[64]
[64] _Ibid._
In Holland public money to the extent of five or six thousand pounds a
year is spent on preserving and maintaining national monuments and
buildings of antiquarian and architectural interest. In Germany steps
are being taken which we might follow with advantage in this country,
to control and limit the disfigurement of landscapes by advertisement
hoardings.
A passage from the ministerial order of 1884 with reference to the
restoration of churches may be justly quoted:--
"If the restoration of a public building is to be completely
successful, it is absolutely essential that the person who directs
it should combine with an enlightened aesthetic sense an artistic
capacity in a high degree, and, moreover, be deeply imbued with
feelings of veneration for all that has come down to us from
ancient times. If a restoration is carried out without any real
comprehension of the laws of architecture, the result can only be
a production of common and dreary artificiality, recognizable
perhaps as belonging to one of the architectural styles, but
wanting the stamp of true art, and, therefore, incapable of
awakening the enthusiasm of the spectator."
And again:--
"In consequence of the removal or disfigurement of monuments which
have been erected during the course of centuries--monuments which
served, as it were, as documents of the historical development of
past periods of culture, which have, moreover, a double interest
and value if left undisturbed on the spot where they were
originally erected--the sympathy of congregations with the
history of their church is diminished, and, a still more
lamentable consequence, a number of objects of priceless artistic
value destroyed or squandered, whereby the property of the church
suffers a serious loss.
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