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THE  CATHEDRAL,  ANTWERP.

The  Church  of  Notre  Dame,  or  the  Cathedral,  is  a  most  admirable  piece  of
architecture,  far  surpassing  any  similar  edifice  in  the  Netherlands.  The  foundation
of  the  choir  was  laid  in  the  year  1124,  at  which  time  the  church  itself  was  also
built,  and  dedicated  by  Burchard,  Bishop  of  Cambray,  as  recorded  in  the  following
Latin  verses—
Undecies  centum  ductis,  et  sex  quater  annis
Virginis  a  partu  conciliante  reum,
Burchardus  Preesul  hac  atria  nec  minus  aram
Sacravit,  medium,  quod  tenet  Ecclesia.
The  total  length  of  the  edifice  is  500  feet;  its  breadth  240.  It  is  said  that  it  was
one  hundred  years  building.  Only  one  of  the  towers  however  was  completed,  but
this  is  of  unrivalled  beauty.  Its  height  is  differently  stated  at  420  and  470  feet.
From  the  gallery,  near  the  summit,  there  is  a  most  splendid  prospect  of  the  surrounding ­
  country,  embracing  the  city,  with  its  highly  cultivated  environs,  and
extending  to  Malines,  Brussels,  Louvain,  and  Ghent  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the
other  to  the  sea  and  the  islands  of  Zealand.  The  late  siege  of  the  Citadel,  has
doubtless  impaired  the  beauty  of  the  nearer  part  of  the  prospect,  the  noble  avenues
of  trees  having  been  for  the  most  cut  down,  the  gardens  desolated,  and  the  fortress
converted  into  a  heap  of  ruins.
There  were  formerly  sixty-eight  bells,  some  of  them  of  extraordinary  size.
The  Cathedral  contained  sixty-six  chapels,  enriched  with  marble  columns,  all
different,  and  adorned  with  beautiful  paintings.  Great  and  irreparable  damage  was
done  to  this  magnificent  edifice  by  a  dreadful  fire  in  1533,  which  destroyed  the
fifty-seven  altars,  consumed  the  whole  of  the  roof,  and  calcined  many  of  the  marble
columns.  The  tower,  which  was  already  in  flames,  was  saved  by  the  heroic  exertions ­
  of  the  Burgomaster,  Lancelot  Ursel,  who,  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  and
encouraging  the  people  by  his  promises  and  example,  happily  rescued  this  noble
edifice  from  destruction.  It  was  subsequently  pillaged  and  devastated  during  the
civil  and  religious  wars.  It  still  possesses  some  fine  paintings,  among  which  is  the
celebrated  altar-piece  by  Rubens,  restored  to  its  original  place  by  the  intervention
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  During  the  late  unexpected ­
  bombardment  the  Cathedral  was  not  injured;  and  when  it  was  apprehended,
that  the  siege  of  the  Citadel  by  the  French  might  cause  the  bombardment  to  be
repeated,  the  magistrates  took  all  possible  precautions  to  secure  the  master-piece
of  their  illustrious  countryman.  Happily  the  efficacy  of  these  precautions  was  not
put  to  the  proof.  The  Church  of  Notre  Dame,  formerly  collegiate,  in  the  diocese
of  Cambray,  was  erected  into  a  Cathedral,  by  Pope  Paul  IV.  in  1559.