Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1901 — MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE.

Anclea’a Built Impo ing and Durable Buildings—Plsa’a Leaning Tower. The,earliest builders appear to have been architects, in the sense that they sought to make their designs beautiful or imposing as well as durable. The inclination, iu ancient times, among the first architects, was to make all their works exceedingly massive, as witness the Pyramids, the Temple at Thebes and the Celtic monuments of the Druids. First attempts at architecture were tombs and temples, and then followixl'palaces. The earlier kings and chieftains were regarded as semi-celes-tial beings, and although they were housed little better than their subjects, when they died it was deemed imperative that they should have imposing sepulchre. At first caves and natural cavities were used for such purposes; then came rough cairns and finally mighty tombs. The Acropolis of Sipylus in Asia Is the first notable tomb on record. It formed the grave of Tantalus, King'of Lydia, who died about 1400 It. C. Of course the Pyramids antedate this Acropolis, but the Pyramids arc not strictly tombs. Although used for burial purposes by the kings of

Egypt, it is known that they were also astronomical observatories. These marvels of architecture were built 40C0 B. C. On either hank of the Nile for hundreds of miles are temples, palaces mid tombs, the vastness of whose ruins proves that a mighty civilization existed upon the earth at a time when the Persians and Greeks herded their flocks on tlie shore of the Caspian Sea. The Pyramids are undoubtedly the most stupendous work of mau, and the Palace of Karuak is not much inferior. It covers two hundred and seventy acres, and in the Hall of Columns there are pillars, high as the tallest trees, surmounted by capitals on which one hundred men could stand without crowding. It may be noticed that in no other country have architects had such scope for their vast ideas as in Egypt, because in no other country lias human life ever been held so cheaply. For twenty years one humlred thousand men toiled on the Pyramids, anil millions of lives have been sacrificed to erect tbe wonderful temples ami palaces over whose ruins we sigh to-day. The ancient cides of Babylon and Nineveh, although not built of enduring stone, were triumphs of architectural power. Who can picture to themselves Nineveh, with its wall sixty miles In circumference, and one hundred feet high, studded with fifteen hundred towers, each two hundred feet high? or Babylon, greater still, with Its hundred brazen gates, its walls three hundred and ninety feet high and ninety-eight feet thick? Josephus. who saw the temple of Jerusalem In all its glory, describes is as a marvel of architecture. It was built by Solomon 1000 B. C.; was world renowned, and yet to-day its very site is unknown. Some wonderful architects must have flourished in ancient times in India, if we may judge by the colossal ruins and the remaining monuments of their skill. A single illustration will suffice. The Temple of Kailusa Is an Immense build ilig. three hundred and forty feet long, one hundred and ninety-five feet wide, and rising to the height of one hundred feet. It is of stone, hut not put together in the usual way. It is made out of a single isolated rock hollowed within and ear veil without, and contains halls, galleries, rooms and statues iu profusion. There is no other building like it In the world.

Tito Greeks were wonderful areliiteets, and left behind them as legacies of greatness the Acropolis with its beautiful temples, and the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Rome borrowed her chief architectural ideas from the Etruscans aud Greeks, hut improved on them in massiveness. The most Imposing and the most enduring of these’ architectural marvels Is the Colosseum, built by Titus about 80 A. I>. Tiie building covers a space of sixty five thousand square feet, and when complete accommodated ninety thousand spectators. In China, the Great Wall will at once occur to the reader, hut flint was an engineering feat hud displays no architectural skill. The famous Porcelain Toiver, throe hundred nml fifty feet high, "as a wonderful building and the only one of Its kind. It Is no longer In existence, having been destroyed by the Talplng rebels. America hns no distinct style of architecture and England Is not much better off: Human life is dear, and although we could no doubt build a higher pyramid than Cheops, if we wanted to, wc don’t want to. Italy contains three marvels of architecture at the present day In tiie shape of leaning towers that will continue to attract for many years the wonder and admira tlon of travelers. Near the exchange in Bologna is a

large space from which four street* branch off to thy principal gates. This space contains two leaning towers. The tower of Asinelli is two hundred and seventy-two feet high and lias a deflection of live feet from the perpendicular, anil Its companion, the Tower of Gariscuda, is one hundred and thirty-eight feet high and has a deflection of nine feet from the perpendicular. These towers are both plain structures, devoid of architectural beauty, and at a distance look to the American visitor like factory chimneys. The same reproach cannot apply to the famous leaning tower of I’lsa, which is beautiful as well as odd. ,

The Campanile, or Leaning Tower, is the noblest specimen of Southern Romanesques art. It is one hundred and seventy-nine feet lilgjb, the walls are thirteen feet thick at the base and six feet thick at the top, and the entire structure is built of white marble, which time has toned down to a beautiful cream color. The basement is surrounded by a range of semi-circular arches supported by fifteen columns, and above these rise six arcades with thirty columns each. The e'glith story, which contains the bells, is of much smaller diameter and contains but twelve columns. The ascent to the top is by a stairway in tlxe wall and is so made that the visitor hardly perceives the inclination until lie reaches tho top and looks down njt the base. This tower was built In the twelfth century by the architects Bounanno and William of Ilaashruck, and it is not believed that the tower was made to lean designedly. The most reasonable supposition is that the foundations settled while the tower was in course of construction, and this supposition is strengthened by tiie fact that the upper portion is built so as to correct the slanting appearance of the tower. At any rate, it does lean to the extent of thirteen feet eight inches from the perpendicular—euough to excite the liveliest apprehension in t-lie minds of visitors who make the ascent and look down the short side. Most engravings exaggerate the leaning of the tower so flinch as to make it look absurd. The Illustration given herewith- is correct in detail. There is no danger of the tower falling, however, as a line dropped from the center of tlie top will fall inside ils base, and therefore it obeys the law of the center of gravity, and so preserves its balance. It lias not settled any since the first settling, and is not likely to do so.

LEANING TOWER OF PISA.