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Show CATHEDRAL OF RHEUMS IS il ISSf RUINS Other Historic and Public Buildings Either Destroyed or Seriously Damaged by German Artillery. PROTEST WILL BE MADE TO POWERS Famous Cathedral Noted in History as the Structure Where Joan of Arc , Crowned Charles VIII. BERLIN, Sept! 21, 1:50 a. m., via London, i a. m. An official statement Just issued says: "Kholms was in the battle line of the French and the Germans were obliged to bombard it. We regret the necessity, but the fire of the French came from that direction. di-rection. Orders have been issued to save the cathedral. "The attacks on tho French are progressing at several points." BORDEAUX, Sept. 20, 1 p. m. The minister of the interior, Louis J. Malvy, announced today that the famous catic- dral of Rheims had been destroyed'and all other historic and public buildings either jaiu in ruins or seriously dam-aped dam-aped during the bombardment of Kheinis bv the German artillery. Coupled with this announcement was a statement that the government had decided to address to all the powers a notCj of indignant protest against "this act of odious vandalism." The structures which the minister said had been destroyed or ruined included, in-cluded, iu addition to the cathedral, the twelfth century church of St. Jacques, the fifteenth century archbishop's palace pal-ace and the city hall, dating from the seventeenth century. M, Malvy said that official reports revealed that the cathedral was in flamos today, the burning having begun yesterday as a result of the ceaseless bombardment. It was officially stated that the destruction de-struction of these historic buildings was accepted as indicating that the Germans Ger-mans considered their situation des perate Great Historic Loss. If the reported destruction of the cathedral of Bhoims is true, it is the greatest loss from an historical and artistic, ar-tistic, sense of the present war. Begun on the site of an earlier church, '-erected by Robert DeCourcy in 1212, and continued at intervals down to the fifteenth fif-teenth century, it, has been described as "the most perfect example in grandeur gran-deur and grace of Gothic style m exist- CI'The west front, which was begun about 1241-42, is said to be the most beautiful structure produced during the middlo ages, with its deeply recessed triple portal and the wonderful rose window that, surmounts it. This window, win-dow, more than forty feet in diameter, was reported in cable dispatches yesterday yes-terday as having been destroyod by a shell. Where Kings Were Crowned. ' It was in the cathedral at Rheims that the successive kings of France from Phillip II to Charles X were crowned, and it was there that the Maid of OrlcaDS, after her victorious career, stood, banner in hand, before the great altar and saw the coronation of Charles VIII, which marked tho fulfillment ful-fillment of her vision. After kneeling before the monarch, whom she had placed on the throne, "ehe begged the gentle king to allow br to return to her flocks." Tho elaborate richnem of the sculpture, sculp-ture, its stained class and statuary are not passed in anv existing structure. The north transept over the sacristy was a clock said to have been the oldest old-est moving piece of horology m existence. exist-ence. Among the priceless cathedral treasure were some wonderful church plate of the early centuries, rohqunries (Continued on Page Three). FAMOUS CATHEDRAL OF mis 1 HIS (Continued from Page One.) containing a thorn of the holy crown, tho skull of St. Remy and countless tapestries, tap-estries, some dating from the fifteenth century. Rare Collection. In a chapel attacheJ to the vestry was a rare collection of Roman and medieval scnlpturo, including the fa-moiis fa-moiis sarcophagus of Jovinus, the Roman Ro-man prefect of Rheims, who was converted con-verted to Cbri6tianitv in 366. The archbishop's palace, also reported report-ed as destroyed, is a double chapel dating dat-ing from about 1230. There the mon-archs mon-archs of France were housed at their coronations and there Joan of Arc lodged when she came to Rheims to cjown Charles M. The palace adjoin? ad-join? the cathedral and about a quarter quar-ter of a mile to tho southwest is the church of St. Jacques, also reported destroyed de-stroyed or seriously damaged in the. bombardment. Save for its antiquity, dating from the twelfth century, St. Jacques possesses little interest, all of the valuable church antiquities of Rheims having been gathered in the cathedral. St. Remy Church. Another church of great antiquity and interest is St. Remy,. but no mention men-tion of its destruction has been made so far. It stands on the eastern edge of tho citv and was founded by Clovis and Clotilda on the spot where Clovis was baptized. The walls of the nave of St. llemy.'s date from the tenth century. cen-tury. The Hotel DeVille, or city hall, also said to have been ruined or badly damaged dam-aged by shellfire, was commenced in 1627, but not completed until the present pres-ent century. It contained a fine library, li-brary, with hundreds of volumes of manuscripts, some antiquities and a good collection, of paintings. Aside from these notable monuments, a thorough shelling or conflagration might destroy many lesser buildings that have made the ancient city a place of enormous historic interest. Some of its old housts dat,o from the twelfth' and thirteenth centuries, and here and there still exist remains of the Roman occ.iiation. |