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446 this tower, which the soldiers then destroyed, called by the people “the head of the idol.” It may have been that the people called it the heathen head because they did not recognise in it a likeness to any particular saint, as they called the heads on the Roman coins by the same name. There was a tradition that the church was built by two counts—Udo and Hermann, sons of Gebhard, the Count in the Oberrheingare, at the end of the ninth century, but it appears that this tradition arose through those personages being named in the anniversary of founders and benefactors; and, as it was thought that they must have been buried in the church, some dilapidated and nameless graves were shown as theirs. Of the earliest church scarcely anything remains, as the colossal pillars which bear the vault of the nave are much younger, as shown by their general structure. As the newer building proceeded, the older was broken away. When the fine tower to the right, whose foundation was laid in 1336, according to an historian of the place, was begun, the old part was still standing to the left. Behind the beautiful, richly-ornamented principal portal of the very purest Gothic, the old portal of the Byzantine style is still left standing. The choir, which is separated from the nave, is part of an older and smaller church, and has been separately devoted to the Catholic worship. In consequence of these circumstances the church is a strange intermixture of the Byzantine and Gothic styles, so that the architect, Müller of Darmstadt, says that the cathedral of Wetzlar is one of the most remarkable architectural monuments extant, in the abundance of the materials it presents for studying the transitions of one style of architecture into another. This church was never finished. Even in the year 1423, the town and chapter were soliciting subscriptions to complete it, as considerable debt had been incurred. But the zeal for church-building was then past. The beautiful tower could never be completed by a spire, and the upper part, built of wood, was burnt by lightning in 1561. The bad taste of the sixteenth century erected that roof in the shape of a crown, which serves for the watchman of the tower to dwell in, as a similar construction does at Frankfort. Both Wetzlar and Frankfort cathedrals would have been most imposing structures, had their plan been carried out as it has been at Strasburg. But we are thankful for even an unfinished specimen of Gothic architecture, while a Grecian building is nothing if it is not complete. The mind can supply what is wanting in the former case. Gothic architecture seems to grow out of the ground by degrees, like a tree, while a Greek building is, from first to last, artificial, and seems to stand where it is placed simply by its weight.

The old gateway of the earlier church, which perhaps dates from the eleventh century, has a vestibule, and over this is a little chapel difficult of access, with remains of fresco-painting from the fourteenth century. The remains of the old tower consist of basalt masonry, and in its time the building of the new tower, which is opposite that almost finished on the right side, was begun. The work, however, was interrupted before the old tower was dismantled. The main portal belonging to the fourteenth century, which has been left incomplete, is singularly rich in ornamentation and sculptures. One of the most conspicuous is the fine statue of the Blessed Virgin with the Infant Christ, which stands above the portal. The nave, with its lofty and ample pillars, has a grand effect. The south side appears to belong to the thirteenth, the north to the fourteenth century. On the north side are also to be seen the arches of an old cloister. In the southern wall stands an older door, which appears to have been built at the same period as the choir, consequently belonged to the old church, and was allowed to stand on account of the rich carvings about it. It is surrounded with saints and symbolic figures. Over this door is also a statue of the Blessed Virgin. Under the bracket on which she stands, there is a devil pressing down a human being, which the people have taken for a nun. Thence it was said:

But these figures are probably only intended as a contrast to the Virgin and Child. The nave of the church belongs to the Protestants, who cleared away what they considered its rubbish in the side altars and other Catholic internal arrangements, and with the taste of the period erected commodious galleries instead, painting the pillars at the same time with divers colours. A more modern taste has, however, cleared the nave again, and restored it, if not to its original splendour, to a grand simplicity. Doubtless, much that is ancient and curious in the interior has been destroyed in the course of time. There remain, however, two human heads placed on brackets: one is a female head, surrounded with vine leaves, and the other a man’s head, out of the eyebrows, cheeks and mouth of which vine leaves grow. It is probably an illustration of Christ’s parable of the vine. An old stone font, circular and surrounded by eight pillars, is believed to belong to the twelfth century. In the nave there are also in a lateral hall two locked shrines, which are only opened to the Catholics on festivals. One contains a wooden figure of Saint Mary the Virgin, with the body of our Saviour in her lap. The figures are larger than life, and are attributed to the fourteenth century. Other figures were added later,—two angels, who hold up the curtains of a canopy—and by the large figures two small angels, who hold the instruments of the Passion. In the second and smaller shrine is a wooden figure of our Saviour bearing the cross, and another figure behind him assisting. This work appears to belong to the first half of the fifteenth century. The choir displays the transition from the twelfth to the thirteenth century, from the Byzantine to the Gothic style, and is closed at the east end with the five sides of an octagon. It is separated from the nave by a wall, by which the new building when in construction was shut off, to admit of service being performed in the choir. Amongst other curiosities here, is a monument with an old inscription, which is supposed to have been erected by the