In point of size the edifice ranks third among the cathedrals of Europe. It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, larger than Cologne and Milan. The superficial areas of the great cathedrals are as follows:-- St. Peter's 230,000 feet square Córdova 160,000 Seville 125,000 Milan 110,000 St. Paul's 84,000 In 1511, five years after the practical completion of the building, the dome gave way. It was re-erected by Juan Gil de Hontañon, an architect who subsequently designed the new Cathedral of Salamanca (1513). The original architects are supposed to have been of German nationality.[B] Earthquake shocks endangered a part of the structure at a later date, and Casanova, who restored the Giralda Tower, superintended the renovation, which was begun in 1882. Six years after Casanova's restoration, the dome again collapsed, and from that time until to-day the work of repair has proceeded. Théophile Gautier, writing of this splendid pile, states: 'The most extravagant and most monstrously prodigious Hindoo pagodas are not to be mentioned in the same century as the Cathedral of Seville. It is a mountain scooped out, a valley turned topsy-turvy; Notre Dame at Paris might walk erect in the middle nave, which is of frightful height; pillars as large round as towers, and which appear so slender that they make you shudder, rise out of the ground or descend from the vaulted roof, like stalactites in a giant's grotto.' In Caveda's description of the Cathedral, we read: 'The general effect is truly majestic. The open-work parapets which crown the roofs; the graceful lanterns of the eight winding stairs that ascend in the corners to the vaults and galleries; the flying buttresses that spring lightly from aisle to nave, as the jets of a cascade from cliff to cliff; the slender pinnacles that cap them, the proportions of the arms of the transept and of the buttresses supporting the side walls; the large pointed windows that open between them, one above another, just as the aisles and chapels to which they belong rise over each other; the pointed portals and entrances--all these combine in an almost miraculous manner, although these are lacking the wealth of detail, the airy grace, and the delicate elegance that characterise the cathedrals of León and Burgos.' [Illustration: Pinnacle of the Cathedral]