Boulevard des Capucines and the Tuileries Gardens. It was designed by
Louis XIV, in 1686, to contain public buildings, such as the Mint, the
Royal Library, the various academies, &c. This plan was subsequently
much modified. The buildings, which are of Corinthian architecture of
a severely uniform appearance, are mainly occupied by banks and other
fiscal institutions. A grand equestrian statue of Louis XIV once stood
in the centre of the square, but it was destroyed in 1792, and in 1806
its place was taken by the famous Vendome column, a stone shaft one
hundred and forty-three feet high, covered with the metal of cannon
taken from the Prussians and Austrians. It is surmounted by a statue of
Napoleon, and is ornamented by bas-reliefs commemorative of that hero’s
campaign in 1805. In 1871 column and statue were both pulled down by
the Commune, but the Republic under Thiers repaired and replaced them.
[Illustration]
THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES. The Tuileries is but the remains of its
former glory. The main front of the building was burned by the Commune
in 1871, and after remaining a picturesque ruin for some years was at
length removed. The wing nearest the Rue de Rivoli shared the fate of
the front, but was rebuilt, together with the Pavillon de Marsan, which
formed the angle. The Pavillon de Flore, at the other end, suffered
much less, and had only to be restored. Both wings, and, indeed, the
entire building, are a marvel of exterior ornamentation. Before the
Revolution the Tuileries was only the occasional residence of the
French sovereign, but Napoleon made it his principal abode, and his
example was followed by his successors. The picture is taken from the
exquisite gardens of the Tuileries facing the Place de la Concorde.
[Illustration]
ARC DE TRIOMPHE, PARIS, FRANCE. This, the distinctive triumphal arch
of Paris, is more specifically known as l’ Arc de l’ Étoile, to
differentiate it from three other triumphal arches of less celebrity.
It stands at the west end of the Avenue des Champs Elysées on the
summit of a slope, which makes it visible from all parts of Paris
and the environs. It is not only the largest arch in existence, but
the most magnificent ever erected. Begun by Napoleon in 1806, to
commemorate the wars of the Revolution and of the Empire, it was
completed thirty years later by Louis Philippe. The total cost was
about $2,000,000. The height of the arch above the ground is one
hundred and fifty-two feet, its width one hundred and thirty-eight
feet, its thickness sixty-eight feet. The main archway measures ninety
feet in height and forty-five in width; the smaller lateral archways
are each fifty-seven feet by twenty-five. The bas-reliefs represent the
most famous events of 1792–1815. Finest of all are the two colossal
groups on each side of the central arch facing the Champs Elysées, cut
in full relief and representing the “Departure of the Troops in 1792”
and “The Triumph of Napoleon after the Austrian Campaign.”
[Illustration]
NAPOLEON’S TOMB, PARIS, FRANCE. Under the splendid dome of the Church
of the Invalides, in a huge circular crypt below the level of the
floor, is the tomb of the Great Napoleon I. The sarcophagus, hewn out
of a single block of granite brought from Finland, was the gift of the
Emperor Nicholas, when in 1841 the remains of the Emperor were brought
back from St. Helena by the Prince de Joinville. The crypt is adorned
with marble reliefs symbolical of Napoleon’s reforms and with twelve
colossal figures of victory and sixty mouldering banners captured from
the enemy. There are also monuments to Vauban and Turenne, Napoleon’s
most illustrious predecessors in the field. At the entrance to the
crypt lie the bodies of Bertrand and Duroc, the near friends and
companions of Napoleon. The monuments or the remains of various members
of the Bonaparte family are in the upper part of the church.
[Illustration]
CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, PARIS, FRANCE. This is sometimes called the
Palais Bourbon. It is the seat of the French parliament. It is a large
classical building on the left bank of the Seine, facing the Pont de la
Concorde. The old façade was in the Rue de l’ Université at the back;
the new one, with its Corinthian colonnade, was erected in 1804. The
hall is a semi-circular room, with the President’s chair facing the
extremity of the half circle. Here sat the Council of Five Hundred,
Louis Philippe’s Chamber and Napoleon III’s Corps Legislatif, and here
at present sit the deputies elected from the various districts of the
French republic. Orators address the Chamber from the tribune, which is
placed immediately under the President’s chair. Voting is done by means
of white or blue cards, placed in tin receptacles that are handed round
by the ushers; the white being an “aye,” the blue “nay.”
