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St. Martin’s. LINGE. 26. Route. 251
The ThéAtre Royal, on the S.W. side of the square, was built
in 1848-22 after the model of the Odéon at Paris, and was restored
internally in 1864. The facade is adorned with eight columns of
red Belgian marble, from the old Carthusian church. — In front of
the theatre is a bronze Statue of Grétry, the composer (4741-1843),
designed by W. Geefs (1842). The master was a native of Liége.
To the W. of the Place du Théatre, at the end of the Rue Hamal,
is the Cuuncu or Sr. Juan (Pl. B, 3), erected in 982 by Bishop
Notger, on the model of the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, but
entirely rebuilt in 1754-57. The octagonal ground-plan of the ori-
ginal edifice has, however, been adhered to, while a long choir
(without aisles) has been added on the E. The Romanesque tower
belongs to the 12th, the cloisters to the 46th century.
To the N.W. of the Place du Théatre, at the end of the Rue
Haute Sauvenieére, is the Church of Ste. Croix (P1. B, 3), consecrated
by Bishop Notger in 986, but afterwards repeatedly altered. The
Zomanesque W. choir, built about 1175, with its octagonal tower
and gallery of dwarf columns, recalls the architecture of the lower
Rhine (p. xlv); the E. choir and the nave are in the Gothic style
of the 14th century.
In the InrERIon (generally entered from the court behind the choir),
the no and 4 s, of equal height and borne by slender round columns,
are remarkable for their light and graceful effect. The pillars are of blue
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limestone, the walls and vaulting of yellowish limestone. In the W. choir
are statues of SS. Helena and Constantine, by Henrard.
Following the Rue Mont-St-Martin to the left we reach the
conspicuous and loftily-situated Church of St. Martin (Basilique
St. Martin; Pl. A, 3; recently successfully restored), which is first
mentioned in a document of the 13th century. It was burned down
in 1312 (see below) and rebuilt in the Gothic style in 1542, almost
simultaneously with the Church of St. Jacques (p. 249). Unlike that
edifice, however, its proportions_are severe and simple, but imposing.
_ The Inventor (closed after 10 a.m.; verger, in the house No. 84,
adjoining the church; fee), consisting of nave and aisles, is 270 ft. long
and 70 ft. wide; as in Ste. Croix the pillars are of blue stone, the walls
and vaulting {of yellow limestone. The stained glass of the transept is
of the 16th cent., that of the S. aisle is modern; most of the windows
were destroyed in 1892 by anarchists by means of dynamite, but have
been restored since by J. Osterrath. — The first lateral chapel on the
right is adorned with twelve marble medallions by Delcour, in memory
of the origin of the festival of Corpus Christi (Féte Dieu), which was first
instituted in this church in the year 1246, in consequence of a vision
beheld by St. Juliana, abbess of the neighbouring convent of Cornillon,
and eighteen years later was ordained to be observed throughout Christen-
dom by Pope Urban 1V., who had been a canon at the cathedral of Liége
at the time of the ‘vision’. — The fire of 1312 (see above) took place during
a fierce conflict between the burghers and the nobles, and two hundred
of the adherents of the latter perished in the flames.
The tower commands an admirable prospect (apply to the verger, see
above; fee).
The handsome Académie des Beaux-Arts (P\. B, 2), opened in
1895, contains, in its S. wing (Rue de Académie 34), the *Musée
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