Marble hall

“ It is of white marble, and approaches to life not only in size but in strength of expression: the accuracy of the anatomy, the grandness of the heads, and the force of the limbs, are not to be excelled.
Ascending to the hall, we found ourselves in a room superlatively fine, from the grandeur of its dimensions, the justness of its proportions, the taste of its decorations, and the beauty of its contents. The architect has chosen the square figure, sixty feet everyway, relieved by an height of thirty-eight feet; and a gallery, which runs round the whole, and projects ten feet. ”

“ For twenty-two years twenty thousand men were employed in its construction, the total cost reaching $16,000,000. Built of white marble, it forms a quadrangle of one hundred and ninety square yards, surmounted by a lofty dome, with smaller domes at each corner and four graceful minarets one hundred and thirty-three feet high. The great central hall is paved with squares of various-colored marbles, while the walls, tombs and screens are ornamented by exquisite mosaic work. The elegance and delicacy of the design and the elaborate perfection in every detail of the workmanship are alike marvelous. ”

“ Hall after hall opened interminably before us, and on either side of us, paved and incrusted with variegated and beautifully polished marble, relieved against which stand the antique statues and groups, interspersed with great urns and vases, sarcophagi, altars, tablets, busts of historic personages, and all manner of shapes of marble which consummate art has transmuted into precious stones. ”

“ A large and wonderful hall of an austere, rigid, metallic and sepulchral magnificence, giving the impression of a Greek temple with columns, architraves, flagstones and ornaments of black marble, gold and ebony. The hall is trapezium-shaped. Basalt steps, occupying almost the entire width, divide it into three successive stages, which rise gradually toward the back. On the right and left, between the columns, are doors of sombre bronze. At the back, a monumental door of brass. The palace is lit only by a vague light that seems to emanate mainly from the brilliancy of the marble and the ebony. ”

“ It has happened to me, on various occasions, to find myself in a certain edifice which would appear to have some of the characteristics of a public exchange. Its interior is a spacious hall, with a pavement of white marble. Overhead is a lofty dome, supported by long rows of pillars of fantastic architecture, the idea of which was probably taken from the Moorish ruins of the Alhambra, or perhaps from some enchanted edifice in the Arabian tales. ”

“ The Great Hall, or Marble Hall, is 50 feet by 30 feet, and is extremely lofty. It is lit by an oriel window at the upper or daïs end, and by three bay windows; and is panelled with oak and lined with fine old tapestry. A carved screen, with an open gallery, decorated with armorial bearings, badges, &c., is at the east end, and the ceiling, which is coved and divided into compartments, is decorated with the heads of the Cæsars. ”

“ Hush! a whisper—a footstep creeping on the stones of the court below. Without pausing to look or convince herself, she fled into the great hall, and found herself at the foot of the staircase, breathing in a mortal fear, clutching at the balustrade for support. A faint glow from the dying day smeared the marble walls, and illumined the limbs of a dozen statues as if with phosphorescence. But the pits of blackness between, more dense in consequence, were dreadfully potential of evil, and, half swooning, she turned to the staircase as her only resource. ”

“ Beyond it, is a temple three hundred feet long, and one hundred and fifty-five wide. Upon entering the monument, we meet with an immense hall, the roof of which is supported by twenty-eight columns, sixty feet high, and nineteen in circumference at the base. They are twelve feet distant from each other. The enormous stones that form the ceiling, perfectly joined and incrusted as it were one into the other, offer to the eye nothing but one solid platform of marble, one hundred and twenty-six feet long, and twenty-six wide. The walls are covered with hieroglyphics. ”

“ Two broad, dislocated stone steps sinking downwards between two stunted black brick walls, and surmounted by a grotesque wooden portico, admitted those who could stoop low enough to avoid hitting their heads, into a wide, broad, cold hall paved with marble, which nature had made black and white, but which time and other accidents had converted into brown and yellow. ”

