Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/112

96 ARCHITECTURE OF NORTHERX C4ERMANY. Part 1 1. are too plain even in tliis style, and above this the ornament is neither constructive nor elegant. The building might be either a dwelling or a civil building, or anything else, as well as a church, and it is difficult to find on what principle the design is varied or arranged. In true Art the motive is apparent at a glance, and should always be so. At Hamburg, fires, and the improvements consequent on modern activity and prosjjerity, have nearly obliterated all the more impor- tant buildings which at one time adorned that city. At Konigsberg, at the opposite extremity of the district, there seems to be little that is remarkable, except a cathedral, possessing an enormous facade of brickwork, adorned with blank ai-ches, but without the smallest pretensions to beauty, eitlier internally or externally. Civil Buildings. The most remarkable among the civil buildings of the province is the castle at Marienburg, which was for nearly a century and a half the residence of the masters of the once powerful knights of the Teutonic order. The Alte Schloss was built in 1276, the middle castle in 1.309 ; so that it belongs to the best age of Gothic art, and, being half palace, half castle, ought to possess both dignity and grandeur. It betrays, however, in every part the faults of brick architecture in this province, and though curious, is certainly not beautiful. All the Avindows are square-headed, though filled with tracery, and the vaultings of the principal apartments are without grace in themselves, and do not fit the lines of the openings; even the boldly projecting machicolations, which in stone architecture give generally such dignity to castellated buildings, here fail in producing that effect, from the tenuity of the parts and the weakness of their apparent supports. The town-hall at Lubeck is imposing from its size, and singular fi-om the attempt to gain height and grandeur by carrying up the main wall of the building high above the roof, and where no utilitarian purpose can be suggested for it. Indeed, there are few towns in the province that do not possess some large civic buildings, but in all instances these are less artistic than the churches them- selves ; and, though imposing from their mass and interesting from their age, they are hardly worthy of notice as examples of archi- tectural art. The town-hall at Brunswnck (Woodcut No. 541) is one of the most picturesque and characteristic of these buildings, and perhaps also the most artistic. It is difficult, however, to reconcile our feelings to the light arch supporting the tracery of the upper part of the upper gallery. If the four mullions had been brought down, they would not have impeded either light or air to an appreciable extent, and if