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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 29, 1912)
Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page Copyright. 1912. by the Stur Company, dreat Britain RlRhti HferTwi How Christendom Plans to Preserve the Chief Place of Mohammedan Worship to Make It Again the Most Ancient of Cathedrals Wheil the Turks Are Finally Driven from Europe t Paris. Dec. 211. Til BUii is no longer any doubt that one world-wide benefit will result from tbe victori ous war waged by, tho Balkan allies against the Turks tho victors and other Christian nations will not permit the famous Mosque of St. Sophia In Constantinople to fall Into ruins. An International com mission of architects and engineers, amply financed, is being organized to proceed at once to repair tho foundations, strengthen tho slowly collapsing walls and repair tho warped and cracking great dome of the most ancient of oxlsting edifices built for Christian worship. As tho Turks doubtless will con tinue for somo time yet masters of Constantinople, thero will bo tho curious spectacle of Christian na tions and Christian money rushing to tho rescue of tho noblest mosquo of tho Mohamniedcns. But who knows when tho Turks will bo finally driven out of Europe thus restoring Constantinople aud St. Sophia to Chrlstondom porhaps to tho Greeks, from whom they wrest ed it under Mohammed II. in 1453? St Sophia had then Btood for nearly a thousand years for what it had been designed and built by the Roman Emperor Justinian a Christian cathedral, ono of tho thrco or four most majestic cathe drals evor erected. For Christendom to stand idly by now. while tho TurUj aro losing their last footncld In Europe, and lot St. Sophia fall into ruInB as is threatened Is uuthlnkablo, and, as above -mounced, will net bo per mitted. Within tho last two years qvl donees that St. Sophia was faster and faster yielding to the ravages of timo bavo becomo alarming. Tho earthquake which shook Euro pean Turkey a little moro than a year ago added to tho menace Great cracks appeared in the main walls, and it wab discovered that tho hugo dom1 warped and was forcing Its supporting columns out ward. Fissures tin"" appeared in tho polf. That all theso cracks aro slowly widening show lng tho gravity of tho situation has been proved by rigidly fasten ing sheets of glass ovor tho cracks. iB,orj.f of the Mosque of St. Sophia, Showing Three of the Great Interior or tne Temp,e of DIana at Ephcsus 1,500 Years Ago. In each Instance tho slow widening of the fissures has caused tho shoots of glass to part. As in tho case of the Campanile at Venice, this slow disintegration of tho structure may nt any timo result in a sudden; collapse of the walls. Tho groat domo would fall, to be shattorod in fragments, and to shatter, In turn, tho almost price less embellishments of tho Interior. Tho interior of St. Sophia shows a bewildering wealth of costly architectural adornment, be sides objects of art and furnish ings. At tho time of tho building of tho cathedral tho wholo known world was ransacked for rich adornments. From ancient Epho sus. tho city magistrates sent a gift of eight marblo columns of tho soft est shade of green, taken from the site of tho ruins of tho famous tern plo of Diana. Theso still Bupport tho largo gallerlos. Eight porphyry columns that woro originally part of tho temple of tho sun at Baal bek were sent by Its citizens. Sil ver of tho value of $200,000 was used In making various ornaments. Tho holy vases were of tho purest gold, incrustcd with costly gems. Historians assert that $5,000,000 does not exceed the amount ex pended by Justinian on tho struc ture and its ornamentation. Tho domo was its sublimest feature. Its diameter Is 107 feet and lt3 height 40 feet. Every brick In It was Inscribed with Bontences from tho Gospels. Rolics of tho saints wero placed in tho mortar in which tho bricks were laid. This domo represented the first efforts of architects to place ft circular structure upon a rectangular base. It was Anthemlus of Thrales who solved this problem by tho build ing of a huge square formed of col umns tho heads of which wero con nected by arches. It was found that by simply fitting tho corner of this frame to the corner of the arch, tho resulting uppermost sur face was that of a circle whereon the domo could be safely and con veniently erected. This was the famous "pendentlvo" of Byzantine architecture. Twice in history were tho beau tics of St. Sophia laid at tho moroy of tho pillager. Tho first timo was tho occasion of tho capture of the city by tho host of Frnnktsh and Venetian freebooters who