18J3.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER ANDJARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



Ill 



"In February of the year 1814 there appeared in the public papers 

 an invitation to German architects, to prepare designs for the monu- 

 ment which his Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Bavaria pro- 

 posed erecting to the great men of Germany. The plans produced by 

 this invitation were not satisfactory to his Royal Highness, and I was 

 commissioned to prepare the drawings which have formed the basis 

 of the present design. 



" Ratisbon, — a city famous in the history of Germany and Bavaria, 

 and one of the uniting points of the grand roads of Germany, situated 

 upon one of the principal rivers, and in a charming country diversified 

 by valley and mountain, and in a mild climate favourable to building, 

 — Ratisbon was the place chosen by the king as the site of the 

 future Walhalla. 



" The 18th October, 1830, the anniversary of that battle which 

 freed Germany from a foreign yoke, was the day appointed for 

 laying the first stone of the edifice. The ceremony was performed 

 by the king in person, and an eloquent oration was pronounced by 

 Edward von Scbenck. ' Since civilization and education have been 

 naturalized in Germany,' said he, ' many glorious buildings have 

 been erected ; for centuries together has the most persevering art 

 been often employed upon the perfection of a single cathedral. Our 

 country is filled with churches, palaces, fortresses, and castles, and 

 modern times have seen the erection of halls and temples not un- 

 worthy of the very father-land of the arts. Statues also, and monu- 

 ments have been raised to individuals ; but since the earliest period 

 of our history Germany has never till now erected an universal monu- 

 ment to her mighty sons. The project of erecting such a monument 

 was reserved for King Louis of Bavaria, and never lived a monarch 

 more worthy to carry such a design into execution.' 



"'Let us now,' continued von Schenck, ' look with prophetic eye 

 to the completion of the Walhalla, and contemplate the building as it 

 will one day appear upon the eminence whereon we now stand. 

 What a prospect for the traveller who approaches from the shores of 

 the Danube ! Upon the summit of this mountain he will behold a 

 mighty temple of white marble, a hall worthy of the glorified heroes, 

 resting upon mighty Doric columns, embanked by cyclopeian walls 

 and terraces, and approached by extensive flights of stone steps. 



"'Having ascended these steps, the sculptured pediment above 

 reminds him of the conquest of the Romans by the Cherusei, and 

 other early battles of the German people. He enters the temple, and 

 his first glance falls upon a sculptured frieze which surrounds the 

 walls, representing the religion, customs, battles, and commerce of the 

 aborigines of Germany. Beneath this frieze, and all around hiin, he 

 beholds the busts and glorious names of those men who have immor- 

 talized our father-land in every braach of art and science, and on 

 every public occasion. The series of these great men commences 

 with those ancient heroes whose primordial efforts broke the mighty 

 power of Rome : to them follows the race of Pepin of Heristhall, the 

 line of noble and mighty emperors of Saxon and Frankish race, the 

 Hohenstanfen, and the race of Habsburger. 



'"The line of emperors is closed by those great and good princes 

 who have governed in their own separate countries, or in foreign 

 lands, — such as Otho and Maximillian of Bavaria, Amalia of' Hessen, 

 William of Orange, Frederick of Prussia, &c. 



" 'These monarchs are surrounded by the great men who have been 

 their contemporaries, and who have lived and died for faith and 

 truth, for fame and freedom, or for science and art. Heroes from the 

 Cherusker Hermann, who conquered the Romans, down to Schwart- 

 zenberg and Blucher ; holy men, like Nicholas von der Flue and 

 Thomas a Kempis; philosophers, as Leibnitz and Haller; Germany's 

 early poets, from the author of the renowned Nibelungen Lied down 

 to Schiller ; (long may the bust of Goethe remain in the Hall of 

 Expectation 5 ) the heroes of plastic art, from the old masters down to 

 Mengs ; and, last of all, the mighty Dioscuri of German melody, from 

 Gluck to Mozart.' 