[Illustration]
THÉÂTRE DE L’OPERA, PARIS. The new Opera House, in Paris, is the
handsomest, though not the largest, temple of amusement in the world.
It will hold twenty-one hundred people, while La Scala, in Milan, holds
three thousand. The stage, however, in cubic and superficial area, is
the largest known. It is equaled by others in depth, but surpasses
them all in breadth. The exterior is bewildering in the richness of
its decorations. The grand staircase and the foyer are in magnificent
keeping with the exterior. This building is one of the creations of the
Second Empire. More than one hundred houses were torn down to clear the
square on which it stands. It was inaugurated on January 1st, 1875.
The total cost is estimated at $8,000,000. The opera is managed by a
director, who receives from the State an allowance of eight hundred
thousand francs a year. He has to supply what is necessary and run all
risks.
[Illustration]
EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS. This is the highest structure in the world, being
three hundred metres or nine hundred and eighty-four feet in height, as
against the five hundred and fifty-five feet five and one-eighth inches
of the Washington Monument, which comes next in altitude among all
the edifices of man. The tower was constructed by Alexander G. Eiffel
for the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Its foundations are sunk to a depth
of fifty feet in the sandy soil of the Champs de Mars, and the four
massive piers, which form the first stage of the tower, are so planted
as to distribute the enormous weight of the structure (sixty-five
hundred tons) in the best way possible. In spite of this weight the
general impression is one of grace and lightness. The summit is crowned
by a cupola with an exterior balcony, whence a magnificent panorama of
Paris and its surroundings is unveiled. Elevators carry passengers up
to the summit, the time consumed by the ascension being from six to
seven minutes.
[Illustration]
TROCADERO, PARIS, FRANCE. The Eiffel Tower is not the sole remaining
monument of the French Exposition of 1878. Overlooking the Champs de
Mars is the Trocadero, which was begun in 1876 for the same exhibition.
It is a fantastic structure in the Byzantine style. The central portion
consists of a circular edifice one hundred and eighty feet high and
one hundred and eighty-nine feet in diameter, crowned by a dome, and
flanked with two minarets two hundred and seventy feet high. On each
side extends a wing in the form of a curve, six hundred and sixty feet
in length, giving the entire edifice the appearance of an imposing
crescent. On a level with the spring of the dome is a terrace adorned
with thirty statues. The view of Paris from the terrace or the towers
is superb. Below the balcony, in front of the central building, gushes
a large cascade, which descends to a huge basin one hundred and
ninety-six feet in diameter. Afternoon concerts are often given in
the elaborately decorated Salle des Fetes, which seats six thousand
persons. There are also collections of sculptures and antiquities.
[Illustration]
CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU, FRANCE. Fontainebleau is a small town
thirty-five miles south-east of Paris. It is famous for the royal
palace, which is situated in a magnificent park or forest, fifty miles
in circumference, and covering an area of forty-two thousand five
hundred acres. The building itself is said to occupy the site of a
fortified chateau, built by Louis VII in 1162. But it was Francis I who
transformed the mediæval fortress into a palace of almost unparalleled
extent and magnificence. Henry IV did much towards its embellishment.
Here his successor, Louis XIV, revoked the Edict of Nantes. It was
a favorite residence of Napoleon I, whose sentence of divorce from
Josephine was pronounced here. Louis Philippe and Napoleon III spent
large sums in restoring it. The exterior of the building, with the
exception of several pavilions, is only two stories in height. The
interior is a splendid example of decorative work. Some of the greatest
French and Italian artists of the epoch of its creation were employed
upon it. Especially beautiful is the chamber of Anne of Austria,
the mother of Louis XIV, and Queen-regent in his minority, who made
Fontainebleau her favorite residence, and spent money lavishly in the
decoration of her chamber.
[Illustration]
GARDEN AND FOUNTAINS, VERSAILLES, FRANCE. The Palace of Versailles is
in the town of the same name, ten miles from Paris, was built by Louis
XIV in 1661, and became a royal residence in 1681. As such it has held
a great place in the history of France. It is now used as a historical
museum. The garden which surrounds it is justly celebrated for its
extreme beauty. Among its chief marvels are the fountains, richly
adorned with bronze statues, and from the centre of each rises a column
of water to the height of forty feet, encircled by sixteen inclined
jets of water, the whole forming a sort of basket. The water which
feeds the fountains is brought from the Seine by the machine of Marly,
constructed at enormous expense after the failure of the plan to turn
the River d’ Eure from its course.
