letter
S, and divides it into two unequal parts. The one hundred and forty-six
smaller canals and a perfect network of small streets and bridges form
the other thoroughfares. The splendid churches, the vast treasures of
art and the magnificent palaces, remind one of the glories of the past,
and fill the present with a surpassing beauty. By the fifteenth century
Venice had become the greatest republic in Europe and the focus of its
commerce. The immense wealth of its merchant princes enabled them to
gratify their artistic sense in the superb monuments still extant.
[Illustration]
ST. MARK’S, VENICE, ITALY. This famous cathedral church is a strange
jumble of all styles of architecture, Christian as well as Saracenic,
yet both without and within breathing a rich and wonderful harmony. The
present building, dedicated in 1085, takes the place of an older and
simpler structure, that was destroyed by fire in 976. In front of the
church, to the southwest, rises the Square Campanile, surmounted with
the figure of an angel. To the east of the church the famous Piazzetta,
or “Little Square,” extends to the Grand Canal, glorified by the Palace
of the Doges, or ancient rulers of the city, which some architects look
upon as the finest building in the world. It is from this Piazzetta
that the picture is taken. The square in front of St. Mark’s is the
grand focus of attraction in Venice, and in summer nearly the entire
population congregate here.
[Illustration]
GRAND CANAL, VENICE, ITALY. This is the main thoroughfare of the city
of the sea. On either side of its serpentine length it is lined by
marble-fronted palaces, whose very names awaken a thrill of historic
or romantic recollection. Gondolas dart up and down among the waters,
and, alas! the disillusionizing modern steamboat puffs its vicious
way through the complaining waters. About half-way in its course the
canal is crossed by the famous Rialto bridge, a single arch of unique
and elegant construction, seventy-four feet in length, resting on
twelve thousand piles. This was built in 1588, subsequent therefore
to the period of Venice’s greatest glory. The ancient Rialto, which
Shakespeare speaks of as the meeting place of the merchants, was not
this bridge, but the Exchange which used to go by the same name, and
was long the centre of trade and commercial life in this city.
[Illustration]
THE DOGE’S PALACE, VENICE, ITALY. At right angles to the Piazza San
Marco, at the south-east end, runs the Piazzetta or little square,
whereon is situated the former residence of the Doges, an ancient
seat of government. Ruskin calls this “the principal work of Venice.”
Originally built in 800, five times destroyed and as many times rebuilt
in a style of greater magnificence, the present structure dates from
the fourteenth century. It is in the Moorish-Gothic style. The form is
an irregular square; the west side, facing the Piazzetta (two hundred
and thirty feet in length), and the south side, facing the sea (two
hundred and twenty feet in length), are flanked by two colonnades, one
above the other, with exquisite traceries. The mouldings of the upper
colonnade are especially rich. The interior court of the building
presents a wilderness of elegant columns, cornices, arches, carvings,
sculptures and bas-reliefs. A magnificent collection of Venetian
paintings is housed within these walls. On the east side the palace is
connected with the prisons by the so-called Bridge of Sighs, which owes
most of its fame to Byron’s sentimentality.
[Illustration]
CATHEDRAL AND LEANING TOWER OF PISA, ITALY. The Cathedral of Pisa,
begun in 1063, and consecrated in 1118, forms, with its Baptistery and
Campanile, the most singular group of buildings in the world. Their
beauty is equal to their singularity. The church itself is constructed
entirely of white marble, with black and colored ornamentation. An
elliptical dome covers the centre. The façade, adorned in the lower
story with columns and arches, and in the upper story with four open
galleries, is of exquisite and dainty beauty. So, likewise, is the
Baptistery, a circular structure, surrounded by half columns below
and a gallery of small, detached columns above, the whole crowned by
a conical dome. But the strangest effect of all is produced by the
Campanile, better known as the Leaning Tower, from the fact that it
is thirteen feet out of the perpendicular. That this obliquity was
accidental and due to the sagging of the foundations is now generally
agreed. Aside from this peculiarity the Campanile would arrest
attention by its winsome grace.
