Posted by Martin Orr on
Monday, 07 August 2006 at 08:33
Apologies for the double post, but I will build up quite a backlog if I don't.
During the fourth century, the centre of the Roman empire moved east to Byzantium and Rome itself was sacked by the Visigoths in 410. After this the capital of the Western Roman Empire was moved to Ravenna, and for a few hundred years it was about the only city in western Europe not to be overrun by barbarian tribes. So it has a large number of fine fifth and sixth century churhces, which have somehow survived.
The buildings are all in reddish-brown brick, and they seem to have liked octagons. But what makes them really special are the mosaics of Biblical scenes and saints which decorate the walls and ceilings. These are wonderfully colourful, in blue and green and gold tiles. The Basilica San Vitale is particularly splendid - and still in regular use as a church.
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Martin
Tags
art, churches, holiday, italy
Posted by Martin Orr on
Thursday, 03 August 2006 at 14:50
The most obvious thing about Venice is of course that it is built on a collection of islands. Every block or two you come to a bridge over a canal. All transport is on foot or by boat: the streets are just too narrow for wheeled vehicles (I saw one child on a bicycle). They are also impossible to navigate, twisting in unexpected directions. And to make it harder to find anywhere, the buildings are numbered from a single sequence in each district (my hostel was number 5170 Castello).
Most of it is also pretty run-down. Once you lift your eyes above the shops on the ground floor, most buildings are lacking in paint and the bricks are crumbling. Apparently the non-tourist population of the island city is falling rapidly. The exception is the churches and museums maintained for tourists. The Doge's Palace is grand and well-presented but I didn't like St Mark's Basilica: it was more like a tourist attraction that a church. I suppose I'm being a bit hypocritical going there as a tourist myself and complaining, and with the number of tourists who want to see it perhaps there's not much else can be done.
Now in: Ravenna
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Martin
Tags
churches, holiday, italy
Posted by Martin Orr on
Thursday, 27 July 2006 at 19:23
Munich is a much larger and busier city than the others I have been in (except Berlin of course). There are several large boulevards lined with grand 19th century buildings, and the modern main shopping street is crowded with people. Once again there were several nice churches (Gothic and Baroque). I'm in Catholic country now: before Munich it was all Lutheran, except one church in Nürnberg which the Catholics bought back in the 20th century. I visited the Residence of the rulers of Bavaria, which had a special exhibition for the 200th anniversary of their promotion to kings.
Munich of course is also famous for its beer halls. I found these a little confusing as I expected a bar, and I thought they looked more like bars than restaurants, except for the lack of an actual bar. But they behave more like a restaurant in that you sit down and get served, drinks as well as food, and pay at the end.
Now in: Salzburg
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Martin
Tags
churches, germany, holiday
Posted by Martin Orr on
Sunday, 23 July 2006 at 16:43
Leipzig did not strike me as a very tourist city. The main basis of its economy is international trade fairs, which continued even in the Communist period. According to the guidebook it has two record-holding stations: the Hauptbahnhof where I arrived is the largest dead-end station in the world, and the Bayerischer Bahnhof is the oldest still-functioning station. However when I saw it it was definitely not functioning, closed for an underground station to be added.
There are two noteworthy churches. The Nikolaikirche was the venue for weekly peace prayer meetings during the 1980s and in 1989 was the centre of peaceful protests in the run-up to the fall of Communism in East Germany. J. S. Bach was choirmaster at the Thomaskirche for 27 years. I went to a service there this morning, although it was a choir-off Sunday.
Lutheran churches here are not as austere as you might expect (or as the one in Cambridge). They are decorated with paintings of Biblical scenes, churchmen or local mayors. Those which started out as Catholic churches missed the Vatican II reform of moving the altar forward from the wall, so the priest has to saz part of the service with his back to the congregation.
Now in: Nürnberg
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Martin
Tags
churches, germany, holiday, lutheran
Posted by Martin Orr on
Monday, 17 October 2005 at 19:34
Things have begun to become more settled this week: lectures in the mornings, working and relaxing in the afternoons. I have signed up for a German course on Friday afternoons, and I am going to the college Amnesty International group. Each Tuesday they have a meeting to write letters to governments about specific people around the world who are in danger of being tortured, executed, or unjustly imprisoned.
I am also going to an ecumenical discussion group on Thursday evenings, who have a speaker from a different church each week. This week it was the Orthodox Church, which was something I didn't know much about and was very interesting. On Sunday I went to the College Chapel. This is an Anglican chapel, but the service is (apart from changing the order of some parts) almost identical to the Catholic Mass.
Last Tuesday I had my first supervision, on differential equations. This was great and I think I learned a lot from it. I have another tomorrow, on algebra and geometry. I have also set out to go to a lecture from every subject - this week I went to Physiology of Organisms from Natural Sciences and Spanish Linguistics from Modern and Medieval Languages.
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Martin
Tags
cambridge, chapel, churches, languages, lectures, supervisions