Prague Castle

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Trudy

Day 36, Monday, September 30, 2019

Prague is filled with many beautiful buildings. We pass this one on our way to the Prague Castle. We had a good laugh. Bob thought that the two guards in the guard-boxes were wax mannequins. They were so motionless!

St. Vitus Cathedral is the first place we visit inside the castle grounds. Our eyes are immediately drawn to the beautiful stained glass windows, and then to the hordes of people!

This sculpture is about a third of the way down this very large cathedral. Everyone has entrance to the cathedral with their entrance ticket to the Castle but they are only allowed into about the entrance of the nave. We bought the next level ticket so we could walk around the whole cathedral and see all the side chapels and the altar up close.

The stained glass windows, created by 20th century Czech artists, are some of the most beautiful we have seen. Each window is unique and their intense colours flood the interior of this Gothic Cathedral.

Here is a close up of some non-traditional stained glass windows. Perhaps my favourite is the window designed by Alphonse Mucha. You may remember we saw his design drawing for this window at the Mucha Museum yesterday. The beautiful rose window on the entrance wall of the cathedral was completed in 1925 and took two years to complete. The inscriptions on the stained glass tell the story of Creation as told in the Bible. This wooden panel from 1630 shows the St. Charles Bridge, built in 1403, that we visited on Saturday. The city doesn’t really look all that different, does it? St. Vitus is portrayed with a rooster by his side, because he was boiled to death in a pot with a rooster! These saints all seem to have had horrible tortuous deaths. St. Vitus never actually even visited this cathedral, but a relic, or pieces of his body, was brought here and the Cathedral was built to honour him. St John of Nepomuk’s tomb is an elaborate baroque silver tomb with angels supporting a draped canopy. It is said to contain two tonnes of silver. St. John is the patron saint of the Czechs. In hte latter part of hte 14th century, King Wenseslas tortured John with fire and then gagged him, put him in a goatskin and had him thrown into the Vltava River! He later declared him a martyr. So much for ‘Good’ King Wenceslas! There are so many people visiting this cathedral that I had to take this photo looking back towards the tomb to get a decent shot.

This interesting fellow perched up high lighting the way is on the corner of a balcony that leads to the King’s private chambers. The King was able visit the church whenever he wants without being seen by others. This is the chapel dedicated to St. Wenceslas, the king and patron saint of all the Czech lands. The lower part of the walls are decorated with more than 1300 gems and the joints between them are covered with gold. The walls are covered in frescoes and the relics of St. Wenceslas are kept in the red draped case. As we are leaving, the sun comes out for a bit and shines through the stained glass windows casting coloured light into the cathedral. Note the lady posing behind Bob. We seem to see her everywhere we go today and she is always posing ‘just so’ for a photo. I’m not sure her and her husband are even looking at the cathedral as anything but a backdrop for her photographs. As beautiful as this cathedral is, I still love some of the simpler details that are easy to overlook with all the grandeur surrounding us. A view of the Cathedral. This front entrance isn’t used by tourists, we entered on the end of the cathedral behind the building with orange panels.since the 16th century, the Vladislav Hall in the Old Royal Place, was used for coronation festivities and banquets, knights’ tournaments and markets for luxurious goods. The Vladislav Hall still is used for state functions. It is an enormous room. The Old Palace contained the Land Rolls, where all matters regarding property rights and criminal law were recorded. An interesting door handle. One room had chairs which are almost the same as the ones my Swiss grandfather used to make, only he put more carving and decoration on his.The present day appearance of St. George’s Basilica dates to the reconstruction after a devastating fire in 1142. Now it is used for short-term art exhibitions.

We visit St. Georges 12th century crypt and see this rather bizarre sculpture. I did some research and discovered that it is “a Late Gothic Statue of Brigita, representing a dead and decaying girl´s body. It is a symbol of impermanence. A legend says that it was made by a sculptor, who killed his girlfriend and wanted to create her statue before he was executed. However, he was only able to make it as a dead body, because of his despair.” ~.www.prague.cz On the way out we see this collection of relics, but have no idea who they are. These relics seem a bit bizarre. Not only was the poor person usually tortured and killed but then their bones were carted off, often to several different locations and put on display. Hmmm. This is the Golden Lane. This lane of tiny houses was built against the northern wall of the castle. These tiny houses were occupied until World War II and have been preserved so that the character of this lane has not changed. From 1916 to 1917 house No. 22 was inhabited by the writer Franz Kafka. The name of the Lane is derived from goldsmiths who used to live there. I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who told me that he and his father were both goldsmiths and that the tools have not changed at all. He also said his father died young and that he quit because some of the processes involved are very toxic. The houses are tiny and have tiny doors. This was a fortune teller’s house whose predictions about the early fall of the Third Reich resulted in her being arrested and tortured to death by the Gestapo. An amateur historian who saved many copies of old films that were intended for disposal during the Second World War lived here. We watch one film that showed scenes of Prague and this Golden Lane. It looks much like it does today.We almost missed seeing a huge display of old armaments and armour. It was quite interesting. Some the swords have pistols built into them, or axes attached! And then there is the torture chamber. These places give me the creeps. It is just so hard ot think of people subjecting each other to such pain and terror. Bob is standing beside an Iron Maiden, which has spikes inside just long enough to pierce the body and make sure that the person inside dies a slow painful death. There are two spikes placed so that they will pierce the eyes of whoever is placed inside, and take a look at that chair! It is enough to give me nightmares.After the torture chamber we see some great views of Prague… can you spot our TV Tower? It is hard to miss.
As we leave the castle the changing of the guards marches past. A couple of the guards have their hats blown off by the wind but they just keep marching, although they did smile! It was crazy windy today and a bit cold so it was a good day to be inside.Walking past the Cathedral towards the exit I thought to look up, and yes, there were gargoyles! I love gargoyles, in case you didn’t know. This shrub was near the exit. I have no idea what it is and wonder if anyone else might know?