[Illustration]
PONTE VECCHIO, FLORENCE, ITALY. There is no more picturesque bridge in
the world than this. It spans the river Arno at a point where tradition
asserts that a Roman predecessor used to exist. Certain it is, that
bridges were built here and repeatedly demolished before Taddeo Gaddi
erected the present structure of three arches. It is flanked by shops,
which have belonged to the goldsmiths and jewelers since the fourteenth
century, and is still the centre of their trade. Above the roofs of
these shops runs the gallery of the Grand Duke, built as a secret
passage between the Uffizi and the Pitti Palaces. The bridge itself
might easily be mistaken for a continuous street by the stranger,
except for the vacant space over the central arch, which gives a
glimpse of the city and the river on each side.
[Illustration]
PALAZZO VECCHIO, FLORENCE, ITALY. The ancient capitol of the Republic
of Florence, and subsequently the residence of Cosmo de’ Medici, is
known as the Palazzo Vecchio, or Old Palace. Begun in 1298, it is a
striking example of the Florentine castles of the Middle Ages, with
its enormous projecting battlements and its disproportionate bell
tower, defiantly stuck upon the walls without regard to symmetry, and
almost overhanging the battlements. It is situated in the Piazza della
Signoria, the historic, as well as the commercial, centre of Florence.
The court is adorned with a fountain and sculptured columns. In front
of the entrance is Bandinelli’s group of Hercules and Cacus. At right
angles to the left is the Loggia dei Lanzi, an open arcade, famous for
its own beauty and for the sculptured master-pieces which it enshrines.
A large and elegant fountain is on the right.
[Illustration]
CATHEDRAL OF FLORENCE, ITALY. This is generally known as the Duomo or
Dome, though its official designation is Santa Maria del Fiore. Arnolfo
di Cambio began it in 1298; he was succeeded by Giotto, and the dome
was added by Brunelleschi. The latter is not only beautiful in itself,
but is interesting as the first of the great domes of the modern world.
A half-finished façade was destroyed by fire, and the deficiency was
not supplied until 1875–1884. The interior is impressive, though
almost entirely devoid of ornamentation. Outside the church, to the
left, is the Campanile, an exquisite work by Giotto; so exquisite that
Charles V declared it ought to be kept in a glass case. In front is the
Baptistery, an octagonal building, surmounted by a dome. It was begun
in 1352 and finished in 1358. Its chief attraction lies in the bronze
doors, especially those by Lorenzo Ghiberti, which Michael Angelo
eulogized as worthy to be the gates of Paradise.
[Illustration]
THE CAPITOL, ROME, ITALY. Anciently, the Capitoline Hill, in Rome, was
surmounted by the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and the citadel of the
city. Hence, here was the head of the Roman state and the shrine of
their religion. But temple and citadel have vanished and in their place
is a group of buildings erected by Paul III from the designs of Michael
Angelo. On the right is the Palace of the Conservatori, on the left the
Museum of the Capitol and between the two, occupying the third side of
the square, is the Palace of the Senator, a modern Roman patrician with
that title. The photograph shows the best approach to the square up the
grand stair-case, known as La Cordonnata, which in its present form
dates from 1736. At the foot of the stairs are two Egyptian lions, and
at the summit, on the angles of the balustrades, two ancient colossal
statues of Castor and Pollux, standing by the sides of their horses.
These were found in the sixteenth century. In the centre of the square
is the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.
[Illustration]
CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO, ROME. Originally this famous structure was
built by the Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his
family. The same emperor also erected the bridge now known as St.
Angelo--anciently as the Pons Ælius--which crosses the Tiber opposite
the castle. Tradition affirms that Gregory the Great in 589 changed the
name in memory of a vision of the Archangel Michael, who appeared to
him standing on the summit of the mausoleum. He built a chapel on the
summit, but subsequently this was replaced by the statue still extant.
During the Middle Ages this was the fortress of Papal Rome, and its
history at that period is bound up in the history of the city itself.
It has also served as a prison, and part of it was up to recent times
still used for that purpose. It has suffered much from sieges and the
ravages of time, and is now but the skeleton of the magnificent pile
erected by Hadrian. No vestige remains of the shell of Parian marble
which encircled it, while the statues were torn off to be used as
missiles against the Goths, and later as cannon balls.
[Illustration]
ST. PETER’S, ROME, ITALY. This is the largest and most magnificent
of all Christian temples. It is built on the supposed site of the
burial-place of St. Peter. As early as A. D. 90 an oratory was raised
on the spot; in 306 this was followed by a basilica. The present
edifice was begun in 1506, and after employing the talents of Bramante,
Michel Angelo and other architects, was dedicated by Urban III in 1626.
