FORUMROMANUM, ROME, ITALY. The ancient Forum of Rome exists only in ruins. That it lay at the foot of the Capitoline and Palatine Hills in Rome is certain from the remnants that survive. But the exact area it occupied and the true situation of the various buildings which once covered it are matters of dispute and uncertainty. Conspicuous among the ruins are three beautiful Corinthian columns of white marble belonging to the temple raised to Vespasian by Domitian; eight granite columns belonging to the Temple of Saturn, a beautiful fragment, consisting of three Corinthian columns with a rich entablature, a solitary column which Byron calls,
The nameless column with a buried base,
but whose now excavated base reveals that it was erected to the Emperor Phocas, the arches of Septimus Severus and of Titus, and a profusion of columns, pavements, foundations and walls of other structures.
BAYOF NAPLES AND MOUNT VESUVIUS, ITALY. Naples, in itself one of the least interesting of Italian cities, attracts the attention of the tourist by its transcendent beauty of situation and by the historical and picturesque interest of its surroundings. The Bay of Naples is the most glorious spot in the Mediterranean. Its circuit is more than fifty-two miles, including the islands of Ischia, at the north-west, and of Capri, at the south entrance. At its opening, between these two islands, it is fourteen miles broad, and from the opening to its head, at Portici, the distance is fifteen miles. On the north-east shore, east of Naples, is an extensive flat, whence rises Vesuvius, the most famous of European volcanoes, at the base of which are several villages and the classic sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The Italian proverb, “See Naples and die,” is a tribute to the beauty of the city and its environment.
POMPEII,ITALY. The volcanic eruption which overwhelmed Pompeii on August 24th, A. D. 79, has afforded us our most important, indeed, almost our only source of acquaintance with the domestic life of the ancient Romans. To be sure it represents one definite epoch of antiquity only, that of the glories of the early empire when Pompeii became the favorite retreat of Romans of the wealthier classes. But the study of the various phases of life at this epoch forms a pursuit of inexhaustible interest. The ashes from Vesuvius completely covered over the town to the depth of about twenty feet until the year 1748, when the accidental discovery of some statues led to the excavations. They have been continued up to the present time, and will not be completed for half a century more.
ACROPOLIS,ATHENS, GREECE. This famous building, at once the citadel, the sanctuary, the treasury and the museum of art of the ancient Athenian people, crowns the summit of the rocky height which abruptly rises three hundred and fifty feet out of the plain in the midst of the city, inaccessible on all save the western side. The walls, built on the edge of the perpendicular rock, form a circuit of nearly seven thousand feet. These are of immense antiquity. They were founded by the Pelagians, and the work was continued by Themistocles, Cymon, Valerian, and later, by the Venetians and the Turks. Here are the remains of three temples, the Temple of Victory, the Erechtheum and the Parthenon, the latter the architectural glory of Athens, the only octastyle Doric temple in Greece, and in its own class the most beautiful building in the world. It was built in the time of Pericles, and was once adorned with masterpieces of sculpture of which it was long ago plundered.
THEBOSPHORUS, FROM CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY. No city in the world occupies a more magnificent natural position than the capital of Turkey. It is made up of three cities, each distinct and different from the others. Stamboul, the old city, lies upon a tongue of land of triangular shape, having the sea of Marmora on the south, the Bosphorus on its eastern apex and the Golden Horn on the north. Its seven hills are crowned with domes and minarets and fantastic houses, backed by the dark foliage of the cypress and other trees in the cemeteries beyond the walls. To the north is the European quarter, Galata being the business centre, while Pera is studded all over with the splendid residences of the foreign ambassadors, &c., and lined along its shores with the palaces and gardens of the Sultan and the adjoining mosques. Skutari, the Asiatic quarter of Constantinople, is on the eastern side of the Bosphorus. Nowhere else is there a picture so bright, so varied in outline, so gorgeous in color, so heterogeneous in its component parts.
THEMOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY. This is the principal place of Mahommedan worship in the world. Anciently a Christian temple, built in 532 by Justinian, it was converted into a Moslem mosque in 1453 by Mohammed II, the conqueror of Constantinople. The building is in the form of a Greek cross, two hundred and seventy feet long by two hundred and forty-three wide, surmounted by a flattened dome one hundred and eighty feet high, with several smaller domes and minarets. The style of architecture is Byzantine. The exterior is not as imposing as the interior, which even now is rivaled by few Christian churches, and at the time of its erection made this masterpiece of Byzantine architecture the greatest temple in the world. Well may Justinian have exclaimed: “I have surpassed thee, O Solomon!” The changes made by the Moslems are greater inside than out. In the interior the mosaics have been partially covered up and replaced by inscriptions from the Koran, but there is no structural change. Outside most of the older annexes have been swept away and replaced by Turkish buildings, lofty minarets rise at each corner, and the crescent replaces the cross on the dome.
THESPHINX, EGYPT. This unique monument, situated near Cairo, in the neighborhood of the Pyramids, is one of the most characteristic and probably the oldest of Egyptian remains. As such it is the oldest monument in the world. Recent researches show that it is more ancient than even the Pyramid of Cheops. Originally it was a recumbent figure, representing an andro-sphinx, or man-headed lion, one hundred and eighty-eight feet nine and one-half inches in length, hewn out of the solid rock. Steps led down to its front, where there was a sanctuary and tablets. But the sands covered all save the head, shoulders and back, which rose from the surrounding desert with a startling and almost fearsome abruptness. In this condition the monument was allowed to remain for centuries. But more recently excavations have been started to restore it to its pristine state, and before long the entire colossal figure will be bared to view.
PYRAMIDSOF GIZEH, EGYPT. Gizeh is about twelve miles from Cairo. It contains the largest and most famous of those mysterious sepulchral monuments known as Pyramids, which the ancient Egyptians were fond of raising. Three of these are especially famous—the Great Pyramid called the “Splendid,” which is the mausoleum of Cheops, and is four hundred and fifty feet nine inches high; the scarcely inferior Pyramid of Chepheren, and the Pyramid of Mycerinus, which is much smaller. These mountains of masonry, built of stones whose huge size perplexes modern engineers to account for the method of their handling, were designed by the kings of the early Egyptian dynasties as their tombs. Their leading idea was durability, and by concealment of the entrance, and tortuous and complicated passages, they strove to baffle the vandal. Yet all these tombs have been shamefully profaned.
RUINSOF KARNAK, EGYPT. Most guide-books advise the traveller in Egypt to leave Karnak to the last, as the crown of his explorations. It is, indeed, the most marvelous ruin along the Nile. Yet, though in ruins, it preserves all its original character. It lies amid the ruins of Thebes. It was intended for a temple. But it is not so much a temple as a city of temples, of palaces, courts, columns and obelisks enclosed by a great wall of circuit about a mile and a half in circumference. The Great Hall alone, which is the largest of all the monuments, measures three hundred and forty feet by one hundred and seventy. The Temple of Amenophis, here represented, is one of the finest of the smaller remains.
CHURCHOF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, JERUSALEM. This church, situated on a hill called Acra, purports to be built over the site of Calvary and the actual tomb of Jesus. Not only that tomb itself, but the tombs of Joseph and Nicodemus, the places where the Saviour appeared after His resurrection to Mary Magdalene and to Mary, His mother; where Constantine’s mother found the true cross, &c., &c., are pointed out to visitors. Not everybody accepts the genuineness of the site. But, at least, it was for the reconquest of the Holy Sepulchre that the Crusades were instituted, and for fifteen hundred years kings and queens, knights and pilgrims have knelt and prayed here. The church is a Byzantine structure, which was commenced in 1103 A. D., was partly destroyed by fire in 1808, and has since been restored. Some parts of it, however, are said to date back to the Empress Helena.
