Tag Archives: church
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Oliwa Cathedral

The archcathedral in Oliwa is a three-nave basilica with a transept and a multisided closed presbytery, finished with an ambulatory. The façade is flanked by two slender towers, 46-metres tall each with sharply-edged helmets. It is enlivened by a Baroque portal from 1688, as well as three windows of different sizes and three cartouches. The […]

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Sant’Ignazio

This is a small church among some 900 other churches in Rome, and is dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, located in Rome. Built in Baroque style between 1626 and 1650, the church functioned originally as the chapel of the adjacent Roman College, which moved in 1584 to a new larger […]

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St. Peter’s

Like yesterday, first thing in the morning, we went to see a bit of Rome, but this time on the other side of the river.  We went to St. Peter’s Basilica fully expecting to see thousands of people lined up trying to get in and see the house of the richest god there ever was. […]

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Lausanne Cathedral

The construction of the  Cathedral of Notre Dame of Lausanne began as early as 1170 by an original unknown master mason. Twenty years later another master mason restarted construction until 1215. Finally a third engineer, Jean Cotereel, completed the majority of the existing cathedral including a porch, and two towers, one of which is the current […]

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Fribourg Cathedral

The Gothic Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Fribourg  dominates the centre of the medieval town. The main church was started in 1283 and completed by 1430. The tower was completed in 1490. It is 76 metres tall and houses 11 bells.  Originally a parish church, in 1945 it became the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva […]

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Fribourg

Fribourg is located on both sides of the river Saane, and is an important economic, administrative and educational centre on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland. Fribourg also has one of the most prestigious universities in Switzerland.  Its Old City, is one of the best maintained in Switzerland. There is a very old funicular […]

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Milan

Milan dates back to 400BC.  Today Milan is the 2nd largest metropolitan city in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1.3 million, while its urban area with a population estimated to be about 5.5 million  is the 5th-largest in the EU. Milan is the main industrial and financial centre of Italy, it has the 3rd-largest […]

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Revisiting Rome

After the morning museum trip and an extensive siesta from the unyielding and relentless heat, we set out for a lap around Rome.  Last time we were here the Trevi Fountain was being renovated and cleaned, which apparently is done once every 50 years or so. There are over 2000 fountains in Rome but this one […]

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Notre-Dame de la Garde

Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally Our Lady of the Guard), is a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France. The basilica was build on the foundations of an ancient fort. The fort was located at the highest natural elevation in Marseille, a 149 m (490 ft) limestone outcrop on the south side of the Old Port of Marseille. The basilica […]

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Marseille

Marseille is the oldest continuously inhabited city in France, it is a second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris and Lyon.  Humans have inhabited Marseille and its region for almost 30,000 years, it was the first Greek settlement in France.  It is […]

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Aix Cathedral

The cathedral is located on the route of the Roman road, the Via Aurelia. A fragment of a Roman wall and the columns of the baptistery seem to be the origin of the legend that the church was built on top of a Roman temple dedicated to Apollo.  According to the Christian tradition, the first […]

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Sainte-Chapelle

The Sainte-Chapelle or “Holy Chapel”  was constructed to house Louis IX’s collection of relics of Christ, the crown of thorns, a piece of the cross and others.  At the time the king paid 135,00 livres for the relicts, which were put in an ornate silver chest that cost further 100,000 livres.  The entire chapel in 1238 […]

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Vitaleta Chapel

If you have ever seen a calendar of Tuscany, postcards or even some promotional material chances are you have seen Vitality Chapel in at least one of the pictures.  The chapel of Our Lady of Vitality originally built around 1590 is located on a private property on the road between Pienza to San Quirico d’Orcia and […]

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Ghent

Ghent started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Leie and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe with some 60,000 people in 1300 AD, 70,000 in 1400 growing to 175,000 Shortly after 1500 AD. Today it is a busy city with a port […]

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On Bruges

Bruges is a relatively small city of about 120 thousand people, double that if you include the metropolitan area.  It is very beautiful and pristine.  It’s a vibrant and alive and obsessively clean and not as busy and commercial as Brussels, a perfect place to get a good taste of Belgium. Very few traces of human […]

