| OCR Text |
Show CATHEDRAL ARCHITECTURE. flow the Great Church of JHome Was Built of Hotter. The cathedral is first found to perfection per-fection in the thirteenth century, but j it is more elaborate in the fourteenth, says the Philadelphia Ledger. The ! tenth century was an important epoch in the history of cathedrals. It was the general bellctit efrnt time that tho end of the world wa9 approaching and a falling off in building activity is noticed no-ticed in consequenca Aftor the beginning be-ginning of tho year 1000 A. D. a general gen-eral sense of relief is shown in the building of new churches. The erection erec-tion of a church was a convenient means for the expression of thankfulness. thankful-ness. Tho founding of monasteries, especially of the Cistercian order, led also to this phenomenal activity. Aa illustration of this progressive spirit is seen in the tower of the Rouen cathedral, cathe-dral, which was built of butter. I mean by that that the peopleof Rouen, by giving up butter in Lent, paid for it from their savings. The sculpture of cathedrals, which was so exquisitely carried out in the middle ages, contained a means for teaching the bible in days when books were almost unknown. This is well shown in the statues of Christ. At that time it was more than a symbol; it was a sign of the living spirit. Then, too, the cathedral was more than a church and was not merely a religious place. It was the ono superlative super-lative place in the city the center of learning and of tho community. Our modern churches have deteriorated, as in the early days, to mere places of worshiD. |