" 2 Goethe lias passed the ordeal which entitles the hero to admission 

 within the halls uf Walhalla; his bust will now Le found among the 

 best.— T. 



" 'I can believe,' concluded Von Shenck, 'that the spirits of these 

 great men are now at this auspicious moment hovering around us in 

 gratitude to the noble king who raises this monument to their merits. 

 Their blessing will not be in vain : it is joined to that of Heaven, 

 and descends already upon this building.' 



"'While in many other— alas! also German— states, sedition and 

 mistrust threaten to loosen the holy bands between prince and people, 

 here, in Bavaria, stands her king : happy, because he diffuses happi- 

 ness and prosperity, mighty in the love of his people, justly estima- 

 ting his high calling, and with conscious power steadily fulfilling it. 

 And thus he lays the foundation stone of a monument to German 

 greatness and German truth.' " 



On the conclusion of this oration, the king, standing beneath a 

 baldaquin, supported by columns and surmounted by a statue of Ger- 

 many, proceeded to lay the first stone of the Walhalla, and the build- 

 ing was commenced in the spring of 1831. 



The first large division of the terrace is of Pelasgic construction, 

 and of polygonal blocks of a marble-like limestone ; the second 

 division, and likewise the three large step-like landings betow the 

 temple, are of the same stone, and formed of regular blocks, but of 

 unequal height and length, as is found in many buildings of the 

 Greeks, — as in the walls of Kalidon, and also in the Theatre of Mar- 

 cellus in Rome. The columns are 5 ft. 10 in. in diameter, and formed 

 in eleven blocks. 



The severe style of the exterior architecture is relieved by the 

 sculpture in the pediments, consisting of highly relieved groups in 

 white marble, by the hand of Schwanthaler, from designs made by the 

 king. The first illustrates the battle in Teutoburger Walde, under the 

 victorious Armenius : the second represents Germany, to whom, after 

 the catastrophe of 1813-14, the representatives of the united forces 

 are presenting the lost provinces. 3 



The site was so chosen that the south end of the temple should 

 present the principal entrance and access for those on foot. In 

 ascending, by means of the different steps and terraces, first to the 

 right and then to the left, the building and prospects of the distant 

 country are presented to the visitor under various and continually 

 changing points of view. Having arrived by 140 steps at the second 

 terrace, a bronze door is seen, which leads to an arched chamber. 

 This chamber is termed the Hall of Expectation, and is intended for 

 the reception of busts of great men still living, from whence, when 

 the occasion arrives, they are removed into the Walhalla itself. 

 Two other flights of steps lead to the pronaos and principal entrance 

 of the temple. 



The arrangement of the interior demanded all possible space for 

 the reception of the busts, and their proper distribution was a leading 

 feature of the design. It was necessary that the busts should be all 

 of equal size, and of the Greek therm form; and also, in order to 

 typify the universal equality of all in Elysium, that they should be 

 placed in rows according to their dates only, without individual dis- 

 tinction. 



It was then essential that the monotony of the coup d'ceil of so 

 many similar sized heads should be got rid of. The construction of 

 the roof, which of course could not be left open like the ancient hy- 

 pethral temples, and which therefore required supporting beams, sus- 

 tained by four projecting masses from each longitudinal wall so as to 

 lessen their span: this form offered the best means of avoiding the 

 objectionable repetition; and it was thus attained, namely, that in a 

 general view along the hall, a large proportion of the busts would be 

 always concealed from the spectator by the projecting architectural 

 masses. At the extreme end is a large gallery, and in each longitu- 

 dinal wall a passage introduced, both which during an inauguration or 

 other ceremony, serve for the accommodation of spectators. In de- 

 signing the building, the architect always had in view the celebration 

 of some solemn and poetic ceremony, as for instance, that certain pe- 



3 Professor Kaucli made the original model for this sculpture to a small 

 scale. The execution of it was afterwards entrusted to Schwanthaler, who 

 was then rising into fame, lie remodelled the design, and descries the 

 credit of the entire work, which is of the highest order. 



15 s * 



