



Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Karin Spence and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net









                              THE MENTOR

                "A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend"

    Vol. I                                                       No. 33




                   BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS of the WORLD

    TAJ MAHAL                                       SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

    THE ALHAMBRA           [Illustration]           CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD

    AMIENS CATHEDRAL                                NEW YORK CITY HALL

                          _By CLARENCE WARD_
             _Professor of Architecture, Rutgers College_


Beauty in architecture is as difficult to define as beauty in nature.
No single factor renders a building beautiful. Size and proportion,
style and decoration, age and setting, all enter into account. And
moreover there is the power a building possesses to appeal to the
ideals of the beholder, to his mind as well as to his sight and touch.
Even when judged from this broad viewpoint, the number of beautiful
buildings in the world is legion. It would be impossible to point to
anyone as the finest, or even to select a dozen without leaving a dozen
more that were equally beautiful. Every age, and every nation, has left
to us some crowning achievements of the builder's art. The following
are therefore merely selections from this storehouse, illustrating to
some degree the wealth of architectural treasures that is our heritage.

Few if any buildings in the world have been the subject of such praise
as that bestowed upon the Taj Mahal ("Gem of Buildings"). Travelers,
painters, authors, and poets have all sought to express in word or
color the indefinable charm of this gem of Indian art. Built at Agra,
in India, by the great mogul of Delhi, Shah Jahan, as a tomb for his
favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj is a veritable translation into
stone of human remembrance and affection. It was begun in 1632, and
was completed in twenty-two years. The material of which it is built
is pure white marble, and inlaid in its walls are jaspers, agates, and
other stones in marvelous designs. But it is perhaps the dome that
gives the greatest beauty to this tomb. Of typical Eastern shape, it
rises a mass of white against the deep blue of the Indian sky, or
shines like silver in the radiance of the Indian moon.

  [Illustration: THE TAJ MAHAL

_The approach through the splendid gardens seen in the foreground is
bordered by dark cypress trees, which contrast admirably with the color
of the marble domes beyond._]


                    THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL TOMB

It cannot be denied that the Taj Mahal (tahzh mah-hahl´) owes much
of its beauty to its setting. Not merely has it the contrast of the
brilliant sky above, but also the deep green of the gardens at its
feet, and more than this the four tall, graceful minarets standing
like sentinels at the corners of the marble terrace on which the tomb
is placed. The interior is scarcely less impressive than this outside
view. Its subdued light serves only to show more clearly the beauty
of the garlands of red and blue and green inlaid along its walls as
never-withering memorials of the queen who sleeps beneath the lofty
dome.

It is perhaps beside her tomb that the traveler sees a vision of the
proud and mighty Jahan, cruel in many ways, but steadfast in his love,
building this glorious resting place for his fair consort, whom he
called by the familiar name of Taj. One may see even farther still and
picture to himself this once proud ruler, bereft of all his power and
even of his throne, looking out from his chamber window toward this
same Taj Mahal. Perhaps its wondrous dome gleamed in the moonlight on
that last night before he came to rest beneath its shades as it gleams
today to the enraptured gaze of thousands who take the pilgrimage to
Agra to see this wonder of the Eastern world.


                    THE PALACE OF THE MOORISH KINGS

It is not such a step as it may seem from the Taj Mahal to the Alhambra
(al-ham'-bra). Both are oriental. Both are the products of Mohammedan
art, and mark in a way its Eastern and its Western expressions. As
early as the eighth century of our era the Moors of northern Africa
crossed to Spain and made the Iberian peninsula a Moorish califate
or kingdom. Its capital and last stronghold was Granada. And here on
a lofty hill, overlooking the city, King or Calif Al Hamar began the
mighty fortress of the Alhambra in the early years of the thirteenth
century.

  [Illustration: COURT OF THE MYRTLES, ALHAMBRA
  _The pool is bordered on both sides by beautiful old hedges._]

As is the case with almost every Mohammedan building, its exterior
is extremely plain. But once the door is passed one seems to have
stepped from Europe to the Orient. Courtyards and porticos, halls and
passages, open before the visitor in a truly oriental maze of color and
decoration. The first important court is known as that of the Myrtles.
In its center is a marble basin a hundred and thirty feet long,
bordered with trees of myrtle and orange, and flanked at both ends by
two-storied pavilions with slender marble shafts and graceful Moorish
arches. From one of these pavilions opens the Hall of the Ambassadors,
the throne room of the califs, and the largest chamber in the palace.


                         THE ALHAMBRA'S BEAUTY

But it is not its size that makes this room imposing. Here, as
elsewhere in the palace, it is the decoration. Rising for three or
four feet from the floor is a band of  Moorish tiles. All the
wall above is of stucco, molded in lacelike patterns and painted
in blues and reds and brilliant golden yellows. The designs are
largely geometrical or floral, frequently interspersed with Arabic
inscriptions. Some of these when translated read, "God is our refuge,"
"Praise be to God," familiar phrases in Mohammedan faith, or "There is
no conqueror but God." Add to this decoration of the walls imposing
stalactite domes, and ceilings often of cedarwood inlaid with mother of
pearl, and imagine the floors and windows again adorned with oriental
rugs and hangings, and the beauty of the Alhambra will be easily
understood.

