Milan Il Duomo: as seen by Mark Twain
Mark Twain,
a great fan of the Duomo, can take over the description (from
Innocents Abroad) from here:
What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so
delicate
, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems
...a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!...
The central one of its
five great doors
is bordered with a bas-relief of birds and fruits and beasts and
insects, which have been so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they
seem like living creatures-- and the figures are so numerous and the design
so complex, that one might study it a week without exhausting its
interest...everywhere that a niche or a perch can be found about the
enormous building, from summit to base, there is a
marble statue
, and every statue is a study in itself...
Away above, on the lofty roof, rank on rank of carved and fretted
spires
spring high in the air, and through their rich tracery one sees the sky
beyond. ...(Up on) the roof...springing from its broad marble flagstones,
were the long files of spires, looking very tall close at hand, but
diminishing in the distance...We could see, now, that the statue on the top
of each was the size of a large man, though they all looked like dolls from
the street...
They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at
Rome.
I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands.
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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