LHE GREAT CATHEDRALS OF THE WORLD.

27

 

to-day not only the largest, but the most
imposing and beautiful church in the world.
Its area is 18,000 square yards. The inter-
ior is strikingly impressive, but the effect
produced is not so much its vastness as the
harmony and symmetry of its proportion.

“The next largest Church in the world,

who can tell me where it is located?” said -

Mr. Gray.

Florence, who, from the pictures she had

“The Duoma, at Milan,” said

seen, considered it the most artistic in the
“Yes,” said Mr. Gray, “the Milan
Cathedral, with perhaps the exception of
the one at Seville, Spain, comes next. Its
4,000 square

world.

 

area is 14,000 square yards
yards smaller than St. Peters.

“The Cathedral at Milan is regarded by
the Milanese as the eighth wonder of the
world. It holds 40,000 people and the
The

roof, marble like the rest of the building,

tower is 300 feet above the pavement.

is adorned with 98 turrets and the exterior
“The

Cathedral is

upwards of 2,000 statues in marble.
architecture of the Milan
purely Gothic,” said Florence, “and the
statues make it in my mind far handsomer
than any other Church I can concieve of.”
“Yes,” said Amy Daish, who had been
studying the architecture of the various
churches for some days, “I must confess
it is beautiful, but what can possibly be
handsomer than St. Mark’s Cathedral at

Venice? This must have been very beau-

tiful at one time, decorated as it was with |

 

lavish and almost oriental magnificence.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Gray, “ Amy is right, St.
Mark’s possesses even to-day a grandeur
seldom seen on the outside of a building.
Mr. Ruskin says that ‘the effects of St.
Mark’s depend not only upon the most deli-
cate sculpture in every part, but on its
color, also, and that it is the most subtle,
variable, inexpressible color in the world—
the color of glass, of transparent alabaster,
of polished marble and lustrous gold.’
“Over the principal portals are four
horses in gilded bronze five feet in height,
which are the finest of ancient bronzes.
They probably once adorned the triumphal
arch of Nero, and afterwards that of Tro-

jan. Constantine sent them to Constanti-
nople, and the Doge brought them to
Venice in 1204. . In 1797 they were carried
by Napoleon to Paris where they graced
the triumphal arch Palace du Carrousel,
and in 1815 they were restored to their
former position on St. Mark’s by Emperor
Francis.

“This Cathedral is named from St. Mark
whose bones were brought from Alexan-
dria in 829 and placed in a reliquary un-
der the high altar.
all this time to

hear about the pigeons,” said little May,

“T have been waiting

“for mamma says that there are lots of them

around St. Mark’s.” “Yes,” said papa
Gray, “a large flock of pigeons enlivens
the piazza. In accordance with an old