DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62133#0182
166 AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
the lofty centre nave stretches away before the spectator.,—
an avenue of noble columns supporting upon rounded
arches an expanse of wall glowing with arabesques and
frescoes, and perforated by a long row of small round-
topped windows, high up, and near the roof; which, after
the manner of the old basilicas, exposes its beams and
rafters to view, but gilt and ornamented, and glittering
with stars on a deep azure ground. This centre nave ter-
minates in a lofty semicircular niche, wherein, approached
by a flight of twelve steps, rises the high altar.
On the wall above the high altar, on a gold ground, and
divided from each other by the typical palm tree, stand the
first teachers of Christianity in Bavaria:—St. Bonifazius,
St. Benedict, St. Willibald, St. Corbinian, St. Rupert,
St. Gimm eran, St. Cihan, and St. Magnus. Above them
floats Christ, as the head and symbol of the Church trium-
phant, surrounded by a glory of Cherubim and Seraphim,
and with the Virgin and St. John the Baptist praying at
his feet. Beneath the high altar and its flight of steps
extends the crypt. Two side altars terminate the outer
naves, as the high altar the principal nave. Above the
side altar to the right are the Virgin and Child receiving the
homage of the patron saint of the Bavarian royal family;
above the one on the left is the martyrdom of St. Stephen,
—the most beautiful of all the frescoes in the Basilica,—
the most beautiful, I am inclined to say, of all the
frescoes in Munich. St. Stephen, -with his meek, pale face,
and with clasped hands, falls to the earth beneath the cruel
stones of his assailants like a broken white lily.
These altar-pieces are, together with the other frescoes
in the Basilica, painted by Hess and his assistants. The
history of St. Boniface, to whom the church is dedicated,
is told in a series of frescoes which extends along either side
of the centre nave, above the noble columns of which I
the lofty centre nave stretches away before the spectator.,—
an avenue of noble columns supporting upon rounded
arches an expanse of wall glowing with arabesques and
frescoes, and perforated by a long row of small round-
topped windows, high up, and near the roof; which, after
the manner of the old basilicas, exposes its beams and
rafters to view, but gilt and ornamented, and glittering
with stars on a deep azure ground. This centre nave ter-
minates in a lofty semicircular niche, wherein, approached
by a flight of twelve steps, rises the high altar.
On the wall above the high altar, on a gold ground, and
divided from each other by the typical palm tree, stand the
first teachers of Christianity in Bavaria:—St. Bonifazius,
St. Benedict, St. Willibald, St. Corbinian, St. Rupert,
St. Gimm eran, St. Cihan, and St. Magnus. Above them
floats Christ, as the head and symbol of the Church trium-
phant, surrounded by a glory of Cherubim and Seraphim,
and with the Virgin and St. John the Baptist praying at
his feet. Beneath the high altar and its flight of steps
extends the crypt. Two side altars terminate the outer
naves, as the high altar the principal nave. Above the
side altar to the right are the Virgin and Child receiving the
homage of the patron saint of the Bavarian royal family;
above the one on the left is the martyrdom of St. Stephen,
—the most beautiful of all the frescoes in the Basilica,—
the most beautiful, I am inclined to say, of all the
frescoes in Munich. St. Stephen, -with his meek, pale face,
and with clasped hands, falls to the earth beneath the cruel
stones of his assailants like a broken white lily.
These altar-pieces are, together with the other frescoes
in the Basilica, painted by Hess and his assistants. The
history of St. Boniface, to whom the church is dedicated,
is told in a series of frescoes which extends along either side
of the centre nave, above the noble columns of which I