My favorite cathedral -- this trip
I know last year I talked about my favorite cathedral, which is Notre Dame. My new favorite cathedral is Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. But I really can't say that Notre Dame has been usurped, because it is still my favorite. And so is the other. They are so radically different that they can both be my favorite.
This is my first view of the cathedral. Duomo, in Italian. I stopped in my tracks and just said "Whoa!" Even my 5 year old grandson, who is into spiders, snakes, poisonous animals, and going on lion hunts in the backyard (t-rex hunt, last Sunday), when he saw the pictures, said "WOW!"
And it was raining. White looks good in the rain, and so does this red and green. (But then, I like these colors.)
Close ups of the outside. The detail is amazing. Just start looking. Someone carved that. Someone spent a lot of time carving that. And inlaying this. And putting Gold leaf on something else.
The backside was completely covered by a huge cloth, I imagine for cleaning. White doesn't stay white for long. Judging from some of the parts that weren't cleaned, I imagine this could be an eternal process.
My friends took me inside...and I was surprised at how undecorated it was.
Mind you, that is still more detail in one wall than in most protestant churches in the US! I had thought that the Italian ideal was to cover every surface with something -- paint, mosaic, carving, statues -- until there was nothing left. (Apparently this is supposed to represent the austerity of religious life according to Girolamo Savonarola.) Then I looked up:
My faith in Italians is partially restored.
This is more impressive than in sunlight.
posted by Marion @ 4:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home