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