The magnificent dome was mainly the work of Michael Angelo, though
his plan was somewhat modified by Giacomo della Porta. The impressive
colonnades, which almost encircle the square and lead up to the front,
were added in 1667. The façade is confessedly a failure. But nothing
can mar the beauty of this extraordinary edifice. Although it occupies
some two hundred and forty thousand square feet, the interior, from
its exquisite proportions, does not at once impress the beholder with
a sense of its vastness. That grows upon one by degrees. The Vatican,
which adjoins St. Peter’s, is an equally enormous and beautiful
building, which comprises the residence of the popes, an astounding
museum of pictures and statues and a library of unexampled historic
interest.
[Illustration]
THE COLOSSEUM, ROME. This mammoth ruin, originally known as the Flavian
amphitheatre, is the most magnificent relic of ancient Rome. Begun
by Vespasian in A. D. 72, it was dedicated by Titus in A. D. 80 and
was subsequently added to by Domitian. As the circus of the public
games for nearly four hundred years, it was the scene of gladiatorial
conflicts and of the persecution of the Christian martyrs. After the
triumph of Christianity it fell into neglect, and suffered continuous
spoliation as a quarry for the material of new buildings. Finally, in
1750, Benedict XIV rescued it in its present condition by dedicating
it to the memory of the Christian martyrs who had suffered therein.
A cross in the middle of the amphitheatre is continually visited by
the pious. “As it now stands,” says Forsyth, “the Colosseum is a
striking image of Rome itself, decayed, vacant, serious, yet grand,
half gray and half green, exact on one side and fallen on another, with
consecrated ground in its bosom.” Hillard calls it “a great tragedy
in stone.” It was originally built to seat ten thousand spectators.
There were three orders of architecture used in the four stories; the
first, Doric; second, Ionic; third and fourth, Corinthian. In each of
the lower tiers there were eighty arches. The height of the outer wall
was one hundred and fifty-seven feet, the circumference one thousand
six hundred and forty-one feet, the entire superficial area being six
acres.
[Illustration]
THE PANTHEON, ROME. This is one of the grandest, as it is the most
perfectly preserved, of all the ancient monuments of Rome. Except for
the ridiculous belfries superimposed by Bernini on the outside, it is
to-day substantially in the same condition as when Marcus Agrippa in
B. C. 27, after the establishment of universal peace, consecrated it
to all the gods. In A. D. 608 it was dedicated as a Christian church
by Pope Boniface IV, under the name of Santa Maria ad Martyres. The
portico is of faultless beauty, and the interior, as the picture shows,
is a perfect rotunda, impressive in its grand simplicity. The domed
ceiling is lighted solely by an aperture twenty-three feet in diameter,
the wall being supported by a huge bronze ring. An additional interest
for moderns lies in the tombs of Raphael, Caracci and other painters
who are buried therein, and more recently the remains of Victor
Emmanuel have been added to those of the artistic brotherhood.
[Illustration]
TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA, ROME, ITALY. The Via Appia of ancient Rome was
one of the great avenues leading out from the city, and the principal
line of communication with the South. It is named after Appius Claudius
Caecus, the censor, who began its construction in B. C. 312. Under
Pius IX the ancient road was once more laid open. To-day it presents
the appearance of an avenue, eleven Roman miles in length, lined on
each side by ruins, mostly of magnificent tombs, which were built by
the patrician families of ancient Rome to the memory of their dead.
The best preserved of these is the tomb of Cecilia Metella, the wife
of Crassus, a circular tower seventy feet in diameter, resting upon a
quadrangular base. The battlements upon it are mediæval additions, made
for the purpose of defense by the Caetanis.
[Illustration]
FORUM ROMANUM, ROME, ITALY. The ancient Forum of Rome exists only in
ruins. That it lay at the foot of the Capitoline and Palatine Hills
in Rome is certain from the remnants that survive. But the exact area
it occupied and the true situation of the various buildings which
once covered it are matters of dispute and uncertainty. Conspicuous
among the ruins are three beautiful Corinthian columns of white marble
belonging to the temple raised to Vespasian by Domitian; eight granite
columns belonging to the Temple of Saturn, a beautiful fragment,
consisting of three Corinthian columns with a rich entablature, a
solitary column which Byron calls,
The nameless column with a buried base,
but whose now excavated base reveals that it was erected to the Emperor
Phocas, the arches of Septimus Severus and of Titus, and a profusion of
columns, pavements, foundations and walls of other structures.
