New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915Various
History
New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915
Various
World War, 1914-1918
Friday, Sept. 4.--The bombardment, which took place suddenly from
half-past 9 till quarter-past 10 in the morning, caused some accidents
to the cathedral, more or less notable from the point of view of art,
(some stained glass more or less ancient, some slight scratches to the
statues;) at the Church of Saint-Remi (ancient stained glass, tapestry
of the sixteenth century, pictures of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, altar screen, statues, south portal, and vault of transept)
and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Rue Chanzy, 8, (salle Henry Vasnier
broken in by a shell, about twenty modern pictures damaged.) Besides,
among the houses struck, the Gothic house, 57 Rue de Vesle, suffered
mutilation in the sculpture of a fireplace--it was entirely demolished
by the bombardment and fire of Sept. 19.
Saturday, Sept. 19.--This was the day of the great destruction by the
bombs and the fires caused in the cathedral, the ancient residence of
the Archbishop, in the houses of the Place Royale, and the Ceres
quarter. On the afternoon of this day and during the night from
Saturday to Sunday, flames consumed the most precious collections of
the city, at the Archbishop's palace and in private houses, an
inventory of which it will never be possible to prepare.
The top of the cathedral burned after the scaffolding of the northern
tower of the great portal had taken fire, toward 3 o'clock in the
afternoon. The statues and sculptures of this side of the same portal
were licked by the flames and scorched through and through. The eight
bells in this tower also were caught by the flames, and the whole
thing fell down near the cross aisle of the transept. The spire of the
Belfry of the Angel, at the apse, fell, and with it disappeared the
leaden heads which decorated its base. In the interior the sculptures
and the walls of the edifice were damaged by fire in the straw which
had been strewn about for the German wounded; the great eighteenth
century tympanums of the lateral doors, west side, were damaged
likewise. The thirteenth century stained glass suffered shocks from
the air and were perforated, in the rose windows as also in the high
windows of the nave. The pictures in the transept were spared, but the
choir stalls (eighteenth century work) were consumed--at the left on
entering.
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