[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL IN NOVEMBER 1918.]
_In April 1919, visitors entered through the door in the Place du
Cloître_ (_see pp. _29 _&_ 33).
The Cathedral of Soissons (H.M.) may be considered as a miniature
of that of Amiens. For the purity of its lines and simplicity of
arrangement, it is probably the finest of the secondary Cathedrals in
France.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL BEFORE THE WAR.
_The unfinished main front had only one tower._]
It was very quickly built, of hard Soissons stone, and is peculiar in
that building began at the south arm of the transept,—primitive Gothic
in style,—during the last third of the 12th century. Next were built,
in pointed Gothic, the choir (completed in 1212) then the nave. The
main body of the cathedral was completed in the middle of the 13th
century, with the exception of the high parts of the main front (on
which a single tower was built in the 14th century) and of the façade
of the north arm of the transept (also 14th century).
The cathedral of Soissons, like that of Arras, has greatly suffered
in its vital parts. The nave, which partly fell in during 1915–1916,
was, with the aisles, entirely destroyed by the end of 1918. The tower,
which, though severely damaged by enemy shell-fire, was still standing,
collapsed at the same time. The transept and choir alone escaped with
slight damage.
Principal Façade of the Cathedral.
The West front contains three doorways, finished about 1230, but
disfigured in the 18th century by roughcast, which destroyed their
13th century decoration, since replaced by pseudo-Gothic ornament.
[Illustration: THE TOWER IN JUNE 1915.
_The collapse of the mullion laid bare the framework of the belfry._]
Above the large rose-window, set in a tierce-point arch, rises a
graceful gallery composed of double arches surmounted by gables, which
is carried all round the single tower, about 241 feet in height.
The tower comprised on each front two long bays separated by a mullion.
Its later date was noticeable chiefly in the statues of apostles,
saints and bishops, sheltered beneath finely carved canopies, which
ornamented the corner abutments.
Throughout the war, the German gunners made a constant target of the
cathedral tower.
In June 1915, large calibre shells caused the collapse of the great
mullion separating the two bays on the west front, which fell to the
ground, a large breach in the upper part of the tower laying bare the
framework of the belfry (_photo above_). The same collapse caused the
fall of almost all the gables of the lower gallery, the left bay of
which had previously been struck by several shells.
[Illustration: THE TOWER IN MARCH 1919.]
Until 1918, no further damage of importance was done to the façade,
but in August of that year, some days after the French had retaken
Soissons, three sides of the tower (north, south and east) and the
interior framework of the belfry were entirely destroyed by the
numerous German shells. In September 1918, all that remained of the
tower were the two buttresses at the north-west and south-west corners.
By a miracle they remain poised, but loosened stones keep constantly
crashing to the ground (_photo above_).
All the arches of the gallery above the large rose-window were also
destroyed in August 1918.
Interior of the Cathedral.
The cathedral, over 300 feet in length, comprises:
A Nave with seven bays and double side-aisles, with chapels of a later
date added to the last four bays.
A Transept, the south arm of which ends in a semi-circle, and the
north arm in a straight wall.
A Choir with four bays and a semi-circular Apse surrounded by an
ambulatory, off which open eight rectangular chapels, and, at the
apse, five radial polygonal chapels.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL.
A.—Pillar of the Nave broken in 1915.
B.—Gallery of the old Cathedral Cloister.
C.—Chapel in the South Arm.
D.—Vestry Passage (statue of Virgin and Child).
E.—St. Ruffin’s Chapel (17th century statue of the saint).