The Milan Duomo and Teatre La Scala

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Trudy

Day 54, Saturday October 28, 2017

On our way to the Duomo we come across a fashion photo shoot. This rather strange man with the oversized sweater and furry slippers was giving the model directions on what to do. He was very bossy!The Milano Duomo, or the Cathedral of Santa Maria Nascente, is one of the largest Gothic Churches in the world. It is very impressive.The view looking towards the altar.
It is a bit overwhelming, placing my hands where so many other hands have worn the stone smooth and shiny over the centuries. There are 52 of these massive pillars.The stained glass windows are stunning, especially these ones behind the altar.I thought this sculpture was rather unusual. It is Saint Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles, who was flayed alive and then beheaded. He is carrying his own skin!Looking down one of the side aisles. This church is very big!This is a copy of the Madonna of the Duomo. The original is on the highest point of the church.
There are many large paintings hanging in the church. Many of them look as though they need restoration work.Each of the pillars is topped by an ornately carved capital, and each one is unique.We go into the crypt of St. Charles Borromeo who lies in a crystal coffin below the altar. We also visit the archeological area which was excavated under the plaza in front of the Duomo. The black and white photo shows an aerial view of the excavations before they were covered by a new plaza.Then we climb 250 steps up to the roof top terraces for a close up view of some of the churches 135 spires!The flying buttresses are beautiful as well as functional. This church is decorated with 3,400 statues, 135 gargoyles, and 700 figures in the marble reliefs, There are decorations everywhere, each one different from the rest. We were thrilled with this visit to the rooftop, but then…we discover that we get to climb even higher, to the very top of the church, 75 meters above the ground below! You can see the golden Madonna statue above us.The views are amazing but it is a bit hazy which is too bad. Apparently on a clear day you can see the Alps in the distance.Looking down at part of the plaza in front of the Duomo. Soon it is time to return the ground far below.This lion looks rather annoyed at all the pigeons who are perched all over him.We walk through the Vittorio Emanuele II Galleria which is lined with high fashion designer stores…on our way to the Teatro La Scala where we get to watch a little bit of a rehearsal, and then we visit the Theatre’s museum.The second floor of the museum is dedicated to Maria Callas and displays many of the beautiful costumes she wore while performing.Back to the Duomo for a couple more photos. Here I am in front of part of the incredible front door.The plaza in front of the church is a gathering place for tourists and locals alike.To really appreciate the size of the Milan Duomo you need to see a three-quarter view of the building..Next stop is the Duomo Museum, which has many of the original sculptures from the church. They are slowly being replaced by copies so that the originals can be preserved.This room was incredible! The brown sculptures are terra cotta studies for marble sculptures.I love gargoyles so I was delighted to get a close up view of these before we leave the museum and head home.We have been exploring for 8 hours today and we are both tired.

Gargoyles and Chimeras

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Trudy

Today was the day to climb to the top of Notre Dame! It is 400 steps to the top and another 400 to get down, and it was worth each and every step! While I was waiting in line, for an hour, I took some pictures of gargoyles from the ground.

I need to warn you, there will be a lot of pictures in today’s post, and I am only going to do the first part of the day, or this would be ridiculously long.

The climb up wasn’t too bad as it was broken half way at a shop where you buy tickets. Soon I am 46 meters above the ground and face to face with my first Chimera. These are ornamental sculptures which are depictions of monsters or mythical beings. This Stryga, or bird of the night, is one of the most famous of Notre Dames chimeras. Interestingly the stone these carvings are made from is full of sea shells! You can see Sacre Coeur in the distance.

You probably aren’t supposed to pet them, but I just had to!

The view from up here is quite spectacular. I am in the area between the two towers.

And there are more chimeras and gargoyles everywhere I look!

There were windows that were too high to look into, but I held the camera up to the glass and this is what was inside.

After another 150 steps I am at the top of the south tower of Notre Dame and the view is even more incredible from this height, 69 meters above the ground. Here is a different view of Notre Dame’s famous flying buttresses.

It is easy to understand how densely populated Paris is when you see all the buildings so close together from up here. The population density of Paris ranges from a low of 8,000 people per square kilometre, in areas near Notre Dame, for example, to a density of 42,000 people per square kilometre in the area where my apartment is and other arrondissements in the north and north west of Paris. I can barely fathom 42,000 people living in a square kilometre!

There are sculptures everywhere I look. Dragons on this steeple,

and more gargoyles high on this tower.

I manage to stay up on the top of the South tower while three or four groups come up, they allow a group every ten minutes or so, but eventually we all get chased off so the next group can arrive, so I head down the 400 stairs to the bottom. On arriving at ground level I look up, and surprise! More gargoyles!