“ A great number of workmen had been employed in scraping, washing, and polishing their marble sides for several months, and their appearance was equally grand and beautiful: the bronze gates and railing which form the grand entrance of the hall are massy, yet exquisitely executed: over this entrance is a colonade of Corinthian pillars of red and white marble. At one end is a colossal figure of Atlas supporting on his shoulders the globe, attended by Vigilance and Wisdom. ”

“ From this, broad door-ways give entrance to the vestibule, sixty feet by forty, [pg 616] paved in black and white marble, and wainscoted four feet above the floor with beautifully variegated marble from Vermont. The panelled ceiling is elaborately frescoed, as well as the upper part of the walls. Busts of the sages and heroes of antiquity adorn the hall. From the vestibule a stairway of white marble, with massive newels of variegated marble, leads up to the library proper. ”

“ From the entrance hall the stairway, which has rails and spindles of mahogany, extends in an unbroken flight to the floor above. The typical double parlor is divided by a large arch, necessary to support the ceiling. This arch of carved mahogany terminates in a decorative corbel at either end. Two fireplaces warmed the area in winter and many windows, all with handmade glass, provided the necessary summer ventilation. The marble mantels are unusual in that they are an unidentical pair. One depicts spring; the other, autumn. Throughout the house are rare antiques, paintings and objets d’art. ”

“ Horace Walpole in speaking of this room says: "Here and in all the great mansions of [Pg 215] that age is a gallery remarkable only for its extent." But it is remarkable for its two huge fireplaces of black marble and alabaster, for its fine moulded plaster ceiling, for its fifteenth-century tapestry, and quaint Elizabethan easy-chairs. The great hall is a typical one of the period, with open screen and balustraded gallery, a flat ceiling, big open fireplace, and walls embellished with antlers and ancient pieces of armour. ”

“ The present pavement of the halls and courts of the Palace is either of white marble, as in the Hall of The Two Sisters and {xl} Hall of the Abencerrages, or of brick. Seldom, however, does it appear to be the original flooring, as in many places it is considerably above the ancient level, concealing the lower part of the Mosaic dados. On the pavement of one of the alcoves of the Hall of Justice are still to be seen painted tiles which seem to suggest a style of flooring more in harmony with the general decoration of the Halls and Courts than either those of marble or of brick. ”

“ When these are passed there is only the thickness of the wall, which is, however, twenty-five feet (for the Zu-Vendi build for all time) , and another slight wall also of white marble, introduced in order to avoid causing a visible gap in the inner skin of the wall, and you stand in the circular hall under the great dome. Advancing to the central altar you look upon as beautiful a sight as the imagination of man can conceive. ”

“ Its upper roof rests on a series of carved wooden brackets; pillars of wood also support the lower one, and the whole is crowned with a gilded copper ball. The base is marble, and the edifice is approached by four bridges of the same material, spanning a marble-walled moat, surrounded with white marble balustrades. The hall stands in the centre of a court, and on the right and left of it, in long open verandahs, there are about 200 tablets of upright stone. ”

“ A large square, paved with white marble, enclosed on the four sides by four marble terraces supporting each an open hall, covered with yellow tiles, and the whole domed by the sapphire firmament of the Eastern sky. The open space is filled with mandarins, all dressed in dark blue silk embroidered with gold; at first sight all very much alike, and yet in the embroidery very different, each minute detail expressing some distinction. Through the central hall we get to another great courtyard, apparently a copy of the first, larger, finer, and [180] more magnificent, but in style always the same ”

“ I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls, With vassals and serfs at my side, ”

“ The interior forms a noble highly-decorated hall in the Ionic style, with polished marble walls and painted mouldings, the floor being also richly inlaid with marbles. The hall is 168 feet long, 48 feet broad, and 53 feet high. The entablature is supported by 14 Caryatides, treated as Walkyren, the Chusers of Slaughter in the old Germanic mythology, each being 10 feet 9 inches high. They are modelled by Schwanthaler, and executed in marble by his pupils ”

