Through Portugal . and tacked on to it, by the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries. Its lovely Manuelinedoorway has been marred, and the east end ofthe building blocked as high as its upperwindows by the Cloister of the Philips. But notwithstanding all the vandalism, enoughof the Manueline building remains intact tostrike the beholder with reverent wonder atthe intricate beauty of the work, and the in-exhaustible invention of the design. The door-way stands in a recess reaching to the parapet,and enclosed within an arch of surprising beauty,of which the under curve is lined with anelaborate pen
Through Portugal . and tacked on to it, by the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries. Its lovely Manuelinedoorway has been marred, and the east end ofthe building blocked as high as its upperwindows by the Cloister of the Philips. But notwithstanding all the vandalism, enoughof the Manueline building remains intact tostrike the beholder with reverent wonder atthe intricate beauty of the work, and the in-exhaustible invention of the design. The door-way stands in a recess reaching to the parapet,and enclosed within an arch of surprising beauty,of which the under curve is lined with anelaborate pendent ornament. Within the recessfilling the whole space and over the door itself,figures in niches stand under canopies and uponpillars in which caprice and intricacy surpass them-selves. Coiled cables, bossed spirals, floreatedpinnacles, armillary spheres, crosses, and inter-twined branches, stand out in high relief andunder cut, as if the sculptors had purposely sought difficulties in order to overcome them. 148. The Choir and CHAiiiiK-IIoubE, Thomar, COIMBRA, THOMAR, AND LEIRIA The arch of the door itself is beyond descrip-tion, so luxuriant is the design of the chiselledstone which forms the three grooves and twospiral pilasters around it. The parapet of thewhole edifice is similarly rich, alternatingthe cross of the Order with the armillarysphere; and although most of the lower partof the walls is hidden, the view of the eastend with its two corner towers, as seen fromthe roof of the adjoining cloister, is lower window, which lights the interiorof the choir, is a massive tangle of outstandingcables; each point being crowned by the crossand the armillary sphere which formed thedevice of the grand master, the famous PrinceHenry the Navigator. Around one of thecorner towers a great chain cable, each linkcarved entire in stone, is braced, and aroundthe other an equally tremendous buckled belt,representing the Order of the Garter, whichthe Prince, a Plantagenet
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Keywords: ., bookauthorhumemartinandrewsharp, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
