I'm certainly no expert on stained glass or the stories depicted in the windows, but I am always impressed by the scale and intricacy of them.
So, here ends the Provence Trip collection. What next?
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Stained Glass At Bourges
As promised, here are a few shots of the windows in the Cathédrale St.-Etienne at Bourges. The windows are original and date from the twelfth through the seventeenth centuries.
I'm certainly no expert on stained glass or the stories depicted in the windows, but I am always impressed by the scale and intricacy of them.
So, here ends the Provence Trip collection. What next?
I'm certainly no expert on stained glass or the stories depicted in the windows, but I am always impressed by the scale and intricacy of them.So, here ends the Provence Trip collection. What next?
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Amazing windows that were built with great skill, love and care.
ReplyDeleteI truly admire the architects of those periods, not only for the genius of their plans, but for the fact that they accepted it would take more than a century to achieve what they were building. They saw the completion only in their mind, and on paper. There was no instant gratification.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading the entries of your "Southwest France Trip". Also so very interesting! How I envy your visit at Montaigne, the home of one of my favourite writers, in my twenties (and still today). When I read the description of his library, in his ESSAIS, I promised myself that I would have a similar room one day. I do! It's not on the third floor of a tower, in a castle, mais c'est une pièce-à-la-Montaigne, very bookish...except for the computer, of course!
Stained glass is amazing when you really think about it. We have a French friend who lives in San Francisco who is a stained glass artist. She did the restoration of Grace Cathedral. She also is curating a show that opened in SF but now is traveling called The McDonald Project, Remembered Light. The idea is that shards from cathedrals in Europe that were destroyed in WWII were collected and used in new panels of glass that were made by various artists and put together like a large patchwork quilt but of glass. It is a fabulous show. It is a bridge between old and new and traditional stained glass and more contemporary glass art. It is also very narrative because the panels are placed in a certain order and you can follow a story. If you have interest in glass you should check it out. I'm too lazy to look for the actual link but I blogged about it. If you search for McDonald Project or remembered light I'm sure you'll find it.
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