Ypres and the Battles of Ypres Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: YPRES. RUINS OF THE CLOTH HALL, SEEN FROM ST. MARTIN'S CATHEDRAL. FRAGMENTS OF THE LATTER ARE VISIBLE IN THE FOREGROUND]

=THE CLOTH HALL AND THE NIEUWERK=

The Cloth Hall, containing extensive warehouses, in which the sale of cloth was carried on, was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. It consisted of a series of buildings grouped around a rectangular court.

The Hall proper was distinguished from a building called the Nieuwerk, added in the 17th century. The southern building of the hall had a magnificent facade, flanked on the east by the gable of the Nieuwerk and surmounted by a large belfry in the centre. Bold turrets stood at both ends of this facade. Rather spare in ornament, the long succession of glazed and blind windows const.i.tuted the grandeur of the facade. On the ground-floor, which was lighted by a row of quatrefoil windows in pointed arches, there were forty-eight rectangular doors.

Above these doors were the high windows of the upper storey, the Hall having two floors. These windows were alternately glazed and blind--a method frequently adopted in the Middle Ages, to avoid weakness in the walls, without detracting from the symmetry of the exterior. This storey was reached by staircases, access to which was gained through doors at each end of the facade.

The glazed windows were decorated with three trefoils supported on two arches. The blind windows were similar to the windows of the ground-floor, except that the latter were less lofty. The two arches formed niches, each of which contained a statue: that of a Count of Flanders (the Counts and Countesses from Baudoin Bras-de-Fer to Charles Quint were represented) or of a notable citizen of Ypres, such as Melchior Broederlam, the painter. These statues, some of which were restored in the 19th century, rested on a corbel apparently supported by a small figure bearing the coat-of-arms of the sovereign represented.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YPRES. THE CLOTH HALL, NIEUWERK AND CATHEDRAL (in the background) _The 13th--14th Hall had a magnificent facade, surmounted by a high bell-tower_ (_photo, Antony, Ypres_).]

The upper portion of the walls was decorated with an ornamental frieze and a battlement bordered with fine moulding. The frieze was composed of a tricusped arcade with small columns carried on corbels with carved heads.

Behind the battlements ran a sentry-way, while at the ends of the facade turrets decorated with arcades and surmounted by octagonal spires, served as watch-towers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WINDOWS OF THE FIRST STORY OF THE CLOTH HALL _Every alternate window was blind, and was ornamented with statues of the Counts of Flanders or other notable persons of the city_ (_photo, Antony, Ypres_).]

The Belfry rose from the centre of the buildings, of which it was the oldest part, the foundation-stone having been laid by Baudoin =IX=., Count of Flanders, in 1201. Square in plan, it consisted of three stories. Its exterior, like that of the facade, was decorated with arches, and was lighted with windows ornamented with trefoils. It had two rows of battlements, four corner-turrets, and a timber-work roof surmounted by a campanile, above which rose a small spire. At the base of this campanile there were four copper eagles, dating from 1330. At the foot of the belfry a door, flanked by two pilasters, led to the inner court of the Hall. Over this door was a modern statue of Notre-Dame-de-Tuine, with the Lion of Flanders above.

The belfry served all the purposes of a Hotel-de-Ville (previous to the 14th century there were no Hotels-de-Ville properly so-called). It was there that the representatives of the guilds held their meetings, and that the charters of the guilds were kept in great coffers with manifold locks. There, also, the archives of the town were stored. The bottom storey was used as a prison. From the summit, unceasing watch was kept, to warn the citizens of danger, especially that of fire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YPRES. ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE FAcADE OF THE CLOTH HALL]

The roof of the Hall was pitched very high, in order the more easily to get rid of snow and rain water. It was gilded and emblazoned with the arms of the city and those of the County of Flanders. This roof, with its dormer windows, did not cover a stone vaulting, but a panelled ceiling. Inside the upper storey were large wainscotted galleries, which, in the 19th century, were divided by part.i.tions and adorned with mural decorations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTAL OF THE BELL-TOWER _The collapse of the facade which framed the tower (photo below) left the latter standing alone. The lower portion still exists, thanks to its ma.s.sive construction (photo, Antony, Ypres)._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PORTAL BEFORE THE WAR]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PAUWELS ROOM BEFORE THE WAR (_photo, Antony, Ypres_)]

=The Pauwels Room=

During the last century, the Hall was frequently restored and embellished. In 1876 the walls of the eastern half of the southern building were decorated with twelve mural paintings by Ferdinand Pauwels, representing the princ.i.p.al events in the history of Ypres, in the days of its prosperity (1187 to the siege by the people of Ghent in 1383). The artist displayed exquisite taste, especially in the fresco depicting the "Wedding of Mahaut de Bethune with Mathias de Lorraine."