consti tuted tho Fourth Crusade, porhaps tho strangest episode In mediaeval history. Those men, somo 20,000 In actual number, had turned aside from their Journey to tho Holy Land, to place upon tho throno of tho East ern Empire a claimant who had promised them efficient aid In their quest for tho Holy Sepulchre. Thoy took Constantinople, a city of moro than a million inhabitants, placed their candidate on tho throne, and then, -when he displeased them, un seated him and retook tho city, after desporato fighting, and made Count Baldwin of Flanders Em peror. This second capture of tho city was by storm, and for hours It was given over to tho excesses of tho Invaders, who rent tho veil of St. Sophia's sanctuary, tore off Its tfolden ;ringo, seized all tho sacred vessels and hacked tho altar to pieces to get at tho gems with which It was covered. St. Sophia never recovered from this looting. It had probably reached the climax of its wealth when tho fierce FrauklBh mon-at-arms stripped it, and after that its treasures, whllo considerable, wore nver such as to warrant com parison with tho endowment Jus tinian had left and tho countless dovotees had augmented. To bo sure, however, the Latins, during their tenure of half a century or moro, tried to repair tho damago which had been done; but thoy woro destined to work harm rather than good toward their prize, and It was to tho poverty of tho last Baldwin of the Houso of Courtney that tho most sacred relics of the ancient fame tho Crown of Thorns Columns Taken from the and othor articles Intimately asso ciated with tho birth of Christian ity wero sacrificed. Tho groat despoiling, of course; was that which resulted In tho re placing of tho cross by a orescent. Compared to this, tho ruthless avar Ico of tho Latin Christians was as nothing. They stole tho figmpnts and ByrabolB of religious pomp; but tho Moslems took tho very building Itself, Tho Moslem priests painted ovor tho frescoes on tho walls, cast down and pounded to pieces tho statues of tho Virgin, covered ovor tho quaint mosaics, and erected a spindling minaret at each corner of tho domed struc ture and thon thoy purified It anew and announced that henco forth It waH holy ground, conse crated to Allah, and that tho foot of tho unbeliever should tread it no moro. So it has been. Older than St. Peter's, oldor than any occupied buildings in Romo save the Pan theon and St. Angelo, St. Sophia Is to-day, as a Turkish mosque, crumbling away on her foundations through shoer neglect and lack of care; this building which Justin ian designed as his principal monu ment, which knew tho presonco of Leo tho Isaurian, Basil the Macedonian, first of that name and first Impelral repalro. of tjio ca thedral; of John ZIralscos, tho Ar menian soldier, who won his way How the Campanile Was A FTE: lying In ruins for nine years, tho Campanllo the aucient famous bell tower of Venice was successfully restored, being built up again from thn ma terials of its own scrap heap. This was an engineering task much moro difficult than will bo that of strength ening tho cracked walb and dome of St. Sophia In Constantinople tho oldest church building on this earth. The ancient foundations of tho fullen Campanile proved as solid as ovor, for thoy had boen built most carefully. Tho builders had dug down to tho stiff clay, and ovor the wholo area of the footings of i ho tower they had 1-lven piles of white poplar, ton to olevon Inches in diameter, nearly touching ono another. Sketches The SSi iwicw, II. aBccnisjo ftrtjji away fcv HHSI UUANILL. II IV 1 K. 3 HI' I T I 111 II to tho purple by assassination; of 1 AJS' 7 1, Androlcus, tho wanderer, and tho 1 J I- ; --ikfitJm7 final princes of tho houso of Palao- . . r- I 1 -)JrCvt, JtfTS h oV&u$&0MMrtrr From tho. timo of Justinian all - ffK' v-liny( tho Eastorn emperors woro crowned ''-&vri J&'$ In St. Sophia. Even tho Latins wero Tl, rv. r Mnrrl'&c& SdtBmliH. -'- careful to preserve this tradition. The Grcat Dome KMhnJm, fXM$EQ. and old Geoffrey do Vlllohardouln, tho Marshal of Rumania undor tho first two Western rulors, gives n picture of their coronations In his history of tho Fourth Crusado. Tho relation In which it stood to tho Greeks may bo realized from tho laci mat wnen tuo word went through tho doomed city on tho 29th of May, 14G3, that tho Turks had passed tho walls, all tho cltlzona who could gathorcd In tho church and tho square immediately front ing it, rn'ylng upon nn eld prophecy that somo day tho Turks would pon otrato Constantinople as far aa tho square of St. Sophia, whore thoy would bo blasted by tho Intercession of an angel from aoavon. Tho Turkish Invaders