Strasbourg Cathedral, 1861. Bishop Conrad induced Erwin de Steinbach, the best architect of his epoch, to undertake [the reconstruction]...of which the nave was completed in 1275. Thereupon commenced the erection of the towers, which, according to the original plan, were to have an elevation of 594ft. The work, interrupted in 1289 by an earthquake which shook the Cathedral, and in 1298 by a fire that consumed the scaffolding, was nevertheless urged on with great spirit...The northern tower, completed by Jean H?ltz, of Cologne, was terminated in 1439; and, although the open-worked octagonal spire did not attain the height originally intended, the "Munster," as it is called, of the Strasbourg Cathedral is only seven feet inferior in height to the Great Pyramid of Egypt (461 feet)...first aspect of the Strasbourg Cathedral makes a deep impression on the amateur of fine religious monuments, who is invariably struck with astonishment and admiration at the sight of this sublime edifice, whose spire tapers away into the atmosphere with such elegant grace and majesty...the cathedral may be said to be a composition of all the styles of the middle ages, from the Byzantine...down to the latest stages of the Gothic art. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.