  [Illustration: HALL OF REPOSE OF THE BATHS, ALHAMBRA]

  [Illustration: THE GATE OF JUSTICE
  _A part of the Alhambra palace not well preserved._]

But neither the Court of the Myrtles nor the Hall of the Ambassadors
is the crowning glory of the palace. This honor belongs to the Court
of the Lions. One hundred and sixteen by sixty-six feet in size, this
court compares with any apartment in the world for pure, exquisite
beauty of design. An open portico, its ceiling borne on a hundred
and twenty-four slender and beautiful marble columns and delicately
ornamented arches, incloses the central space, in the middle of which
rises a magnificent fountain, its basin cut from a single giant block
of alabaster, and supported on the backs of twelve lions of white
marble, emblems of courage and strength.

  [Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE ALHAMBRA
  _Arched window in the "Tower of the Captivity of Isabel."_]

It is small wonder that the last of the Moorish kings, Boabdil
(bo-ahb-deel´), looked back with many tears at this glorious palace as
he surrendered it in 1492 to his Christian conqueror Ferdinand. Sadly
indeed he and his followers must have crossed again to the dreary
deserts of Africa, since they left behind them the whole fair land of
Spain, which they had adorned not merely with the Alhambra, but with
the Alcázar at Seville, the mosque at Cordova, and other monuments of
their civil and religious greatness.


                         THE GREAT CATHEDRALS

At the very period when the Mohammedan conquerors of Spain were
building their palace of the Alhambra, the Christians of northern
France were erecting those vast cathedrals which stand today as
the crowning achievements of the builder's art. Paris, Chartres
(shahrtr), Bourges (boorzh), Rheims (reemz), Rouen (roo-ong´), Le Mans
(lee-<DW41>´), Beauvais (bo-vay´) and Amiens (ah-mee-ong´) are but a
few of the long list of French Gothic cathedrals of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. From such a list it is most difficult to choose.
Each one has its distinctive claim to recognition, and its distinctive
features which are not surpassed in any of the others. This fact,
indeed, has caused it to be said that the ideal cathedral should have
the façade of Rheims, the spires of Chartres, the nave of Amiens, and
the choir of Beauvais. But even such an ideal cathedral would not
be perfect without the addition of features from each of the other
churches in our list.

Since, however, it is necessary to choose, let us choose Amiens; for
perhaps this church is most widely acknowledged as the finest example
of the Gothic style. Its façade is a masterpiece of decoration. Three
deeply recessed portals in the lower story are covered with a wealth
of sculptured figures in the round and in relief. Bible lessons and
the events of human life and history, carved here in stone, taught the
terrors of sin and hell and the joys of a godly life as preached in
the church beyond these lofty doors. Nor is the decoration confined to
sculpture; for the whole façade, and in fact the entire church, is a
tracery of stone.


                      THE GOTHIC GLORY OF AMIENS

  [Illustration: SOUTH PORTAL OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL

_The statue of the Virgin which stands in the portal replaces that of
St. Honoré, which was moved to the north transept. The carvings about
the south portal are taken from the life of St. Honoré._]

  [Illustration: NAVE OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL]

It is from a side view, however, that Amiens shows at its best the true
glory of Gothic architecture. Nearly five hundred feet long and over
two hundred feet to the ridge line of the roof, it rises high above the
buildings of the city in which it stands, a symbol of the supremacy
of spiritual over earthly things. To be sure it has its faults. The
towers are too low and the central spire is of awkward shape; but the
huge windows, with their tracery in geometric patterns, occupying the
entire space between the buttresses, and these buttresses themselves
with their soaring arches spanning the aisle roofs below, afford an
unsurpassed example of beauty of design combined with the utmost
structural daring. Moreover, the interior is even more imposing. Lofty
piers and pointed arches separate the nave from the aisles. Slender
shafts carry the ribs of the huge vaults of stone forty-three feet in
span, which seem suspended in air one hundred and forty feet from the
pavement below. In the support of these vaults lies the keynote of
Gothic architecture. Though they seem hung as if by magic over walls
of glass, with very little masonry for their support, their weight and
thrust are borne by the sweeping arcs of the exterior flying buttresses
and the huge piers of masonry from which they rise beyond the side
aisle walls. Viewed from a central point, the majestic sweep of the
nave, the soaring height of the eastern apse, the wondrous window of
the northern transept, and the maze of piers and arches and chapels,
all unite to produce a glorious whole which cannot be surpassed in any
monument of any age.


