At Amiens the details are kept in
strictest subservience to the structural lines of the edifice. At Rheims
it is the magnificent wealth of details that crowds upon the view, the
walls and arches are surcharged with statues, with niches, with brackets,
pinnacles, tracery, foliage, finials and turrets. The sides of the
entrances of the three portals are crowded with colossal statues, thirty-
nine in number, representing patriarchs, prophets, kings, bishops, virgins
and martyrs. On the trumeau of the central gate is a fine statue of the
Virgin Mary; on the sides of this trumeau are bas-reliefs representing the
Fall of Man, of whose restoration Mary should be the instrument.
It is quite characteristic of a medieval church that we should find, on
the lintels and side-posts of these doorways, emblems of agricultural work
in the various seasons of the year, as well as different symbols of arts
and handicrafts. Amid the carvings of these doorways are the heroes and
saints of the Old Testament, types and forerunners of the Messiah, as well
as historic scenes, representing the Redemption of the World, the
Conversion of the Gentiles, the Resurrection of the Dead, the Last
Judgment, the Condemnation of the Wicked, the Reception of the Just into
the habitations of the blest.
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