The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

Contiguous to the eastern extremity of the church, and opening into it, stands the famous chapel of Henry VII. dedicated to the Virgin Mary, one of the finest and most highly finished pieces of Gothic architecture in the world. On its site formerly stood a chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and also a tavern, distinguished by the sign of the White Rose. Henry, resolving to erect a superb mausoleum for himself and his family, pulled down the old chapel and tavern; and on the eleventh of February, 1503, the first stone of the present edifice was laid by Abbot Islip, at the command of the king. It cost seventy thousand dollars, a prodigious sum for that period, (equal to fourteen hundred thousand dollars of our money;) and still more so, considering the parsimonious temper of the king. The labor merely of working the materials will, at a glance, be seen to be immense, and almost incredible; and the genius employed both in this structure and Henry’s tomb, must be mentioned with admiration.

The exterior of this chapel is remarkable for the richness and variety of its form, occasioned chiefly by fourteen towers, in an elegant proportion to the body of the edifice, and projecting in different angles from the outermost wall. It has of late years been repaired and renewed with exquisite taste, and at great cost. The inside is approached by the area behind the chapels of Edward the Confessor and Henry V. The floor is elevated above that of the area, and the ascent is by a flight of marble steps. The entrance is ornamented with a beautiful Gothic portico of stone, within which are three large gates of gilt brass, of most curious open workmanship, every panel being adorned with a rose and a portcullis alternately.

The chapel consists of the nave and two small aisles. The center is ninety-nine feet in length, sixty-six in breadth, and fifty-four in hight, and terminates at the east in a curve, having five deep recesses of the same form. The entrance to these recesses being by open arches, they add greatly to the relief and beauty of the building. It is probable that they were originally so many smaller chapels, destined to various uses. The side aisles are in a just proportion to the center, with which they communicate by four arches, turned on Gothic pillars. Each of them is relieved by four recesses, a window running the whole hight of each recess, and being most minute and curious in its divisions. The upper part of the nave has its four windows on each side, and ten at the eastern extremity, five above and five below. The entire roof of the chapel, including the side aisles, and the curve at the end, is of wrought stone, in the Gothic style, and of most exquisite beauty.

An altar tomb, erected by Henry, at the cost of fifty thousand dollars, to receive his last remains, stands in the center of the chapel. It is of basaltic stone, ornamented with gilt brass, and is surrounded with a magnificent railing of the same. This monument is by Pietro Torregiano, a Florentine sculptor, and possesses uncommon merit. Six devices in bass-relief, and four statues, all of gilt brass, adorn the tomb. It is impossible to conceive Gothic beauty of a higher degree than the whole of the interior of Henry the Seventh’s chapel; and it is with regret that the antiquary sees the stalls of the knights reared against the pillars and arches of the nave, forming screens that separate the smaller aisles from the body of the chapel, and diminish the airiness, and interrupt the harmony of the plan. Since its restoration in 1820, this chapel has formed one of the most beautiful adjuncts of the abbey, affording one of the most beautiful specimens of its peculiar style.

The prospect from the top of one of the western towers, the ascent to which consists of two hundred and eighty-three steps, is infinitely more beautiful, though less extensive, than that from St. Paul’s. The many fine situations and open sites at the west end of the town, and its environs, occasion the difference. The banqueting-house at Whitehall, St. James’s park, with the parade and Horse-guards, Carlton house, the gardens of the queen’s palace, the Green park, the western end of Piccadilly, and Hyde park, with its river, lie at once under the eye, and compose a most grand and delightful scene. The bridges of Westminster, Waterloo, and Blackfriars, with the broad expanse of water between them, the Adelphi and Somerset house on its banks, St. Paul’s stupendous pile, and the light Gothic steeple of St. Dunstan’s in the East, are alike embraced with one glance, and happily contrast with the former prospect. From this tower, the exterior form of St. Paul’s, when the sun falls upon it, is distinctly seen: and here its exquisite beauty will be more fully comprehended than in any part of the city, for a sufficient area to take in the entire outline is not there to be found.

CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME.

Passing from England to the continent, one of the first church edifices that attracts attention, both as to its antiquity and grandeur, is the cathedral of Notre Dame, in Paris. This vast erection of world-wide fame, stands on an island in the Seine, where was the center of the old city of the Parisii in the days of Julius Cæsar. It is a cruciform structure, four hundred and forty-two feet long, one hundred and sixty-two wide, and more than one hundred feet high to the vaulting of the roof, having all the characteristics of a vast ancient Gothic cathedral. It was begun in the year 1010, and was nearly four hundred years in building, not being finished till 1407. At the west end are two lofty towers, each two hundred and thirty-five feet high, designed as bases for steeples, which as yet have never been added. The inside of the church has a very splendid and imposing appearance, owing to its numerous aisles and chapels; and the west front, with its three large gates, and circular window, and noble gateway, is worthy of the highest admiration. In its imposing appearance, no church in Paris will compare with it.

STRASBURG CATHEDRAL.

But by far the most magnificent church edifice in all France, is the cathedral of Strasburg, a view of which is given in the cut, and which is famous all over the world. Till the time of Louis XIV., Strasburg was a free imperial city; but he seized, and the French have for one hundred and fifty years held it, as a frontier fortress, and the key to Germany. In the city there are many objects of interest, one of the most conspicuous of which is a colossal bronze statue of John Guttenberg, who here first practiced the art of printing; another is a colossal bronze monument, in honor of General Kleber; and still another is a beautiful monument to the memory of Marshal Saxe. But the wonder of the city is the cathedral, the spire of which rises four hundred and seventy-four feet above the pavement, which is nearly as high as the great pyramid of Egypt, and one hundred and forty feet higher than St. Paul’s. Still, owing to the large dimensions of the building, and the light and graceful structure of the spire, it does not impress the observer as being of this extraordinary altitude. The nave of the church is two hundred and thirty feet high, and the round window at the end is forty-eight feet in diameter. This wonderful structure was begun nearly eight hundred years ago. The material is red sandstone, obtained in the vicinity, which has proved very enduring; the church has therefore suffered very little from time, and the chiseled and carved material, after so many centuries of exposure to the weather, retains the sharpness of outline which it had when first finished.