These figures, which are slightly larger than life-size,
stand with bent heads in an attitude of adoration, their faces
shadowed by their wings, and are most imposing and of exceeding
beauty.
There is but one thing further which calls for description
in this altar, which is, that to the east the flooring in front
of it is not of pure white marble, as elsewhere throughout the
building, but of solid brass, and this is also the case in front
of the other two altars.
The eastern and western altars, which are semicircular in shape,
and placed against the wall of the building, are much less imposing,
and are not enfolded in golden petals. They are, however, also
of gold, the sacred fire burns on each, and a golden-winged figure
stands on either side of them. Two great golden rays run up
the wall behind them, but where the third or middle one should
be is an opening in the wall, wide on the outside, but narrow
within, like a loophole turned inwards. Through the eastern
loophole stream the first beams of the rising sun, and strike
right across the circle, touching the folded petals of the great
gold flower as they pass till they impinge upon the western altar.
In the same way at night the last rays of the sinking sun rest
for a while on the eastern altar before they die away into darkness.
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