UP AMONG THE SPIRES OF MILAN CATHEDRAL
The roof of Milan
Cathedral is a marvel in itself. It is like a gigantic flower garden,
blossoming with sculptural spires. There are 135 spires adorned with 2,300
marble statues. Visitors in Milan often clime up here to the roof to study the
almost unbelievable elaboration of the sculptures. High up here in the air are
decorative figures almost beyond count, grotesque gargoyles and the statues of
saints and angels. There is a magnificent cupola surmounted by a tall spire.
This spire holds a statue of the Virgin 355 feet above the street level. When
we study in detail the sculptural work of the roof, how each spire is carved
with the same patient perfection as if it were to be part of a little church
altar instead of but one in many away up here 150 feet above the heads of
passers-by, we do not wonder that it took so long to complete the cathedral.
More than five hundred years it was it the building. When Napoleon’s troops
took possession of Milan in 1806, the building was still far from completion.
He pushed the work along, securing funds by the sale of estates that had
belonged to certain rich Italian monasteries.
Milan Cathedral
is a paean of praise, a prayer wrought by workmen’s hands. It was a consecration
of labor to worship and every form of beauty which the workers could create has
been offered here in the solitude of open sky to the God of heaven and earth.
The mystics of the Middle Ages found in such structures an artistic outlet for
their vague but potent feelings of infinity. Their yearning toward a deity
invisible became localized in these holy things and places.
Copyright by Keystone View Company
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