“ Everything is of marble, white marble, whose immaculate whiteness shines in the azure. On all sides are large solid forms, the cupola, the full wall, the balanced stories, the firmly-planted round or square mass; but over these forms, revived from the antique, like delicate foliage that clothes an old tree-trunk, there is spread an individual invention and a new decoration of the small columns surmounted by arcades, and the originality and grace of this architecture thus renewed cannot be described. ”

“ I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls, With vassals and serfs at my side, And of all who assembled within those walls, That I was the hope and the pride. ”

“ The mouldings of the arches rest upon four slender marble columns which run up in front of the stone mullions of the windows, and impart to them great elegance and beauty. The great number of these windows, and the small intervening spaces of blank wall between them, give a vast lightness and airiness to the whole structure.
Immediately beneath them is a small cornice or stringing course of Purbeck marble, which runs entirely round the body of the church, and supports the small marble columns which adorn the windows. ”

“ Four high walls of polished marble surround it with their white and highly ornamented panels. Within, a square gallery forms a promenade and opens upon a court through arcades trellised with ogival windows. It is filled with mortuary monuments, busts, inscriptions, and statues of every form and of every age. Nothing could be nobler or simpler. A framework of dark wood supports the vault, and the naked crest of the roof cuts the crystal of the sky. At the corners four cypresses rustle their leaves in the light breeze. The grass grows in the court with freshness and wild luxuriance. ”

“ It is useless to attempt a detailed description of this architecture; and it is so unlike anything else in the world, that, like Karnak and Baalbec, those only know the Alhambra who see it. When you can weave stone, and hang your halls with marble tapestry, you may rival it. It is nothing to me that these ornaments are stucco; to sculpture them in marble is only the work of the hands. Their great excellence is in the design, which, like all great things, suggests even more than it gives. ”

“ Well, later that day, I went right up to that heap of marble, which in its length and breadth and depth filled my soul with pride and patriotic glory. I really don't believe there is another building like it on the face of the earth. Freedom, honesty, and greatness ought to preside there.
Why, sisters, there are whole rooms here of clouded marble, ceiling, floor, walls—everything polished like the agate stone in your brooch, and I do think that the hottest sun can hardly force a beam of warmth through. ”

“ Although it is impossible not to wonder at and admire the cleverness shown in this wall, it produced on my mind an impression of confusion that was almost painful. The multitudes of irregular lines distressed my eyes. There is little repose in a puzzle, and this wall is like a mighty puzzle in stone.
Among the masses of broken fragments which cover much of the hillside stands out a small, solid building of Parian marble, very pure, very clean, almost shining under the rays of the sun. It resembles a great marble casket in which something very precious might be placed and sealed up. ”

“ The building is circular, with a noble dome, and a fine portico of sixteen pillars of oriental granite. There are no windows, the light being admitted by a circular aperture in the dome. The fine marble with which the walls were encrusted, and the brass which covered the roof, have long since disappeared; the bare bricks alone are left. ”

“ The building itself is of pure and polished white marble, which shows out in marvellous contrast to the red granite of the frowning city, on whose brow it glistens indeed like an imperial diadem upon the forehead of a dusky queen. The outer surface of the dome and of the twelve petal courts is covered entirely with thin sheets of beaten gold; and from the extreme point of the roof of each of these petals a glorious golden form with a trumpet in its hand and widespread wings is figured in the very act of soaring into space. ”

“ Probably the architect’s taste and the Phigalians’ desire united to choose as the material of the temple the native rock that could be quarried in the neighbourhood. Marble was imported for the capitals of the inner pillars, for the ceilings of the north and south porticoes, for the roof tiles and for the sculptured frieze which now honours the British Museum. The columns of the peristyle and the architrave, barren of adornment, are singularly noble. They look as if they had sprung from the rocks about them and belonged more to the mountains overshadowing them than to men. ”