EXPOSITION, PARIS. 



297 



don, the most imposing and agreeable structure 

 of the kind, in iron and glass, yet made. The 

 farthest dome of the main building was 1,400 

 metres, or mile, from the central gallery 

 of the Trocadero. In both of the palaces and 

 in the gardens the effects of distance and of 

 height were very successfully preserved. 



The palace of the Trocadero was built of solid 

 stone, and is intended to remain a permanent 

 monument. It is a grand amphitheatre, sur- 

 mounted by a dome, whose summit is adorned 

 with a gigantic winged statue representing the 

 genius of fame. The dome is flanked by two 

 towering minarets, springing from huge tow- 

 ers, nearly as high as the amphitheatre ; beyond 

 these are lower wings, with dome-shaped roofs 

 which connect with the long range of galleries 

 which extend around the whole hill in the form 

 of a horseshoe. Within these galleries, opening 

 upon the park of the Trocadero, is a cloistered 

 gallery or colonnade. The Trocadero is a steep 

 hill, commanding a fine view of the city, which 

 was ascended by a broad stairway. The foun- 

 dations of the palace are about 100 feet above 

 the river. The roadway of the bridge of Jena, 

 connecting the Trocadero with the Champ de 

 Mars, was not broad enough for the purposes 

 of the exhibition ; so a new flooring, project- 

 ing 12 or 13 feet on each side, was carried over 

 on iron joists raised high enough to meet the 

 made ground on either bank. The old floor 

 served as a bed for the water-mains required 

 for the fountains and buildings on the Champ 

 de Mars. The old steps have been removed, 

 and the site of the Trocadero has been turned 

 into a garden, with drives, footpaths, lawns, 

 shrubberies, and fountains. The palace of the 

 Trocadero stands in the middle of the vast semi- 

 circular gallery. At the back is a solid wall. 

 In front a colonnade of pillars, connected by a 

 balustrade, supports the roof of Spanish tilings. 

 Behind and rising above this ambulatory are 

 picture galleries, which contained the retro- 

 spective or historical collection of art. The 

 wall and balusters of the long colonnade are of 

 a red color. This colonnade rests on substruc- 

 tures, and looks down on the park ; at the ex- 

 tremities are square towers or pavilions. The 

 outer portions of this gallery, projecting far 

 beyond the declivity of the hill, are supported 

 by high walls of strong masonry. The semi- 

 circular colonnade is about 1,200 feet in diam- 

 eter. A portico, supporting colossal statues 

 representing the different races of mankind, 

 extends into the semicircle from the center of 

 the arc. It covers a grotto, from which a large 

 stream of water issued and fell over a high 

 arch in a broad cascade. The water was then 

 carried through a successive series of broad ba- 

 sins, one above another, with bronze fountains 

 at their sides. The palace, standing at the mid- 

 dle point in the great gallery, is semicircular 

 in form and contains a great amphitheatre 

 called the Salle des Fetes, with galleries around 

 it, constructed on the most perfect acoustic prin- 

 ciples. In this hall, which has a capacity for 



an audience of 8,000 to 10,000, concerts were 

 given during the exhibition, and here the dis- 

 tribution of prizes and all the other ceremonies 

 took place. The hall is lighted by large win- 

 dows filled with tracery. Between the win- 

 dows are square towers, looking like battle- 

 ments. On each side of the dome are the square 

 towers or minarets over 300 feet high, capped 

 with machicolated battlements, and covered 

 with canopies ; these towers are ascended by 

 means of elevators. At the sides of the thea- 

 tre are square halls which give access to the 

 picture galleries, above and behind the semi- 

 circular colonnade. The architecture of theTro- 

 cadero palace has been much criticised. The 

 design was by MM. Davioud and Bordais. The 

 style is called an adaptation of the Oriental, but 

 contains characteristics of the. Italian, Moor- 

 ish, Florentine, and Transition styles. The ar- 

 chitectural design is very bold and original, 

 successful in its ememlle, but dubious in its 

 details, and, as a contribution of a new style of 

 architecture, scarcely worthy of repetition. 



The whole space of the buildings and grounds 

 was divided, by a line running through the cen- 

 ter of both palaces and across the gardens in 

 the line of the Pont de Jena from northwest to 

 southeast, into two halves, one of which, that 

 toward Paris, or on the northeast, was occu- 

 pied by the exhibits of France and her colo- 

 nies, and the opposite half by those of foreign 

 nations. This arrangement was only broken 

 along the center of the main building, where 

 the fine-art galleries of the different nations 

 were ranged in succession for the entire length 

 of half a mile, except the space in the central 

 point of the palace where stood the pavilion 

 of the city of Paris. The art galleries were 80 

 feet wide, with small wings projecting farther; 

 they were without ornamentation or architec- 

 tural pretensions, except in the two covered 

 porticoes, called loggie, which faced the pavilion 

 of the city of Paris. In one of these was a 

 huge landscape, 36 feet in height, on painted 

 tiles, from the Deck factory, which was de- 

 signed by the architect Jaeger ; in niches, 

 which like the arched doorways interrupted 

 the picture, were life-sized allegorical figures, 

 also in faience, by the same artist. The cor- 

 responding loggia at the end of the other row 

 of galleries contained the much-admired Porte 

 des beaux-arts, designed by Paul Sedille, and 

 executed in ceramic material by Loebnitz, of 

 Paris ; this was a doorway of dusky red terra 

 cotta, covered with reliefs, some of which were 

 gilded, and inclosing a band of enameled tiling, 

 2 feet 4 inches broad, running up the sides and 

 across the top of the doorway ; these square 

 tiles were adorned with flowers in different col- 

 ors, raised in low relief on a deep yellow ground. 

 The same loggia contained other works in ce- 

 ramic ware, pictorial and imitative, by different 

 makers. 



On each side of the picture galleries was a 

 broad graveled pathway, with a few patches 

 of sod and shrubbery in the nooks and corners, 