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Amiens Cathedral

Amiens Cathedral is situated on a ridge overlooking the River Somme in Amiens and it is the 19th largest church in the world. Medieval cathedral builders were trying to maximize the internal dimensions in order to reach for the heavens and bring in more light. In that regard, the Amiens cathedral is the tallest complete […]

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Church of St. Ouen

The Church of St. Ouen is a large Gothic Roman Catholic church in Rouen, northern France, famous for both its architecture and its large, unaltered Cavaillé-Coll organ, which Charles-Marie Widor described as “a Michelangelo of an organ”. Built on a similar scale to nearby Rouen Cathedral, it is, along with church of Saint Maclou, one […]

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Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc  1412 1431 nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans”  is considered a heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to a peasant family at Domrémy in north-east France. Joan said she received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine instructing her to support Charles VII and recover […]

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Rouen Cathedral

The first church on this site dates back to 4th century, The 6th century it was  enlarged and elevated to cathedral status.  The cathedral was struck and portions of it destroyed  by lighting no less than 5 times It was burned and bombed and damaged by hurricanes.  One of the fires was so intense it melted […]

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Mont St. Michel

Mont Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy. It is located approximately one kilometre off the country’s northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. 100 hectares (247 acres) in size, the island has a population of 44. The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times, and since the eighth century […]

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Saint-Jacques

The Saint-Jacques Church was built between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Saint-Jacques church bears evidence to various epochs. The  1st church was constructed on the remains of the small chapel of Sainte-Catherine, which itself was destroyed in 1195. The church that we see today, dedicated to Saint-Jacques was built around 1283. The church on the sea route […]

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Saint Rémy

The Saint Rémy Church: the first Saint-Rémy church, of which only the tower remains today, was built in the 13th century. It was built at the foot of the hill on which today stands Château-musée. The church gradually fell to ruins and the new Saint Rémy church was built in the heart of the town. It […]

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Templar’s Chapel

It is believed the Temple Chapel in Metz, rare in Lorraine for it octagonal design, was built about 1180 with additional reconstruction work in 1220, and the surrounding Templar structures destroyed following the dissolution of the order following the Friday 13th arrest of Templars by the agents of King Phillip IV in 1307. The small […]

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Église Saint-Eucaire

The Church of St. Eucaire, was built in the  fifth century, it was extensively damaged during the French Revolution.   It is dedicated to the Bishop of Trier Eucharius. The church is currently undergoing a massive renovation.  Its claim to fame are the relics of St. Blaise who at one point saved a boy who was […]

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Protestant New Temple

A short walk from the Cathedral  at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers is the New Protestant Temple.  After German annexation, Metz became a showcase city  of Wilhelmine empire. The architectural eclecticism is reflected by the appearance of many buildings in the Romanesque Revival style, Central Post Office, the New Temple or a […]

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Metz Cathedral

There are a lot of churches here, some old, some newer, some very large and some small. All great in their own right, all steeped in history.  Metz Cathedral is no different. Saint-Étienne de Metz (French for “Saint-Stephen of Metz”), also known as Metz Cathedral, is a historic Roman Catholic cathedral in Metz, capital of Lorraine, […]

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St. Martin

The Church of St. Martin is one of the oldest Catholic parish church of Metz. The church has been rebuilt and remodelled a number of times over the course of the history.   Its construction dates from the late twelfth century or early thirteenth century. The massive pillars, and the overall arrangement of them is  reminiscent of […]

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Farewell Villanova

We are saying farewell to Agriturismo Villanova.  We had great time here, we had great rest, amazing breakfasts and met some great people from Wurzburg of all places – what a small world!  Everyone’s favourite pet here is Giro, in Italian Geeeero, you really got to stretch that ‘E’.  After Chateau de Varenne, I think this is […]

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Church of San Lorenzo

Like all the other villages this one too has its own little church.  The church, which was built in 1338, has a Gothic facade with a nice rose window, and a Baroque-style interior. On the facade, there is a bas-relief representing the martyrdom of San Lorenzo. On the XIVth-century triptych, you can see San Lorenzo […]

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