[Illustration]
BAY OF NAPLES AND MOUNT VESUVIUS, ITALY. Naples, in itself one of the
least interesting of Italian cities, attracts the attention of the
tourist by its transcendent beauty of situation and by the historical
and picturesque interest of its surroundings. The Bay of Naples is
the most glorious spot in the Mediterranean. Its circuit is more than
fifty-two miles, including the islands of Ischia, at the north-west,
and of Capri, at the south entrance. At its opening, between these two
islands, it is fourteen miles broad, and from the opening to its head,
at Portici, the distance is fifteen miles. On the north-east shore,
east of Naples, is an extensive flat, whence rises Vesuvius, the most
famous of European volcanoes, at the base of which are several villages
and the classic sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The Italian proverb,
“See Naples and die,” is a tribute to the beauty of the city and its
environment.
[Illustration]
POMPEII, ITALY. The volcanic eruption which overwhelmed Pompeii on
August 24th, A. D. 79, has afforded us our most important, indeed,
almost our only source of acquaintance with the domestic life of
the ancient Romans. To be sure it represents one definite epoch of
antiquity only, that of the glories of the early empire when Pompeii
became the favorite retreat of Romans of the wealthier classes. But the
study of the various phases of life at this epoch forms a pursuit of
inexhaustible interest. The ashes from Vesuvius completely covered over
the town to the depth of about twenty feet until the year 1748, when
the accidental discovery of some statues led to the excavations. They
have been continued up to the present time, and will not be completed
for half a century more.
[Illustration]
ACROPOLIS, ATHENS, GREECE. This famous building, at once the citadel,
the sanctuary, the treasury and the museum of art of the ancient
Athenian people, crowns the summit of the rocky height which abruptly
rises three hundred and fifty feet out of the plain in the midst of
the city, inaccessible on all save the western side. The walls, built
on the edge of the perpendicular rock, form a circuit of nearly seven
thousand feet. These are of immense antiquity. They were founded by the
Pelagians, and the work was continued by Themistocles, Cymon, Valerian,
and later, by the Venetians and the Turks. Here are the remains of
three temples, the Temple of Victory, the Erechtheum and the Parthenon,
the latter the architectural glory of Athens, the only octastyle Doric
temple in Greece, and in its own class the most beautiful building in
the world. It was built in the time of Pericles, and was once adorned
with masterpieces of sculpture of which it was long ago plundered.
[Illustration]
THE BOSPHORUS, FROM CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY. No city in the world
occupies a more magnificent natural position than the capital of
Turkey. It is made up of three cities, each distinct and different
from the others. Stamboul, the old city, lies upon a tongue of land of
triangular shape, having the sea of Marmora on the south, the Bosphorus
on its eastern apex and the Golden Horn on the north. Its seven hills
are crowned with domes and minarets and fantastic houses, backed by
the dark foliage of the cypress and other trees in the cemeteries
beyond the walls. To the north is the European quarter, Galata being
the business centre, while Pera is studded all over with the splendid
residences of the foreign ambassadors, &c., and lined along its shores
with the palaces and gardens of the Sultan and the adjoining mosques.
Skutari, the Asiatic quarter of Constantinople, is on the eastern side
of the Bosphorus. Nowhere else is there a picture so bright, so varied
in outline, so gorgeous in color, so heterogeneous in its component
parts.
[Illustration]
THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY. This is the principal
place of Mahommedan worship in the world. Anciently a Christian temple,
built in 532 by Justinian, it was converted into a Moslem mosque in
1453 by Mohammed II, the conqueror of Constantinople. The building is
in the form of a Greek cross, two hundred and seventy feet long by
two hundred and forty-three wide, surmounted by a flattened dome one
hundred and eighty feet high, with several smaller domes and minarets.
The style of architecture is Byzantine. The exterior is not as imposing
as the interior, which even now is rivaled by few Christian churches,
and at the time of its erection made this masterpiece of Byzantine
architecture the greatest temple in the world. Well may Justinian have
exclaimed: “I have surpassed thee, O Solomon!” The changes made by the
Moslems are greater inside than out. In the interior the mosaics have
been partially covered up and replaced by inscriptions from the Koran,
but there is no structural change. Outside most of the older annexes
have been swept away and replaced by Turkish buildings, lofty minarets
rise at each corner, and the crescent replaces the cross on the dome.
