Sayfadaki görseller
PDF
ePub

-peculiarity: they are placed obliquely, and contrary to the lines of the architecture; like the planks of a floor, placed diagonally, instead of parallel, to the walls which enclose them. But this strange peculiarity is soon explained. St. Sophia was not originally designed for a mosque, and consequently does not stand in the proper direction, relatively to Mecca.

"The chief cupola of St. Sophia, a little broken in its curve, is surrounded by several half-domes, like those of St. Mark. It is of immense height, and must have shone like a sun of gold and mosaic, before the Moslem coating of lime extinguished its splendours. But, such as it was, it produced upon me an impression even more startling than the dome of St. Peter. Despite its deteriorations of all sorts, St. Sophia still stands above all other Christian churches that I have seen; and I have seen many. Nothing can equal the majesty of its domes; the tribunes resting against its columns of jasper, of porphyry, and of verd-antique, with their strange Corinthian capitals; or the animals, the chimeras, and the crosses, enlaced among its sculptured foliage. The superb art of Greece, although degenerate, still makes itself felt.

"Some years since, St. Sophia was menaced with destruction. The walls began to bulge, fissures to appear in the domes, and the pavement to undulate; and the columns, fatigued, perhaps, with standing so long upright, leaned in all directions, like drunken men. Nothing was in line; the whole building leaned visibly on one side; and, despite the buttresses erected by Amurath, the church-mosque, worn by the lapse of centuries, and shaken by repeated earthquakes, appeared tottering to its fall.

"An exceedingly capable Tessinese architect, however, (Signor Fossati,) undertook the difficult task of rescuing this noble monument of antiquity from ruin; which he effected by under-pinning, portion by portion, with indefatigable caution and activity. Bands of brass were thrown about the riven pillars; supporters of iron propped the sinking arches; massive ground-works sustained the trembling walls; the crevices were filled up; the crumbling

stones replaced by those of fresher and stronger quality; masses of masonry, whose purpose was skilfully disguised under the garb of ornament, were made to bear the enormous weight of the cupola; and, at length, thanks to this elaborate and skilful restoration, St. Sophia could still promise itself many centuries of existence.

"During the progress of the works, Signor Fossati had the curiosity to exhume many of the primitive mosaics, from the bed of lime in which they were buried; and, before covering them again, he caused them to be carefully copied; a proceeding, the fruits of which, it is to be hoped, may be one day given to the world.

"From the height of the tribunes, (which are reached by gentle winding slopes, as in the Giralda or the Campanilla,) an admirable view of the mosque is obtained. At this moment, some faithful believers, kneeling upon the matting, are devoutly performing their prostrations; two or three females, wrapped in their feredgés, stand near one of the doors, and a porter, with his head supported on the base of a pillar, is sleeping with all his might. A soft and tender light falls from the elevated windows; and I can see, in the distant recess, opposite the pulpit, the sparkle of the golden gratings of the tribune reserved for the Sultan.

"A species of platform, supported by columns of finest marble, and ornamented with carved railings, rises at each point of intersection of the aisles. In the side-chapels (useless in the Mussulman ritual) are heaped trunks, boxes, and packages of all kinds; for, in the East, the mosques serve as storehouses, and those who are going away on a journey, or who fear being robbed at home, deposit their wealth under the immediate protection of Allah; and there has never been an instance of the loss of a farthing under such circumstances, for theft would need to combine itself with sacrilege. Heaps of dust accumulate upon masses of gold, or of precious objects, scarcely covered with wrappers of coarse cloth, or old leather; and the spider, so cherished among the Turks, for having thrown his web across the mouth of the cave in which the Prophet was concealed,

weaves his thread peacefully about the locks, which no one takes the trouble to use.

"Around the mosque are grouped hospitals, colleges, baths, and kitchens for the poor; for the whole of Moslem life gathers around the house of God. People without home sleep beneath the arches, where no police disturb them; for they are the guests of Allah. The faithful pray there; the females go there to dream away their time; and the sick are transported thither, to be cured or to die."

SEBASTOPOL.

[THE following short but clear description of Sebastopol and its neighbourhood by Captain Spencer,+ written just before the war, receives fresh interest from the light thrown on some parts of it by recent events.]

