To the ancestor of this architect, Jean Keldermans, is generally attributed the honour of designing the tower of St. Rombaut, the architectural glory of Malines and one of the most magnificent structures of the kind in the world. There are a thousand places throughout the city where the photographer or painter can obtain attractive views of this masterpiece, but perhaps the best of all is from a point some distance down the Ruelle sans Fin (Little Street without End) where a quaint mediæval house forms an arch across the narrow street, while behind and far above it rises the majestic tower. From whatever standpoint one regards the great tower, whether gazing up at its vast bulk from directly beneath--a point of view that the camera cannot reproduce--or from any of the little streets that radiate away from it, its grandeur and beauty are equally impressive. [Illustration: TOWER OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. ROMBAUT FROM THE RUELLE SANS FIN.] Begun in 1452, work on the great tower advanced slowly. In 1468, according to a memorial tablet near the southern side of the tower, Gauthier Coolman was buried there. It was the custom in the Middle Ages to thus recognise the _magister operis_, or creator of the work, but it is generally acknowledged that Jean Keldermans is entitled to share in the credit for this achievement. Jean was the first in a family of famous architects, his brothers André, Mathieu and Antoine I, following the same profession, and their skill being handed down to later generations, of whom the most famous were Antoine II, Rombaut and Laurent. At the beginning of the sixteenth century work on the great tower was stopped, owing to lack of funds, after attaining a height of three hundred and eighteen feet. The plans, of which sketches are still preserved at Brussels, called for carrying the spire upward to a total height of five hundred and fifty feet, and in the ambulatory of the cathedral we found a plaster cast showing the spire as it was proposed to erect it. The stones to complete the work were already cut and brought to Malines, but were carried away between 1582 and 1584 by the Prince of Orange to build the town of Willemstadt. Apart from its height, this tower is remarkable for its great bulk, measuring no less than twenty-five metres in diameter at the base.