[Illustration]
THE SPHINX, EGYPT. This unique monument, situated near Cairo, in the
neighborhood of the Pyramids, is one of the most characteristic and
probably the oldest of Egyptian remains. As such it is the oldest
monument in the world. Recent researches show that it is more ancient
than even the Pyramid of Cheops. Originally it was a recumbent figure,
representing an andro-sphinx, or man-headed lion, one hundred and
eighty-eight feet nine and one-half inches in length, hewn out of the
solid rock. Steps led down to its front, where there was a sanctuary
and tablets. But the sands covered all save the head, shoulders and
back, which rose from the surrounding desert with a startling and
almost fearsome abruptness. In this condition the monument was allowed
to remain for centuries. But more recently excavations have been
started to restore it to its pristine state, and before long the entire
colossal figure will be bared to view.
[Illustration]
PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, EGYPT. Gizeh is about twelve miles from Cairo. It
contains the largest and most famous of those mysterious sepulchral
monuments known as Pyramids, which the ancient Egyptians were fond of
raising. Three of these are especially famous--the Great Pyramid called
the “Splendid,” which is the mausoleum of Cheops, and is four hundred
and fifty feet nine inches high; the scarcely inferior Pyramid of
Chepheren, and the Pyramid of Mycerinus, which is much smaller. These
mountains of masonry, built of stones whose huge size perplexes modern
engineers to account for the method of their handling, were designed by
the kings of the early Egyptian dynasties as their tombs. Their leading
idea was durability, and by concealment of the entrance, and tortuous
and complicated passages, they strove to baffle the vandal. Yet all
these tombs have been shamefully profaned.
[Illustration]
RUINS OF KARNAK, EGYPT. Most guide-books advise the traveller in Egypt
to leave Karnak to the last, as the crown of his explorations. It is,
indeed, the most marvelous ruin along the Nile. Yet, though in ruins,
it preserves all its original character. It lies amid the ruins of
Thebes. It was intended for a temple. But it is not so much a temple as
a city of temples, of palaces, courts, columns and obelisks enclosed by
a great wall of circuit about a mile and a half in circumference. The
Great Hall alone, which is the largest of all the monuments, measures
three hundred and forty feet by one hundred and seventy. The Temple
of Amenophis, here represented, is one of the finest of the smaller
remains.
[Illustration]
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, JERUSALEM. This church, situated on a
hill called Acra, purports to be built over the site of Calvary and
the actual tomb of Jesus. Not only that tomb itself, but the tombs
of Joseph and Nicodemus, the places where the Saviour appeared after
His resurrection to Mary Magdalene and to Mary, His mother; where
Constantine’s mother found the true cross, &c., &c., are pointed out
to visitors. Not everybody accepts the genuineness of the site. But,
at least, it was for the reconquest of the Holy Sepulchre that the
Crusades were instituted, and for fifteen hundred years kings and
queens, knights and pilgrims have knelt and prayed here. The church is
a Byzantine structure, which was commenced in 1103 A. D., was partly
destroyed by fire in 1808, and has since been restored. Some parts of
it, however, are said to date back to the Empress Helena.
[Illustration]
GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, JERUSALEM. No spot in the whole world could have
more interest for the Christian traveler than the Garden of Gethsemane,
the scene of our Lord’s agony on the eve of His crucifixion. It is
known that it was a garden or orchard belonging to a small estate at
the foot of Mount Olivet, somewhere on the east slope of the Kedron
Valley and about half a mile from Jerusalem. But whether the present
enclosure which is pointed out as the identical garden be so or not
is a matter which archæologists have not yet settled. Certainly, the
garden is very old and very venerable; its few olive trees date back to
an unknown antiquity, and it may very well have been extant in almost
its present condition in the time of Christ.
[Illustration]
RUINS OF BAALBEK, SYRIA. Baalbek,--the city of Baal or the Sun, the
Heliopolis of the Greeks, once famous as the most magnificent of Syrian
cities, which passed successively under the rule of the Persians,
Greeks and Romans, was plundered by the Arabs in A. D. 639, by the
Christians and others during the Crusades, and was finally sacked and
dismantled by the Tartars, under Tamerlane.--Baalbek to-day exists only
as a mass of ruins; but its very ruins are of the utmost magnificence.