of tho fif teonth contyry looted tho nltar of most of Its precious objects. Tho mystic representations of tho Virgin nnd tho saints, oxocuted mostly In beautiful mosaics, which covered tho wall of the domo'a bnao, wore cov ered by tho Mohammedan victors with hugo discs upon which glldod Arabic Inscriptions wore painted against a green background. Four minarets erected on tho four corners The original towei was begun In tho early part of tho tenth century and completed by tho mlddlo of the twelfth century. Tho bolfry was erected and finished by Bartolomeo Duono, 151". The tower was of brick, bin the belfry and surmount lng pyramid were of marble. Tho total height was 323 feet, and the tower wn- but 42 foot square at tho base. It us this small foundation, coupled vwih the poor mortar used, Inch uih responsible for tho dis aster. As every ono knows, thero Is u constant tug of gravity upon tho highest portfo . of a towor with an Insufficient baso, aud thin con stant forcu pulling at tho marblo and bricks high upon the tower, gradually loosened tho innrbln and bricks, hold together so poorly by the dried out, miserable mortar, until nt la-! the tower cracked and Juuy 12, 1902 It BkgmC4 anvf A BWBMMt Hf-AP TjOCYAt i. 13WEK. Showing Different Stages of the Qf St Sonhin ti oopnia Is To-day, Show ing the Cracks in ,, Masonry That Threaten Its Col lapse. 2L.U.,B .ma,u "cture St. nt An hVi.i ',V'BBnt Moslem apenr nni.?; , U 1 fh80 removed, the old Ei 'fnl b,,,lt b? Justinian would presont practically tho Barao ex terior fontures which grow up un dor his own eyes. It Is ostimatod that 1,200,000 pro clous manuscripts, among other treasures, wero cast Into tho crypts bonoath tho church to savo thorn from tho Turkish invadors. Schol- a5msy thnt tho va," of wliat may still Ho hoaped up In thoso dark vaults cannot bo ostimatod. Among thorn may bo whole classic libraries, lost books of tho Now Tostamont, and forgotten works of tho philo Built Up from Its Ruins thon slipped down Into ruins, bring ing all with it a mass of debris. Whou it fell, four of tho five bolls In tho belfry woro smashed, and much of tho famous Logotta of San sovlno, nt tho bottom of tho tower, was damngod. Tho angel which stood on tho summit of tho pyramid, mado of gilded copper, with head and feet of bronze, whllo broken, was put together again, and stands lit Its eld place. In reconstructing the Campanile no scaffolding was used on the in terior, but a movable sliding plat form, which was pushed up as tho work progressed. Tho new Campanile is nothing moro or less than the old Campa nile fitted togothor ugalu, pleco by piece, stone by stono nnd brick by brick, Tho famous architects and artists of Europe collaborated In working oti the puzzle, and every Jan 2 . 190b ' VbKxrrn Clem( and StmtnuD-r THE TCUWDAT!OWi. April 5, 1906. They Kxbuild thc Towekwitk rfs Oww Kxnui. .11 mm Campanile's Collapse and Its Reconstruction. General View of the Ancient Cathedral of St. Sophia at Constantinople, Built by the Roman Emperor Justinian in the Sixth Century, and Which la Threatened with Collapse. The Minarets Were Added by the Turks When They Con verted It into h Mosque in the Fifteenth Century on Taking Constantinople from the Greeks. v I . llhUTTTITll I T i j sophic schools thnt flourished long after Christianity was established. ThoyTurks are known to be ex ceedingly careful about destroying books nnd manuscripts wherever found, lost thoy might contain tho namo of God In which caso tholr act would come undor tho condom nation of tho Koran. But It Is said that the crypts under St. Sophia have never beon searched by civil ized men. Tho presumption, there fore, is that those vaults contain most of tho literary treasures of tho world which woro known to ex ist In ancient times and which have not been seen nor hoard of for a dozen centuries. fragment of marble, or brick, or bronzo was carefully scrutinized by them In their offorts to replace It wboro it had originally belonged. It has boen estl.nated that there were 1,200,000 bricks in tho Cam panllo, aud as nearly every ono at theso was broken into two or more piocos, tho tnsk of fitting them to gether must have oeen prodigious. Tho most artlstis work about the Campainllo was tho loggia of San Bovlno, a kind of vestibulp to the Campanile built by Snnsovino in tho fifteenth century. The four his toric bronzo statues which adorned this loggia, though badly njured, have also been repaired and oc cupy their original positions as "good as now." Tho reconstruction' of the Cam panllo cost more than $400,000. but Venice has again her most beloved monument. 1911 THE !viu.StwJ ,JU3T Al or-Oux m fsfm 4