GARDENOF GETHSEMANE, JERUSALEM. No spot in the whole world could have more interest for the Christian traveler than the Garden of Gethsemane, the scene of our Lord’s agony on the eve of His crucifixion. It is known that it was a garden or orchard belonging to a small estate at the foot of Mount Olivet, somewhere on the east slope of the Kedron Valley and about half a mile from Jerusalem. But whether the present enclosure which is pointed out as the identical garden be so or not is a matter which archæologists have not yet settled. Certainly, the garden is very old and very venerable; its few olive trees date back to an unknown antiquity, and it may very well have been extant in almost its present condition in the time of Christ.
RUINSOF BAALBEK, SYRIA. Baalbek,—the city of Baal or the Sun, the Heliopolis of the Greeks, once famous as the most magnificent of Syrian cities, which passed successively under the rule of the Persians, Greeks and Romans, was plundered by the Arabs in A. D. 639, by the Christians and others during the Crusades, and was finally sacked and dismantled by the Tartars, under Tamerlane.—Baalbek to-day exists only as a mass of ruins; but its very ruins are of the utmost magnificence. The most imposing are the remains of the Great Temple. But the most beautiful is the Circular Temple—a semi-circular cella surrounded on the outside by eight Corinthian columns. Within there is a double tier of smaller pillars, the lower row being Ionic and the upper Corinthian. In modern times, and, indeed, up to the present century, this was used as a Greek church, but it is now deserted and choked with débris.
TAJMAHAL, AGRA, HINDOSTAN. This magnificent mausoleum is the glory of Indo-Mussulman architecture. It was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan for himself and his favorite wife, Nourmahal, who died in child-birth in 1629. 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. It seems almost like a castle built in a dream, a fabric of mist and sunbeams, which would dissolve at a touch. Yet it has resisted the encroachments of time and the barbarian despoiler, and has come down to our day almost perfect.
PEARLMOSQUE, AGRA, HINDOSTAN. The very name of the building is a tribute to its beauty. It is undoubtedly the most elegant mosque of Indian-Mahometan architecture. Although it gives the general impression of lightness, grace, delicacy, it is by no means a small building. Externally it is two hundred and thirty-five feet east and west by one hundred and ninety feet north and south. The court yard is one hundred and fifty-five feet square. The mass is also considerable, as the whole is raised on a terrace of artificial construction, by the aid of which it stands well out from the surrounding buildings. Its chief beauty consists in its court yard, which is wholly of white marble from the pavement to the summit of its domes. The interior is a bewildering maze of columns of exquisite proportions.
ELCAPITAN, YOSEMITE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. The Yosemite Valley is one of the most marvelous natural parks in the world. About nine miles in length and from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a quarter in width, it is sunk almost a mile below the level of the surrounding country. High granite walls rise sheer and inaccessible on each side. Cataracts of the wildest and strangest beauty abound. Flowers of every hue cover the ground. Where all is wonderful it might seem hard to select. Yet by common consent the surpassing feature of the valley scenery is the great cliff, known as El Capitan or The Captain. “It is doubtful,” says Professor J. D. Whitney, “if anywhere in the world there is presented so squarely cut, so lofty and so imposing a face of rock.” Not indeed that it is the highest of the gigantic brotherhood. Its three thousand three hundred feet are exceeded in its own vicinity by over thousands of feet. But no other rock, here or elsewhere, has so majestic and awe-compelling a presence.
BIGTREES, CALIFORNIA. Rigid scientists call these treesSequoia gigantea. In England they are sometimes known as Wellingtonia, in America as Washingtonia. But the pride of science and of patriotism have had to bow to the will of the populace, which has been satisfied with the simpler and therefore more energetic title of Big Trees. They are confined to the western portion of the California range, occurring in detached groups or groves at an altitude of from four thousand to five thousand feet above the sea. Some of these vast vegetable columns are upwards of thirty feet in diameter, and from three to four hundred feet in height. One of the trees in the Mariposa Grove, represented in the accompanying engraving—some twenty-five feet in diameter—stands directly arching the roadway, and a miniature tunnel has been cut through it which admits of the passage of a four-horse stage coach.