The most imposing are the remains of the Great Temple. But the most
beautiful is the Circular Temple--a semi-circular cella surrounded on
the outside by eight Corinthian columns. Within there is a double tier
of smaller pillars, the lower row being Ionic and the upper Corinthian.
In modern times, and, indeed, up to the present century, this was used
as a Greek church, but it is now deserted and choked with débris.
[Illustration]
TAJ MAHAL, AGRA, HINDOSTAN. This magnificent mausoleum is the glory of
Indo-Mussulman architecture. It was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan
for himself and his favorite wife, Nourmahal, who died in child-birth
in 1629. For twenty-two years twenty thousand men were employed in
its construction, the total cost reaching $16,000,000. Built of white
marble, it forms a quadrangle of one hundred and ninety square yards,
surmounted by a lofty dome, with smaller domes at each corner and four
graceful minarets one hundred and thirty-three feet high. The great
central hall is paved with squares of various-colored marbles, while
the walls, tombs and screens are ornamented by exquisite mosaic work.
The elegance and delicacy of the design and the elaborate perfection in
every detail of the workmanship are alike marvelous. It seems almost
like a castle built in a dream, a fabric of mist and sunbeams, which
would dissolve at a touch. Yet it has resisted the encroachments of
time and the barbarian despoiler, and has come down to our day almost
perfect.
[Illustration]
PEARL MOSQUE, AGRA, HINDOSTAN. The very name of the building is a
tribute to its beauty. It is undoubtedly the most elegant mosque of
Indian-Mahometan architecture. Although it gives the general impression
of lightness, grace, delicacy, it is by no means a small building.
Externally it is two hundred and thirty-five feet east and west by one
hundred and ninety feet north and south. The court yard is one hundred
and fifty-five feet square. The mass is also considerable, as the whole
is raised on a terrace of artificial construction, by the aid of which
it stands well out from the surrounding buildings. Its chief beauty
consists in its court yard, which is wholly of white marble from the
pavement to the summit of its domes. The interior is a bewildering maze
of columns of exquisite proportions.
[Illustration]
EL CAPITAN, YOSEMITE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. The Yosemite Valley is one
of the most marvelous natural parks in the world. About nine miles in
length and from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a quarter in
width, it is sunk almost a mile below the level of the surrounding
country. High granite walls rise sheer and inaccessible on each side.
Cataracts of the wildest and strangest beauty abound. Flowers of every
hue cover the ground. Where all is wonderful it might seem hard to
select. Yet by common consent the surpassing feature of the valley
scenery is the great cliff, known as El Capitan or The Captain. “It
is doubtful,” says Professor J. D. Whitney, “if anywhere in the world
there is presented so squarely cut, so lofty and so imposing a face of
rock.” Not indeed that it is the highest of the gigantic brotherhood.
Its three thousand three hundred feet are exceeded in its own vicinity
by over thousands of feet. But no other rock, here or elsewhere, has so
majestic and awe-compelling a presence.
[Illustration]
BIG TREES, CALIFORNIA. Rigid scientists call these trees _Sequoia
gigantea_. In England they are sometimes known as Wellingtonia, in
America as Washingtonia. But the pride of science and of patriotism
have had to bow to the will of the populace, which has been satisfied
with the simpler and therefore more energetic title of Big Trees. They
are confined to the western portion of the California range, occurring
in detached groups or groves at an altitude of from four thousand to
five thousand feet above the sea. Some of these vast vegetable columns
are upwards of thirty feet in diameter, and from three to four hundred
feet in height. One of the trees in the Mariposa Grove, represented in
the accompanying engraving--some twenty-five feet in diameter--stands
directly arching the roadway, and a miniature tunnel has been cut
through it which admits of the passage of a four-horse stage coach.
[Illustration]
GEYSERS, YELLOWSTONE PARK, WYOMING. The Geyser region in the
Yellowstone occupies some thirty square miles. Within this
comparatively limited area is a most stupendous exhibition of hot
springs, water geysers, mud geysers and steaming caldrons of boiling
water. No two of the geysers are alike. The Grotto simply churns and
makes a great noise. The others go off at various intervals; some every
hour, some all the time and some once a month; some on alternate days,
yet the day they are active going over ninety minutes. Nor is their
style of action the same. Some play with labored pumping, others throw
an unbroken stream; some wear themselves out in a continuous effort,
others subside only to recommence again repeatedly. An eruption may
extend from two to twenty minutes, the approximate time occupied by the
Grand, or even to one hour and twenty minutes, a period that the Giant
has been timed to play. The Grand is the largest geyser in the world,
shooting a vast column of water over two hundred feet into the air.