THE first view of Sebastopol, when seen from the sea, is most imposing. After the eye of the traveller has glanced over the capacious harbour, studded with vessels of war of all sizes, he sees a noble town, with its numerous churches, barracks, and other public buildings, rising up in the form of an amphitheatre, here crowning the heights, and there shelving down to the sea; where stately houses and vast magazines are seen mingling with the tall-masted ships lying at anchor in the various creeks and bays that branch off in every direction, all attesting the importance of the principal naval station in the Russian empire.

Sebastopol, like Odessa, was a miserable Tatar village little more than sixty years ago. About that time, a Frenchman, who happened to be travelling in the Crimea, was struck with the natural advantages of a position which he at once saw, if properly fortified, might be made one of the first naval stations in the world. On his return to

• "Constantinople of to-day." By Théophile Gautier. Bogue.

"Turkey, Russia, the Black Sea, and Circassia." By Captain Spencer. Routledge.

St. Petersburg, his observations to that effect happening to reach the ears of the Empress Catherine, engineers were despatched to the Crimea, whose report confirming that of the stranger, works were instantly commenced; but, whether through intention or neglect, the name of the Frenchman, the author of so valuable a suggestion, never transpired; and from that time this famous stronghold of the Russians in the Black Sea has continued to increase in strength and importance.

The principal harbour, called the Roads, stretching inland to a length of more than four miles, is so capacious, and the anchorage so good, that the fleets of nations might ride in it, safe from every wind; and such is the great depth of water, that a man-of-war of the largest size can lie within a cable's length of the shore. Besides this, there are five other small bays, branching off in various directions, equally commodious; and, singular enough, the great harbour, together with the small bays, are all lined by a continuation of capes, strong and easily defended, as if formed by the hand of nature expressly for a naval station.

The whole of this may be seen from the upper part of the town; and here the traveller will be able to estimate the difficulties and dangers that any hostile fleet must encounter which should attempt to break through a barrier so admirably defended by nature and art. Here, as his eye ranges from the Black Sea, he will behold a roadstead, or rather a river-like arm of the sea, unimpeded by either shoal or rock, penetrating inland to a length of at least six marine miles, protected by a series of forts capable of maintaining a cross fire on any enemy who should have the hardihood to attempt to fight his way into the interior. Communicating with this, he will likewise distinctly see its various bays and creeks, all perfectly sheltered from every wind, and, like the great roadstead itself, sufficiently deep to receive the largest man-of-war.

That called South Bay, lying on the foot of the hill on which he stands, is the most important: its length is upwards of half a mile, and it is completely sheltered by a range of limestone cliffs. Here vessels are rigged and

unrigged, and may lie as securely as if they were enclosed in a glass-case. Beyond this bay, and connected with it, is a snug creek, in which he may see immense works carried on for the purpose of forming a basin for the repairs of vessels of the line. He can also see Ships-Bay, CareeningBay, and Artillery-Bay, all possessing every advantage which nature and art could bestow on a maritime position: the latter, which bounds the town to the west, is only used for commercial purposes.

Each of the four large forts which protect the entrance consists of three tiers of batteries, each fort mounting three hundred pieces of artillery. Besides these, there

were other plans of the most colossal description of defence, ready to be carried into execution, at every angle where a gun could be placed that might play advantageously on an enemy's fleet.

The fortifications of Sebastopol have been much criticised: it is said that a hostile squadron would soon silence the forts, with their tiers of guns; because, being built in a position too high above the sea, their guns, if pointed horizontally, could at best only injure the rigging of a ship. The interior arrangements of the forts are also objected to, on account of the contracted dimensions of the rooms in which the guns are worked, and the insufficient ventilation, which, after a few discharges, would render it extremely irksome for an artilleryman to do his duty. Again, the imprudence of the Government is blamed for employing a species of soft limestone in the masonry of a three-story battery mounting three hundred guns, which, it is contended, would be shaken to pieces after a few discharges of artillery. Above all, much stress is laid on the fact that Sebastopol labours under the great disadvantage of being utterly defenceless on the land side, and therefore might be taken by any enemy who should land a few thousand men on the coast of the Chersonesus, and at the same time make an attack by sea.

We must not, however, give implicit credence to the statements and opinions of those travellers who assert that Sebastopol may be so easily captured. Many of the

« ÖncekiDevam »