GEYSERS,YELLOWSTONE PARK, WYOMING. The Geyser region in the Yellowstone occupies some thirty square miles. Within this comparatively limited area is a most stupendous exhibition of hot springs, water geysers, mud geysers and steaming caldrons of boiling water. No two of the geysers are alike. The Grotto simply churns and makes a great noise. The others go off at various intervals; some every hour, some all the time and some once a month; some on alternate days, yet the day they are active going over ninety minutes. Nor is their style of action the same. Some play with labored pumping, others throw an unbroken stream; some wear themselves out in a continuous effort, others subside only to recommence again repeatedly. An eruption may extend from two to twenty minutes, the approximate time occupied by the Grand, or even to one hour and twenty minutes, a period that the Giant has been timed to play. The Grand is the largest geyser in the world, shooting a vast column of water over two hundred feet into the air.
GRANDCANON, YELLOWSTONE PARK. The Yellowstone Park is one of the great natural marvels of the world. Within a compass of one hundred square miles there are here gathered the loveliest valleys, the grandest canons, the most marvelous mountains, lakes, rivers, springs and cascades. In addition there are all sorts of natural phenomena: Sulphur mountains, a mud volcano, petrified forests and over ten thousand active geysers, hot springs, salfataras and boiling pools. Greatest of all the sights is the Grand Canon, a ravine varying in depth from one thousand to two thousand feet. The shelving sides of precipitous crags slope down, presenting an endless variety of form and color, until they meet at the bed of the Yellowstone River, which flings itself impetuously along to meet the lake. “A great gulch let down into the eternities,” such is the opinion of De Witt Talmage on this miracle of nature.
CLIFF-DWELLINGS,NEW MEXICO. Cliff-dwellers is the name given to more or less savage people in the past who inhabited dwellings built on projections from the face of cliffs, or cut out of the solid rock. Sometimes the houses are four stories high, and divided into many rooms. Often they are not to be distinguished from the rest of the cliff. Such dwellings are found in various parts of the world, but nowhere are they so abundant and so interesting as in Arizona, New Mexico and California. It is generally supposed that the American cliff-dwellers were the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians. In some respects the cliff-dweller appears to have been better off than his modern descendants; the canon walls sheltered him from cyclones and the overhanging shelves of rock protected him from attack from above. A series of cliff villages, lining the walls of Walnut Canon, in Northeastern Arizona, for a length of five miles, was discovered in 1884.
MASONICTEMPLE, CHICAGO. For a long time it was held that Philadelphia had the finest Masonic Temple in the world. Now that honor belongs to Chicago. But it has only belonged to it since 1890, when the gorgeous new building was begun at the corner of State and Randolph Streets. The site measures one hundred and seventy feet on State Street and by one hundred and fourteen on Randolph. Every inch of this space is covered by the building, whose twenty stories tower up to the height of two hundred and sixty-five feet. It rests on cement and iron foundations, and its superstructure is of steel. The first three stories are faced with red granite from Wisconsin, the remainder with gray brick that is indistinguishable from the granite. An immense granite arch in the centre of the State Street front forms the entrance, and opens into an interior court, faced from bottom to top with different colored marble. The first eleven stories are fitted up for shops, from the eleventh to the sixteenth inclusive are business offices, while above the sixteenth floor everything is devoted to Masonry.
NIAGARAFALLS. The most stupendous cataract in the world is that formed in the Niagara River, four miles below Grand Island. Here the current begins to grow narrow and develops into rapids, which continue for about a mile, with a descent of fifty-two feet, until the river plunges over a mighty chasm. Goat Island, at the very verge of the cataract, divides it into two sheets of water—the Horse-shoe, or Canadian fall, with a descent of one hundred and fifty-eight feet, and a width of about twenty-six hundred and forty; and the American fall, one hundred and sixty-two to one hundred and sixty-nine feet deep, and about one thousand wide. The volume of water thus precipitated is about fifteen million cubic feet a minute. Nearly nine-tenths of this passes over the Canadian fall. For some distance below the Falls there is still water, the mass which has hurled itself into the abyss sinking and only reappearing two miles below, where the whirlpool rapids begin.