[Illustration]
GRAND CANON, YELLOWSTONE PARK. The Yellowstone Park is one of the great
natural marvels of the world. Within a compass of one hundred square
miles there are here gathered the loveliest valleys, the grandest
canons, the most marvelous mountains, lakes, rivers, springs and
cascades. In addition there are all sorts of natural phenomena: Sulphur
mountains, a mud volcano, petrified forests and over ten thousand
active geysers, hot springs, salfataras and boiling pools. Greatest of
all the sights is the Grand Canon, a ravine varying in depth from one
thousand to two thousand feet. The shelving sides of precipitous crags
slope down, presenting an endless variety of form and color, until
they meet at the bed of the Yellowstone River, which flings itself
impetuously along to meet the lake. “A great gulch let down into the
eternities,” such is the opinion of De Witt Talmage on this miracle of
nature.
[Illustration]
CLIFF-DWELLINGS, NEW MEXICO. Cliff-dwellers is the name given to more
or less savage people in the past who inhabited dwellings built on
projections from the face of cliffs, or cut out of the solid rock.
Sometimes the houses are four stories high, and divided into many
rooms. Often they are not to be distinguished from the rest of the
cliff. Such dwellings are found in various parts of the world, but
nowhere are they so abundant and so interesting as in Arizona, New
Mexico and California. It is generally supposed that the American
cliff-dwellers were the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians. In some
respects the cliff-dweller appears to have been better off than his
modern descendants; the canon walls sheltered him from cyclones and
the overhanging shelves of rock protected him from attack from above.
A series of cliff villages, lining the walls of Walnut Canon, in
Northeastern Arizona, for a length of five miles, was discovered in
1884.
[Illustration]
MASONIC TEMPLE, CHICAGO. For a long time it was held that Philadelphia
had the finest Masonic Temple in the world. Now that honor belongs to
Chicago. But it has only belonged to it since 1890, when the gorgeous
new building was begun at the corner of State and Randolph Streets. The
site measures one hundred and seventy feet on State Street and by one
hundred and fourteen on Randolph. Every inch of this space is covered
by the building, whose twenty stories tower up to the height of two
hundred and sixty-five feet. It rests on cement and iron foundations,
and its superstructure is of steel. The first three stories are faced
with red granite from Wisconsin, the remainder with gray brick that
is indistinguishable from the granite. An immense granite arch in the
centre of the State Street front forms the entrance, and opens into an
interior court, faced from bottom to top with different colored marble.
The first eleven stories are fitted up for shops, from the eleventh to
the sixteenth inclusive are business offices, while above the sixteenth
floor everything is devoted to Masonry.
[Illustration]
NIAGARA FALLS. The most stupendous cataract in the world is that formed
in the Niagara River, four miles below Grand Island. Here the current
begins to grow narrow and develops into rapids, which continue for
about a mile, with a descent of fifty-two feet, until the river plunges
over a mighty chasm. Goat Island, at the very verge of the cataract,
divides it into two sheets of water--the Horse-shoe, or Canadian fall,
with a descent of one hundred and fifty-eight feet, and a width of
about twenty-six hundred and forty; and the American fall, one hundred
and sixty-two to one hundred and sixty-nine feet deep, and about one
thousand wide. The volume of water thus precipitated is about fifteen
million cubic feet a minute. Nearly nine-tenths of this passes over
the Canadian fall. For some distance below the Falls there is still
water, the mass which has hurled itself into the abyss sinking and only
reappearing two miles below, where the whirlpool rapids begin.
[Illustration]
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS, CANADA. This, the largest group of river islands
in the world, lies in an expansion of the River St. Lawrence at
its emergence from Lake Ontario. New York State is on one side and
the Province of Ontario, Canada, on the other. The name is not an
exaggeration. On the contrary, the group consists of about fifteen
hundred rocky islands, remarkable for their great and varied beauty.
They are of all shapes and sizes, some just peeping above the surface
of the waters, others extending several miles in length, some wild and
bare and rocky, others covered with the most luxuriant foliage. Hence,
a trip through the St. Lawrence River at this point is full of the most
bewildering yet enchanting surprises.
