ures. The plan of
Cologne Cathedral (Fig. 46) is one of the most regular and symmetrical
which has come down to us from the middle ages. The works were carried
on slowly after the choir was consecrated, but without any deviation
from the original plan, though some alteration in style and details
crept in. In our own day the works have been resumed and vigorously
pushed on towards completion; and, the original drawings having been
preserved, the two western towers, the front, and other portions have
been carried on in accordance with them. Cologne, accordingly,
presents the almost unique spectacle of a great Gothic church, erected
without deviation from its original plan, and completed in the style
in which it was begun. It is fair to add that though splendid in the
extreme, this cathedral has far less charm, and less of that peculiar
quality of mystery and vitality than many, we might say most, of the
great cathedrals of Europe.

The plan consists of a nave of eight bays, two of which form a kind of
vestibule, and five avenues, _i.e._ two aisles on each side; transepts
of four bays each, with single aisles; and a choir of four bays and an
apse, the double aisle of the nave being continued and carried down
the choir. That part of the outer aisle which sweeps round the apse
has been formed into a series of seven polygonal chapels, thus gaining
a complete _chevet_.[24] Over the crossing there is a comparatively
slender spire, and at the west end stand two massive towers terminated
by a pair of lofty and elaborate spires, of open tracery, and enriched
by crockets, finials, and much ornamentation. The cathedral is built
of stone, without much variation in colour; it is vaulted throughout,
and a forest of flying buttresses surrounds it on all sides. The
beauty of the tracery, the magnificent boldness of the scale of the
whole building, and its orderly regularity, are very imposing, and
give it a high rank among the greatest works of European architecture;
but it is almost too majestic to be lovely, and somewhat cold and
uninteresting from its uniform colour, and perhaps from its great
regularity.

Strasburg Cathedral--not so large as Cologne--has been built at
various times; the nave and west front are the work of the best Gothic
period. This building has a nave and single aisles, short transepts,
and a short apsidal choir. There is great richness in much of the
work; double tracery, _i.e._ a second layer, so to speak, of t