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226
RIBE.
Chap. XLVI.
terior has been lately restored, and is very interesting
from the uniformity of its style, the earliest round-arch
period. The cathedral consists of nave and double aisles,
the outer one of a later date. Under the clerestory
window runs a fine Norman arcade of triple arches,
surmounted by the shark-tooth ornament. We mounted
to inspect them, and found large spacious loggie, with
vaulted roof. The columns which support the nave are
square. Then comes the choir, to which you ascend by
four steps, with lofty dome, separated from the transepts
by the light carved stalls, and then by three steps more
you reach the round apse, which terminates the building.
Here is placed an altar with gilded cross and candelabra
tripod—taste of the Empire, merging into the classic
of Christian VIII.’s time under Thorvaldsen’s reign.
They should all be sent to the right about, being highly
out of character with the building they are destined
to adorn. The contrast between the dark granite and
the white walls is good, but the apse spoils the whole
effect of the building by its poverty and glaring
whiteness. The church, however, viewed from the right of
the altar, is very effective, and may rank high among
the cathedrals of the north, an architecture apart from
that of England, France, and Germany. The art of
ancient glazing is entirely lost in Denmark, and the
windows of their fine ecclesiastical as well as of their
domestic buildings are entirely spoiled by the modern
square panes of glass, arranged without any attention
to the date of the edifice.
The cathedral church of Ribe is built on the highest
ground of the city, called the Liliebierg. This eminence
did not, however, preserve it from the effects of the
great inundation of 200 years since, when the water
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