THETHOUSAND ISLANDS, CANADA. This, the largest group of river islands in the world, lies in an expansion of the River St. Lawrence at its emergence from Lake Ontario. New York State is on one side and the Province of Ontario, Canada, on the other. The name is not an exaggeration. On the contrary, the group consists of about fifteen hundred rocky islands, remarkable for their great and varied beauty. They are of all shapes and sizes, some just peeping above the surface of the waters, others extending several miles in length, some wild and bare and rocky, others covered with the most luxuriant foliage. Hence, a trip through the St. Lawrence River at this point is full of the most bewildering yet enchanting surprises.
VICTORIABRIDGE, MONTREAL, CANADA. Montreal is situated on the south side of the island of the same name, at the confluence of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence Rivers. To connect it with the mainland the Victoria Bridge was thrown across the St. Lawrence. Work was begun in 1854. In 1860 the bridge was formally opened by the Prince of Wales during his tour through Canada and the United States. This is one of the greatest triumphs of engineering and architectural skill. The total length is nearly two miles, or, to be exact, nine thousand one hundred and ninety-four feet. It rests upon twenty-four piers and two abutments of solid masonry. The central span is three hundred and thirty feet long.
THECAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. A stately and magnificent building devoted to both branches of Congress—the Senate and the House of Representatives—as well as to the United States Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. It stands upon an eminence commanding a beautiful view of the city, and itself forms the most impressive feature in the landscape. The centre building of freestone is flanked by two wings, mainly of marble, and crowned by an iron dome, painted white. From the ground to the top of the nineteen-foot Statue of Liberty, which surmounts the dome, is three hundred and seven and a half feet; the diameter of the dome is one hundred and thirty-five and a half feet. Thus only four domes in Europe can surpass it: St. Peter’s at Rome, St. Paul’s in London, St. Isaac’s in St. Petersburg, and the Invalides in Paris. The building covers an area of about three and a half acres. Its total cost has been over $13,000,000. The corner-stone was laid by Washington in 1792. The marble extensions were begun in 1851.
THEWHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C. As the official residence of the President of the United States, this mansion has a unique interest. It is not in itself, however, a pretentious or imposing structure. Yet it has some elegance in its very democratic simplicity. Built of freestone, like the original Capitol, and painted white like that, its color has given it its name. The model which the architect had in view was the Palace of the Duke of Leinster in London, and he has followed his prototype very closely. The corner-stone was laid in 1792; the building was first occupied by President John Adams in 1800; it was burned by the British in 1814, and restored and re-occupied in 1818. Since that time there have been staccato clamors for a more magnificent entourage for the chief executive officer of the United States, but nothing further has been accomplished.
INDEPENDENCEHALL, PHILADELPHIA. This plain, but substantial brick building, which stands on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, is ever memorable as the birthplace of the American republic. Here the General Assembly of Pennsylvania gave way to the Continental Congress. Here George Washington was elected commander of the American forces (June, 1775). And here, on July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress. Four days later it was read from before the building to an excited and exultant multitude. The halls have been restored as far as possible to their original condition; the east room, where the Declaration was signed, is ornamented with portraits of the signers and the west room is a museum of revolutionary and other relics. The famous Liberty Bell, which was rung as a signal to the people that the Declaration had been adopted, is now suspended under the tower in full view of the public. The building dates from 1729–34.
THEEAST RIVER BRIDGE, between New York City and Brooklyn, more familiarly known as the Brooklyn Bridge, is a massive suspension bridge, the largest in the world, which connects New York with Brooklyn. Its colossal towers and ponderous cables loom up conspicuously before the stranger who approaches New York from the riverside. Begun in 1870, it was opened for traffic May 24th, 1883, at a total cost of $15,000,000. The whole length of the bridge is five thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine feet. From high water mark to the floor of the bridge is one hundred and thirty-five feet. The central span (itself measuring one thousand five hundred and ninety-five and a half feet) is suspended to four cables of steel wire, each fifteen and three-quarter inches in diameter. The width of the structure is eighty-five feet, which includes a promenade for foot passengers, two roadways for vehicles, and two railway tracks on which run passenger cars propelled by a stationary engine from the Brooklyn side.