                       SALISBURY'S SIMPLE BEAUTY

  [Illustration: SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
  _A view from the northeast, showing plainly the double-cross shape of
  the foundation._]

  [Illustration: NAVE OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
  _A number of interesting monuments were placed between the columns by
  James Wyatt._]

If the interior of Amiens personifies in the highest degree the majesty
and glory of Christian faith, the spire of Salisbury may be said to
embody its hope and aspiration. Rising four hundred and four feet from
the ground, this spire has few to rival it in all the world. Other
cathedrals might dispute its claim to first place among spires; but
none is set upon a church so fine. That Salisbury is the most beautiful
cathedral in England is not claimed. As was the case in France, so
here, there are too many churches, each with its own distinctive
points of beauty, for anyone to be the finest of them all.

But Salisbury at least must find a place among the first, and is
especially interesting because it is exactly contemporary as to date
with Amiens in France. Architecturally both are Gothic; yet the
difference in design is as great as the distance in miles between
them. Low instead of lofty, with little decoration, and set in the
midst of nature's grass and trees instead of in a crowded city,
Salisbury's appeal is through the quiet beauty of its line, and the
simplicity of its construction in contrast to the complex structure
of the French cathedral. The Gothic of England was rarely the Gothic
of carefully balanced thrust and pressures, of flying buttresses and
huge window spaces. Here at Salisbury the walls are still quite heavy
and the windows only moderately large. They have no tracery of stone;
but are simple, narrow openings in the walls, with pointed heads so
like a lance in shape that they have given the name of Lancet to this
period of English Gothic architecture. Slow to throw off their earlier
traditions, the English builders clung, even in Gothic days, to many
of the characteristics of the Norman era, which had produced such
masterpieces as Durham and Peterborough, Ely and Norwich, cathedrals.
The result of this is especially evident in the interior of Salisbury;
for here, in spite of the shafts of Purbeck marble, one for each hour
in the year, and in spite of the rich moldings of the piers and arches,
the lack of structural unity, and the comparative smallness of the
windows and lowness of the vaulting cause Salisbury's nave to fall far
short of that of Amiens in beauty of construction. Viewed from the
west, the cathedral is also disappointing; for the façade is an ugly
screen wall, badly decorated, and deserving of little praise. But when
seen from north or south or east, with its spire rising from the very
heart of the church, Salisbury is truly inspiring. In its quiet close
it seems the very expression of the church at peace.


                          CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD

  [Illustration: CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
  _Showing the Mansard roof put on by the celebrated architect, Mansart,
  at the order of Louis XIV, to accommodate a large court._]

  [Illustration: HALL IN THE CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
  _The two stairways seen in the back wind around the same central shaft
  and never join._]

Between the construction of Amiens and Salisbury and the building of
the Château of Chambord (shong-bore´) lie two centuries of history.
In them the spiritual power of the church, and the temporal power of
the pope and clergy, which had been supreme throughout the Middle
Ages, gave way to a large extent to a spirit of individualism and a
rising power on the part of the king and nobles. This change had its
effect upon the arts. The palace took precedence over the church in
architecture as the secular took precedence over the religious in
painting and the other arts. The Château of Chambord dates from the
earlier stages of this new architectural era. Built by King Francis
I in the early years of the sixteenth century, it is but one of the
hundreds of châteaux erected by the kings and nobles of France, from
Francis to the fall of the monarchy. Its architectural style is what is
known as early Renaissance. The claim of Chambord to beauty is due,
not so much to its decoration as to its imposing size, to the sense of
spaciousness it conveys, and to the manner in which it reflects the
spirit of its age.

Four hundred feet square along its outer walls, this vast château was
designed by Francis I merely as a hunting seat. The chief exterior
attraction of the building lies in its roof. This is a very maze of
gables, dormers, chimneys, and cupolas, dominated by the lantern that
crowns the center stair, and in which lights were hung to guide belated
hunters from the forest.


                       THE STAIRWAY OF CHAMBORD

  [Illustration: TOWER OF THE GRAND STAIRCASE
  _Château de Chambord._]

This stairway is the chief attraction of the interior. Sweeping round
a central newel which forms an open well, it rises the full height of
the building. Moreover, it is not a single flight of steps, but two,
so placed that one person may go up and one come down, yet never meet.
From this stairway four large halls open at every floor, and four
hundred and forty rooms and fifty other stairs fill up the wings of
this great palace. The interior, when richly furnished, must have been
magnificent.

In spite of its size, Chambord has little history of which to boast.
Nothing of importance or even of special interest took place there.


                          NEW YORK CITY HALL

  [Illustration: STAIRWAY IN THE NEW YORK CITY HALL.]

We are fortunate indeed as a nation to have had in our earlier days an
architecture that could boast of such pleasing monuments as the New
York City Hall. Our ancestors in both the North and South were strongly
influenced from the point of view of art by that English Renaissance
which reached its culmination in the hands of Sir Christopher
Wren. Many a New England church and many a Southern