[Illustration]
GRAND TRIANON, VERSAILLES, FRANCE. A charming residence near the palace
of Versailles, built by Louis XIV in 1688 for Madame de Maintenon, but
chiefly interesting for its associations with Marie Antoinette, whose
favorite residence it was. Here she amused herself with her Swiss
village, and here, as well as in the adjacent Petit Trianon, she and
her court played at shepherds and shepherdesses. The Grand Trianon
is built in the Italian style, with the rooms all on one floor. The
interior is exquisitely furnished and adorned. In the surrounding
gardens are cottages and artificial “mountains” (some nearly ten feet
high) and glens and grottoes and pebbly-bottomed brooks.
[Illustration]
BULL FIGHT, SEVILLE, SPAIN. The bull fight is the national sport of
Spain. The sport has been described as a tragedy in three acts. First,
the bull is let out and goaded to fury by the lances of the mounted
picadores. If a picador is thrown or his horse is wounded the chulos
rush in and attract the bull by waving their cloaks in front of him,
saving themselves, if need be, by leaping over the palisade which
encloses the circus. When the bull begins to flag the chulos attack
him with barbed darts, called banderillas, which they stick into his
neck. The third act introduces the matador, who enters alone. He holds
in his right hand a naked sword, in his left a muleta or small stick
with a piece of scarlet silk attached. The bull rushes blindly at the
muleta. The matador, if he be skillful, plunges the sword into the left
shoulder and the animal drops dead. Sometimes, however, he misses his
first aim and then he has to try again. Sometimes he is wounded or even
killed and then a new matador appears on the scene.
[Illustration]
THE ALHAMBRA, GRANADA, SPAIN. Alhambra means the “Red Castle.” This
fortress and palace of the ancient Moorish kings--“the pride of
Granada and the boast of Spain”--is a vast and irregular collection of
buildings built of bricks slightly reddened. The principal building
was begun in 1248 and finished in 1314. Here the Moorish kings lived,
surrounded by their court and nobility, a total population of some
forty thousand souls. Its degradation dates from the day of the
Castilian conquest, for the alterations and restorations made by the
Spanish kings were without judgment. Philip V, early in the eighteenth
century, was its last royal occupant. After his desertion the place
was allowed to fall into decay until 1862, when the Spanish government
took it in charge. Happily, the most important portions still exist,
and present a bewildering array of pavilions, courts, colonnades,
fountains, baths, gilded ceilings and every kind of Oriental
decoration.
[Illustration]
CORDOVA, SPAIN. This is one of the most ancient and picturesque of
Spanish towns. Its walls, built on a Roman foundation with Moorish
superstructure, inclose a large area, dotted with Roman and Moorish
remains. Chief among the latter is the cathedral, which looms up almost
in the centre of our picture. It dates from the eighth century, and
was formerly a mosque. Authorities generally agree that it is the
finest specimen of a Moorish mosque in all Europe. The southern suburb
communicates with the town by means of an ancient bridge across the
River Guadalquiver, whose sixteen arches exhibit the usual combination
of Moorish and Roman architecture. At one end of the bridge is an
elevated statue of the patron saint, St. Raphael, whose effigy abounds
all through the city. Our picture is taken from the southern suburb.
[Illustration]
ROCK OF GIBRALTAR, SPAIN. An inaccessible rock, buttressed by an
impregnable fortress, which juts out from the southern extremity of
Spain, in Andulasia, gives to the English, who hold it, the virtual
command of the Mediterranean. The rock is fourteen hundred and thirty
feet high at its highest point; its length, from north to south,
about three miles; its circumference about six. It is mainly composed
of compact limestone and dense gray marble, varied by beds of red
sandstone and tissues of osseous breccia. The north face is almost
perpendicular, but the east side is full of tremendous precipices.
It came into possession of the English by conquest during the war of
the succession in 1704. Since then they have spent immense sums in
its fortification, with so much success that they have retained it
against the combined efforts of France and Spain. From the sea the
rock presents a grim enough aspect with its immense cannon, its piles
of balls and bombs, and its apparent lack of vegetation. But a closer
view shows patches of fruit trees, together with a great variety of
odoriferous shrubs.
