Clarence Ward

“ The palace that Charles V built there in a vain effort to rival the Moorish masterpiece, and for which he made room by removing part of the Alhambra palace, stands today an uncompleted and roofless ruin; while the much older Alhambra is still clothed in a glory of bright, fresh color.
The Alhambra is not one building, but a collection of buildings on a high plateau. Long before the erection of the great palace the hilltop was surrounded by a wall with many towers for defense, and the Alcazaba, the first palace built on the Alhambra hill, was used as a residence by the early kings of Granada. ”

“ Viewed from a central point, the majestic sweep of the nave, the soaring height of the eastern apse, the wondrous window of the northern transept, and the maze of piers and arches and chapels, all unite to produce a glorious whole which cannot be surpassed in any monument of any age. ”

“ The mosaic work of the interior is the finest to be found in any eastern country. Precious stones are used unsparingly—jasper and agate, carnelian and chalcedony. Marble lacework of wonderful lightness screens the windows and doorways. In the center are the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan; but their bodies, according to the Indian custom, lie in a vault beneath the building. Shah Jahan had begun a tomb for himself on the opposite side of the river, which he never finished because Aurantzeb, his son, rebelled against him and took away the empire. ”

“ Every age, and every nation, has left to us some crowning achievements of the builder's art. The following are therefore merely selections from this storehouse, illustrating to some degree the wealth of architectural treasures that is our heritage.
Few if any buildings in the world have been the subject of such praise as that bestowed upon the Taj Mahal ("Gem of Buildings") . Travelers, [2] painters, authors, and poets have all sought to express in word or color the indefinable charm of this gem of Indian art. ”

“ WITH the highest buildings in the world rising in rivalry nearby, attracting every eye because of their novelty, the New York City Hall often escapes notice, or is given shorter consideration than its excellent architecture and historical significance deserve. ”

“ Between the construction of Amiens and Salisbury and the building of the Château of Chambord (shong-bore ́) lie two centuries of history. In them the spiritual power of the church, and the temporal power of the pope and clergy, which had been supreme throughout the Middle Ages, gave way to a large extent to a spirit of individualism and a rising power on the part of the king and nobles. This change had its effect upon the arts. The palace took precedence over the church in architecture as the secular took precedence over the religious in painting and the other arts. ”

“ Shah Jahan was a cold and haughty man; but he ruled India well, and his pride was softened in later life by the death of his wife. It is said that during his reign he brought India peace and prosperity by putting all his rivals to death. Besides the Taj Mahal, two other famous buildings, the Pearl Mosque at Agra and the great mosque of Delhi, which were built by Shah Jahan, have made his reign one of the most memorable in Indian history. The emperor's treasury must have been practically unlimited ”

“ If the interior of Amiens personifies in the highest degree the majesty and glory of Christian faith, the spire of Salisbury may be said to embody its hope and aspiration. Rising four hundred and four feet from the ground, this spire has few to rival it in all the world. Other cathedrals might dispute its claim to first place among spires; but none is set upon a church so fine. That Salisbury is the most beautiful cathedral in England is not claimed. ”

“ To their minds human workmanship and the power of wealth are too feeble for the erection of a structure so enduring and magnificent. Indeed, great architects can hardly conceive the skill that balanced those halls and gardens and towers one against the other with perfect symmetry, or the patience that worked out each interlaced design without error in either the art or the chiseling. ”

“ She was the loveliest beauty of the Indies, and Shah Jahan loved her so passionately that he thought of no other woman while she lived and was lost in grief after her death. He vowed that her tomb should be the most beautiful building in the world.
The Taj is of snow-white marble outside and jeweled mosaic within. It was planned by a Persian, Ustad Isa, who designed in the Persian rather than the Indian style of architecture. Twenty thousand men worked twenty-two years to finish it. ”

“ The result of this is especially evident in the interior of Salisbury; [9] for here, in spite of the shafts of Purbeck marble, one for each hour in the year, and in spite of the rich moldings of the piers and arches, the lack of structural unity, and the comparative smallness of the windows and lowness of the vaulting cause Salisbury's nave to fall far short of that of Amiens in beauty of construction. Viewed from the west, the cathedral is also disappointing; for the façade is an ugly screen wall, badly decorated, and deserving of little praise. ”

“ With the thought of that business man and others like him, we are aiming for something larger and more beneficial than a fixed set of reading courses. We have planned to give in The Mentor the broad, liberal knowledge that comes not from a strict course of study closely adhered to, but from contact with writers of authority in varied fields. The readers of The Mentor get the rich benefits afforded by many minds, and the year's reading is wide in its reach and well balanced. ”

“ Nearly five hundred feet long and over two hundred feet to the ridge line of the roof, it rises high above the buildings of the city in which it stands, a symbol of the supremacy of spiritual over earthly things. ”

“ In spite of its size, Chambord has little history of which to boast. Nothing of importance or even of special interest took place there.
NEW YORK CITY HALL
We are fortunate indeed as a nation to have had in our earlier days an architecture that could boast of such pleasing monuments as the New York City Hall. Our ancestors in both the North and South were strongly influenced from the point of view of art by that English Renaissance which reached its culmination in the hands of Sir Christopher Wren. ”