A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, ArchitectureWaters, Clara Erskine Clement
History
A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
Waters, Clara Erskine Clement
Art -- History
as insane or foolish. And this is the effect of the modern architecture
of Munich; it seems as if King Louis must have been a madman to expend
so much time and money in this absurd kind of imitative architecture,
and yet it is very interesting to visit this city and see these
edifices.
Of the Munich churches erected under Louis I. that of St. Ludwig is in
the Byzantine order; the Aue-Kirche is in the pointed German Gothic,
and the Basilica is like a Roman basilica of the fifth century. It
resembles that of St. Paul's-without-the-Walls; it was begun in 1835
and completed in 1850. In a vault beneath this basilica Louis and his
Queen, Theresa, are buried. The picture given here shows its extreme
simplicity; its whole effect is solemn and satisfactory; still one must
regret that since it is so fine up to a certain point, it should not
have been made still finer (Fig. 123).
[Illustration: FIG. 123.--THE BASILICA AT MUNICH.]
The Ruhmeshalle, or Hall of Fame, at Munich, is an interesting and
somewhat unique edifice. It is a portico of marble with forty-eight
Doric columns, each twenty-six feet high. Against the walls are
brackets holding busts of celebrated Germans who have lived since
1400. In front of the portico stands the colossal bronze statue of
Bavaria. She is represented as a protectress with a lion by her side;
in the right hand she holds a sword, and a chaplet in the left; it is
sixty-one and a half feet high, and the pedestal raises it twenty-eight
and a half feet more; inside, a staircase leads up into the head, where
there are seats for eight persons. The view from the top of this statue
is fine, and so extensive that in a favorable atmosphere the heights
of the Alps can be discerned. The hill upon which the Ruhmeshalle is
built is to the south of Munich, and is called the Theresienhöhe.
The grand statue is intended to be the principal object of interest
here, and the portico is made so low as to throw the figure out and
show it off to advantage; altogether it is one of the most successful
architectural works in Munich (Fig. 124).
[Illustration: FIG. 124.--THE RUHMESHALLE. _Near Munich._]
The Glyptothek, or Sculpture Gallery, the Pinakothek, or Picture
Gallery, the Royal Palace, the Public Library, the War Office, the
University, Blind School, other palaces and secular buildings, all
belong to the time of the Revival in Germany. The Ludwig Strasse, which
King Louis fondly hoped to make one of the most beautiful avenues in
the world, is--with its Roman arch at one end, and a weak copy of the
Loggia dei Lanzi at the other--a tiresome, meaningless, architectural
failure.
[Illustration: FIG. 125.--THE MUSEUM. _Berlin._]
The Museum of Berlin is a striking result of the same Revival of
Classic architecture, and is far more splendid than anything in Munich
(Fig. 125).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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