[Illustration]
MONTE CARLO, MONACO--THE CASINO. Monaco is a small principality on the
Mediterranean, ruled by Prince Albert, of Monaco. It is chiefly famous
for the notorious Casino at the small town of Monte Carlo, where alone
in Europe public gaming is authorized by law. The first stone of the
Casino was laid in 1858, and gambling tables had existed in Monaco two
years previous to that date, but it was not till 1860, when M. Blanc,
expelled from Homburg, took possession of the place, that Monte Carlo
began to be famous. The gaming establishment is now in the hands of a
joint stock company, with a capital of 15,000,000 francs, who leased
the ground from the prince. It employs nearly one thousand people
and is annually visited by about four hundred thousand visitors. The
inhabitants of Monaco are not allowed at the tables. Their good will,
however, is secured by their exemption from taxation and by the flood
of paying visitors who are attracted hither. Monte Carlo is in itself a
place of exquisite beauty, natural and artificial.
[Illustration]
LAKE LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND. Not only in wild and picturesque scenery,
but in its legendary and historical associations, this is one of the
most interesting lakes in the world. In Switzerland it is alternatively
known as the Lake of the Four Forest Cantons, because bounded by the
cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and Lucerne. The mountain peaks
surrounding it give it the form of a St. Andrew’s cross, whence comes
that cross on the Swiss flag. Mounts Pilatus and Rigi stand at the
north like sentinel outposts of the Alps. The beginning of the St.
Gothard Pass over the Alps is at Fluelen to the south. The lake is
intimately connected with the Tell legends, and at one of its most
enchanting spots a small chapel, attributed to the fourteenth century,
is said to mark the spot where he sprang out of Gessler’s boat as he
was being carried away a prisoner.
[Illustration]
MONT BLANC FROM CHAMOUNI, SWITZERLAND. This, the highest mountain in
Europe, and, by common consent, the most magnificent in its scenery,
rises at the southern end of the valley of Chamouni, fifteen thousand
seven hundred and eighty-one feet above sea level. During the last
century and a half it has been a favorite resort of tourists, and
especially of scientists, as its glaciers and other marvelous
features are full of interest and instruction. But it was not till
1786 that Balmat and Paccard made the first ascension, followed in
1787 by Saussure. Many accidents have happened here in the past. In
1870 a party of eleven, two of them Americans, all perished in the
snow-crowned heights. Nowadays the ascensions are more numerous,
and, with proper precautions, are considered absolutely safe, though
very fatiguing, and occupying three days. The view from the valley
of Chamouni is of extraordinary beauty. It has been celebrated by
Coleridge in one of his most famous poems, and has been the theme of
countless other pens. Not always is the “monarch of mountains” visible
from Chamouni, as his imperial front is frequently hidden from the
sight of his worshipers. But the photograph here presented is taken on
a fortunate day, when there was no cloud about the throne.
[Illustration]
MER DE GLACE, MONT BLANC, SWITZERLAND. This immense glacier fills the
highest gorges of the chain of Mont Blanc, and extends over a distance
of twelve miles into the Valley of Chamouni. It is formed by the masses
of snow and ice which collect during the long winters. In appearance
it is just what its name implies, a Sea of Ice, whose tumultuous
waves seem to have been suddenly frozen, not while they were being
lashed to fury by a tempest, but at the very moment when the wind had
subsided and left them high indeed, but rounded and blunted in outline.
Slowly--so slowly that the motion is imperceptible--it flows down the
inclined plane between two mountains cracking, groaning and melting
until it resolves itself into a torrent, known as the Arveiron. There
are other seas of ice among the Alps, but this by pre-eminence is known
as the Mer de Glace. It was in the study of this region that Agassiz
conceived his glacial theory.
[Illustration]
THE MATTERHORN, SWITZERLAND. This famous Alpine height is situated in
the canton of Valais, in Switzerland, overhanging the little village
of Zermatt. It is fourteen thousand seven hundred and five feet high,
and its peak is the sharpest and most acute in all the Alpine region,
rising like a sort of triangular obelisk into the clouds. Its sides
are so precipitous that the snow itself can hardly find a lodgment.
