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Show The Cathedral Ot Strassburg Describing the great cathedral at Strassburg, a statement given out today to-day by the National Geographic society so-ciety says: "Just back of the lino of battlo In Alsace, within tho zone where thoroughgoing destruction Is threat ened, another ot the marvelous, most worth-while works 0f our civilization stands exposed to t'io varying chances of battle. This Is the beautiful cathedral cath-edral of Strassburg, an architectural glory whl eh makes mock ot modern satisfaction nt thu oxpenso of earlier centuries. Tho enormous old minster, min-ster, famed wherever Joy In tho Ideal is felt, ono of tho choicest Gothic vis-Ions vis-Ions over dreamed by a master mason, Is u memory of nges when art was moro a passion and religion and less n means for prefornnco and dnlly bread. "Strassburg Cathedral Is a Christian Chris-tian epic In stono. Exqulslto In proportion pro-portion nnd detail, It rises, a great pile out of tho surrounding city. Its spire vies with tho loftiest daring of tho New York makers of skyscrap ers against a dark background ot mountains, whoso heights, with tho cathedral splro, watch over Upper Alsaco. The spire of the minster Is a masterpiece, excelled by no other steeple and equaled by but few. It onds moro than COO feet nbovo the town, and It Is a wonder-compelling strueture of delicate, open stone-work rich In an endless complexity of forms After finishing tho ono splro, builders never attempted to construct the proposed pro-posed companion to It. "Strassburg dllTors from other German Ger-man cathedrals In that It possesses a greater width In proportion to its height. It is one of tho most hnr-monlous hnr-monlous ot Europe's sacred structures. struc-tures. The doors nro very beautiful, and tho rose window, moro than 40 feot In diameter, Is an artistic achlovo mont that wins tho ndmlrntlon of every visitor. Tho building was begun be-gun In 1170 nnd wns completed In Its present form In 1439. More or loss extensive restorations hnvo been necessary, nec-essary, and tholr lamentnblo results glvo grounds for tho most discouraging discourag-ing reflections upon the recently announced an-nounced prediction that Ithelms tathcdral can -bo restored." |