[Illustration]
VICTORIA BRIDGE, MONTREAL, CANADA. Montreal is situated on the south
side of the island of the same name, at the confluence of the Ottawa
and the St. Lawrence Rivers. To connect it with the mainland the
Victoria Bridge was thrown across the St. Lawrence. Work was begun in
1854. In 1860 the bridge was formally opened by the Prince of Wales
during his tour through Canada and the United States. This is one of
the greatest triumphs of engineering and architectural skill. The total
length is nearly two miles, or, to be exact, nine thousand one hundred
and ninety-four feet. It rests upon twenty-four piers and two abutments
of solid masonry. The central span is three hundred and thirty feet
long.
[Illustration]
THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. A stately and magnificent building
devoted to both branches of Congress--the Senate and the House of
Representatives--as well as to the United States Supreme Court and the
Library of Congress. It stands upon an eminence commanding a beautiful
view of the city, and itself forms the most impressive feature in the
landscape. The centre building of freestone is flanked by two wings,
mainly of marble, and crowned by an iron dome, painted white. From
the ground to the top of the nineteen-foot Statue of Liberty, which
surmounts the dome, is three hundred and seven and a half feet; the
diameter of the dome is one hundred and thirty-five and a half feet.
Thus only four domes in Europe can surpass it: St. Peter’s at Rome,
St. Paul’s in London, St. Isaac’s in St. Petersburg, and the Invalides
in Paris. The building covers an area of about three and a half acres.
Its total cost has been over $13,000,000. The corner-stone was laid by
Washington in 1792. The marble extensions were begun in 1851.
[Illustration]
THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C. As the official residence of the
President of the United States, this mansion has a unique interest.
It is not in itself, however, a pretentious or imposing structure.
Yet it has some elegance in its very democratic simplicity. Built of
freestone, like the original Capitol, and painted white like that, its
color has given it its name. The model which the architect had in view
was the Palace of the Duke of Leinster in London, and he has followed
his prototype very closely. The corner-stone was laid in 1792; the
building was first occupied by President John Adams in 1800; it was
burned by the British in 1814, and restored and re-occupied in 1818.
Since that time there have been staccato clamors for a more magnificent
entourage for the chief executive officer of the United States, but
nothing further has been accomplished.
[Illustration]
INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA. This plain, but substantial brick
building, which stands on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, is ever
memorable as the birthplace of the American republic. Here the General
Assembly of Pennsylvania gave way to the Continental Congress. Here
George Washington was elected commander of the American forces (June,
1775). And here, on July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence
was adopted by Congress. Four days later it was read from before the
building to an excited and exultant multitude. The halls have been
restored as far as possible to their original condition; the east room,
where the Declaration was signed, is ornamented with portraits of
the signers and the west room is a museum of revolutionary and other
relics. The famous Liberty Bell, which was rung as a signal to the
people that the Declaration had been adopted, is now suspended under
the tower in full view of the public. The building dates from 1729–34.
[Illustration]
THE EAST RIVER BRIDGE, between New York City and Brooklyn, more
familiarly known as the Brooklyn Bridge, is a massive suspension
bridge, the largest in the world, which connects New York with
Brooklyn. Its colossal towers and ponderous cables loom up
conspicuously before the stranger who approaches New York from the
riverside. Begun in 1870, it was opened for traffic May 24th, 1883, at
a total cost of $15,000,000. The whole length of the bridge is five
thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine feet. From high water mark to the
floor of the bridge is one hundred and thirty-five feet. The central
span (itself measuring one thousand five hundred and ninety-five and
a half feet) is suspended to four cables of steel wire, each fifteen
and three-quarter inches in diameter. The width of the structure is
eighty-five feet, which includes a promenade for foot passengers, two
roadways for vehicles, and two railway tracks on which run passenger
cars propelled by a stationary engine from the Brooklyn side.
[Illustration]
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
A few very simple typographical errors were corrected.
This book always uses “Canon,” never “Canyon.” It contains several
likely typographical errors or misspellings, most of which have not
been changed by the Transcribers. Some are noted below.
Page 42: “mertons” was printed that way.
Page 72: “Propylacum” was printed that way.
Page 120: “Andulasia” was printed that way.
Page 162: “Michel Angelo” was printed that way.
Page 178: “sea of Marmora” was printed that way.
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