For a long period it was deemed inaccessible to man. On the 14th of
July, 1865, a party, consisting of Messrs. Hudson, Whymper and Hadow,
with Lord Francis Douglas and three guides, succeeded in reaching
the summit, but in the descent Mr. Hudson lost his footing, and all
save Mr. Whymper and two guides, who escaped by the breaking of the
rope, were precipitated to a depth of four thousand feet towards the
Matterhorn Glacier. The ascent is now made several times annually. The
rock has been blasted at the most difficult points and a rope attached
to it.
[Illustration]
RIGI-KULM, SWITZERLAND. The Rigi Mountain, five thousand nine hundred
and five feet above sea level, or four thousand four hundred and
seventy-two feet above Lake Lucerne, is not one of the highest
mountains of Switzerland, but the beautiful and extensive view
commanded from the Kulm, or summit, makes it one of the most popular.
The famous Riggenbach cog-wheel railway brings travellers up to the
Kulm, a small, bare space, whence the eye takes in a panorama of three
hundred miles in circuit. Immediately below lie the lakes of Lucerne
and Zug, their shores lined with picturesque little towns. Eight other
lakes, including a bit of Zurich, may be counted in the distance.
Snow-capped mountains--the Jungfrau, the Wetterhorn, the Schreckhorn,
the grand snow-covered peaks of the Bernese Alps and countless other
peaks of lesser note--stretch away on every side to the horizon. The
railway up the mountain is of ordinary gauge. Along the centre runs
a cogged track, into which a cog-wheel on the locomotive works, thus
giving the power for the ascent. In going down the brakes are worked
by atmospheric pressure. The construction of this five miles of line,
which in its ascent overcomes about one mile of altitude, cost about
$300,000.
[Illustration]
THUN, SWITZERLAND. One of the most picturesque of Swiss towns is
Thun, which is charmingly situated on the banks of the river Aar,
three-quarters of a mile below its efflux from the lake. Many of the
town’s buildings are very old. The Castle of Zahringen-Kyburg, whose
large square tower forms a noted feature of the landscape, dates from
1182. The principal street is curious. In front of the houses projects
a row of warehouses and cellars, on the flat roofs of which is the
pavement for foot passengers, flanked with the shops. The view here
presented is taken from the pavilion in the Bellevue Grounds, which
overlooks the city, and commands the old-fashioned town, the lake, the
Alps and the Valley of the Aar.
[Illustration]
JUNGFRAU FROM INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND. The town of Interlaken, as its
name indicates, is situated between two lakes (Brienz and Thun), in a
valley about three miles wide, on either side of which rises a ridge
of precipitous mountains six thousand feet high. The great attraction
of the place is not the scenery either way along the valley, but a
view that is caught through a depression in the mountains on the
southern side, revealing the Jungfrau (“Young Maiden”) Mountain and
her attendant galaxy of noble Alpine peaks, rearing their snow-crowned
heads far above the horizon. The Jungfrau is the most imposing
eminence in all the Bernese Alps. Surrounded by stupendous precipices,
her surface is broken by valleys, ravines and glaciers, which from
a distance look like creases in the mantle of snow that covers her
enormous flanks. The first ascent of this mountain was made on August
3d, 1811.
[Illustration]
CURSALON, VIENNA, AUSTRIA. This handsome structure, in the Italian
renaissance style, was put up in 1865–67. With its surrounding gardens,
it forms one of the most attractive spots in the city. Concerts are
given here on Sundays and Thursdays, when large crowds are always sure
to attend.
[Illustration]
CATHEDRAL, MILAN, ITALY. The Milanese look upon this church as the
eighth wonder of the world. In truth, it is a marvelous edifice.
“Gothic art,” as Taine says, “here attains its triumph and its
extravagance.” Nowhere else is it so pointed, so complex, so highly
embroidered, so full of delicate detail. It differs from most Gothic
cathedrals in being built, not of dark stone, but of beautiful,
lustrous white Italian marble. Begun in 1386, it was not fully
completed until 1805, at the direction of Napoleon. The design is said
to be taken from Monte Rosa, one of the loftiest peaks of the Alps. Its
ninety-eight sculptured pinnacles, rising from every part of the body
of the church, certainly bear a striking resemblance to the splintered
ice crags of Savoy. Next to St. Peter’s, at Rome, and the Cathedral at
Seville, this is the largest church in Europe, covering, as it does, an
area of fourteen thousand square yards.
[Illustration]