The western half of the gallery was decorated by the artist Delbecke, with paintings depicting the life of a cloth merchant. Owing to the death of the artist, the last picture was never finished. This gallery was used as a banqueting hall. A number of statues by Puyenbroeck of Brussels, along the southern facade, had replaced the originals, badly damaged during the Revolution (1793).

The River Yperlee formerly flowed past the western facade and, until 1848, there was a flight of steps with a double bal.u.s.trade (17th century) to facilitate the transfer of merchandise from the boats to the warehouses.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PAUWELS ROOM IN DEC., 1914 (_photo, Antony, Ypres_)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JUNCTION OF THE CLOTH HALL WITH THE NIEUWERK (_photo, Antony, Ypres_)]

=The Nieuwerk=

The Nieuwerk did not detract from the imposing appearance of the southern facade, of which it formed the continuation. Renaissance in style, the plans are said to have been the work of J. Sporeman (about 1575). Building was begun early in the 17th century and finished in 1624.

The ground-floor formed an open hall, 20 feet in width, the vaulting of which was carried on slender cylindrical columns, joined by irregular arcades. The building comprises two stories, the first of which communicated with that of the Cloth Hall. The large high windows of the facades were very close together. The roof was pierced with high and very ornamental dormer-windows.

The Nieuwerk was restored about 1862. In the Chapelle Echevinale, frescoes by Guffens and J. Swerts, and stained-gla.s.s was renovated, and at the same time a fine fireplace was built by Malfait of Brussels. Old mural paintings, representing St. Mark and St. John, and a frieze, depicting the Counts of Flanders from 1322 to 1476, were discovered and restored. In the middle of the hall stood a small equestrian statue of John of Brabant (1252--1294) by A. Fiers.

This slightly-built Nieuwerk could not long withstand the bombardment.

The south gable, struck on November 21, 1914, collapsed, while on the following day the Cloth Hall burst into flames. A few weeks' later the Nieuwerk was completely destroyed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SHERIFF'S ROOM IN THE NIEUWERK, DECEMBER, 1914 _The collapse of the first floor left visible the remains of the decoration seen in the photo below (photo, Antony, Ypres)._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SHERIFF'S ROOM IN THE NIEUWERK, BEFORE THE WAR (_photo, Antony, Ypres_)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD HOUSES WHICH, BEFORE THE WAR, WERE THE PRIDE OF THE VANDENPEEREBOOM SQUARE (_photo, Antony, Ypres_)]

_Turn to the right in the Place Vandenpeereboom_, formerly an ornamental pond, now filled in.

Here used to stand a row of old houses with double facade, now completely destroyed. Here also, to the north of the Cloth Hall, stood the Cathedral of St. Martin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. MARTIN'S CATHEDRAL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. MARTIN'S CATHEDRAL AS IT WAS _In the background: the Cloth Hall. Compare with photo below (photo, Antony, Ypres)._]

=The Cathedral of St. Martin=

The Church of St. Martin (which became a cathedral in 1559) replaced an older church of the 11th century. Built in the 13th century, its choir dated from 1221, and its nave from the second half of that century. The foundation-stone was laid by Marguerite of Constantinople. The western tower dated only from the 15th century, and replaced a tower which had collapsed in 1433. The new tower was 175 feet in height, and was to have been twice as high. Built from the plans of Martin Untenhove of Malines, it was severe in style.

The plan of the Cathedral was a Latin cross, and terminated in a semicircular choir. It underwent important restorations during the last century.

The facade of the south arm of the transept was of unusually great width.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. MARTIN'S CATHEDRAL, AS THE GERMAN Sh.e.l.lS LEFT IT _In the background: The Cloth Hall._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTH TRANSEPT OF THE CATHEDRAL, BEFORE THE WAR (_photo, Antony, Ypres_)]

The central portal was surrounded by a polygonal rose-window and crowned with a high gable flanked by turrets. Above the side portals, the surface of which was decorated with arcading, were gables lighted by rose-windows. This part of the building was probably not earlier than the 14th century.

There were no radial chapels in this great church. A circulating gallery running through the b.u.t.tresses formed an uninterrupted pa.s.sage around the building.

At the base of the roof ran an open bal.u.s.trade, broken at intervals by the pinnacles which crowned the b.u.t.tresses.

Above the centre of the transept rose a campanile, surmounted by a very pointed timber-work spire.

The nave, and more especially the choir, were remarkable. High pillars with crocketed and foliate capitals supported the springing of the large irregular arches. Above ran a circulating gallery or triforium. The pointed arches of the latter were carried by small columns which originally rested on the wide _abaci_ of the capitals, but several of them had been cut away and replaced by statues of apostles, evangelists, or persons of note.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CATHEDRAL DOOR _Seen from the interior_ (_photo, Andre Schelker_).]