Venasque WWI Memorial

Today I bring you to the medieval town of Venasque in Provence.

Less than a dozen kilometers southeast from Carpentras where my parents lived for many years, perched up on a rocky outcrop, is this picturesque old town we often passed through on our outings by car.

Fortunately we stopped one time so I could capture this World War I memorial for Taphophile Tragics.

Venasque, 2007

While I liked the monochrome version, my honey preferred the color... so mouseover and choose your own. But he agreed that this handsome profile of the fallen soldier looked better in black and white.

The war memorial stands next to the Romanesque Church of Notre-Dame (12th-17th C).

And overlooks the Nesque valley below.

Graveyard in the Styrian Alps

I'm taking a brief break from my Guangdong series of posts to bring you to Austria for Taphophile Tragics.

It's a mid-winter day in 2006. Somewhere en route to Mariazell from Vienna, high up amid the north Styrian Alps, with the sun already lost beyond the horizon, we were passing through a small charming village when we saw the church.

Austria, 2006

See church; have graveyard. We stopped for a quick look. Another photo opp on the run. So with the blistering cold, diminishing light, and an early model of a digital camera, my photos for you are less than stellar. Still I thought the scene was intriguing and the wrought iron crosses magnificent.

A Painted Church and Graveyard in Transylvania

There must be a fascinating history behind this amazing painted church and its graveyard that I am posting for Monday Mural and Taphophile Tragics. It pains me that I cannot find anything about it (online)!

On the start of a long weekend last June my brother and I drove north from Bucharest a bit over three hours, then got off the main road at Boita to explore a string of 18 traditional Romanian settlements in a special area called Mărginimea Sibiului in southern Transylvania. Earlier I posted village scenes from this well-preserved ethnographic area along the foothills of the Cindrel Mountains.

We spotted this little Romanian Orthodox church not far from Boita, driving east toward Tălmacel (map below). Unfortunately, this is all I can tell you about this particular painted church and its graveyard. My photos will have to tell the story.

However, there are a great number of such architectural treasures - painted churches and monasteries - in Romania and Moldova built in the 16th and 17th centuries; many are listed in UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.

It's quite possible, since we did not see headstones predating the 20th century, that this is a more recent church and graveyard. But it is still a marvel to behold.

Post script: Thanks to fellow blogger Traveling Hawk from Romania, I can now tell you a little more. This church was erected between the years 1775-1784 in Tălmacel, first recorded in 1488 as a small hamlet of ten families. Along with 246 others in Romania, the church was dedicated to the popular Saint Paraschiva. It was built and financed by the community, who made the bricks and transported them to the site on horses. Legend has it the money ran out before winter 1779, but the next spring a woman found a tub of gold coins. With this the interior was completed and painted by local masters. Restoration work was done 1975-80. [Sources: here and here.]

 

 

The main interior of the church was locked, but in the small entranceway we were greeted with a ceiling to floor fresco depiction of hell or purgatory.

Location: You can see all the towns on this map, with the highlighted orange area showing where this church should be.

The orange rectangle on this second map shows the approximate area of Marginimea Sibiului (meaning margins of Sibiu) in relation to Sibiu and Bucharest.

For more marvelous murals and fascinating burial grounds, follow the links in my opening paragraph. (Monday Murals now has a home; YaY!) I will visit as many as I can before I must close down for my trip to China. From there, accessing blogs is very difficult, thanks to an overzealous Big Brother.

Heart of Vienna Reflected

 Vienna, 2011

Reflections of the heart of Vienna, Der Graben, including its most famous landmark Stephansdom (St Stephen's Cathedral) in store hours sign and store windows. [Better seen enlarged.]

Below is a longer view of the pedestrian street with the once exclusive apparel and fine linens store E Braun & Co established in this building (with the tower) in 1893, now the Swedish mid-range fashion chain store H&M.

Linking with reflections seekers at Weekend Reflections.

[MyWorld] Notre Dame de Vie Chapel

Since I returned to Manila, my honey and I have been hunting for a new home. Wanting to stay in the same area we've lived most of the past two decades, in the southern part of the city, we've been cruising around, looking at options in different subdivisions.

One day we stumbled on a development we'd not seen before, and this is the sight that caught my eyes.

I've since learned that this is Notre Dame de Vie Chapel, a venue for weddings and other social events. I think another time I'll have to go in closer to see what else there is to discover. But this day we were on a mission, so I stopped with just admiring this large glass dome.

Manila, 2011

I am also happy to report that we found a suitable house and are now fully engaged in packing up our belongings to make the move over the next weeks.

And this is my world at the moment, so I share with the community at MyWorld Tuesday.

[SkyWatch] Crosses in the Sky I

The skies around Bucharest this past week have been nothing to moan about... a lot of blue! But while they brighten my world, they're not always the most photogenic. So I framed these images for SkyWatch Friday with just a few of the  many ornate crosses on Romanian Orthodox Churches I've seen on my walks here.

[click twice to enlarge to see cross detail]

Bucharest, 2011

S is for Sightseeing in Sinaia

At the Sinaia Monastery in the Prahova Valley in Romania, home to less than 20 Christian Orthodox monks, there are two churches, an old (biserica veche) and a new (biserica mare). Both the town and the monastery (completed in 1695) were named after Mount Sinai.

Today I show you the newer, The Great Church, built between 1842 and 1846.

[click to enlarge for more detail]

Sinaia, Romania, 2011

This is my contribution to ABC Wednesday where S is the letter of the week.

[SkyWatch] Blue Dome. Blue Sky.

You might think the blues would melt together, yet it struck me how stunning these blue church domes looked against the bright blue sky. 

 Chisinau, 2011

This is another Orthodox church I walked past in Chisinau, but did not have time to find out its name. Over 90% of Moldovans call themselves Orthodox Christians.

 

I'm linked with SkyWatch Friday and Walk in the Street.

[MyWorld] Chişinău Cathedral

Today I worked in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova. Before the final rays of sun disappeared I made it to the central Cathedral Park to capture this beautiful Orthodox church and its bell tower. Architect A. Melnikov designed these buildings in the style of late Russian classicism and they were erected between 1831-1835.

 Moldova, 2011

Seeing people enter the church, I followed. When I went inside, I heard a mass in progress with gorgeous choir music. Standing at the very back, I listened for quite some time and was ale to snap this one image of the spectacular interior without disturbing the devout.

This today was MyWorld. Follow the link to explore many other worlds!

Church Windows

More captivating Bucharest architecture: here are a couple of windows and part of a door on a small red brick church whose name I failed to note for Mary's Window Views. Romania is secular with no state religion, yet with about 87% of Romanians registered as Eastern Orthodox, it would be fairly safe to guess that is what this church is.

Bucharest, 2011

This close up photo to show you the intricate window detail with the exquisite wrought iron grate is for Sepia Scenes.

If detail appeals to you, it's worth enlarging these images.

C is for Church

One of the most distinctive experiences I’ve enjoyed in my travels is a private dinner on the front steps of a church. And not just any church, but the gorgeous Paoay Church in Ilocos Norte, the northernmost province in the Philippines.

Ilocos Norte, 2010

Known also as San Agustín of Paoay, it is one of four churches built by the Spanish in the late 16th century that was placed on the Unesco World Heritage list in 1993 for its unusual style of architecture. A fusion of Oriental, Gothic and Baroque influences created unique structures characterized by a separate bell-tower and strong buttresses able to withstand repeated earthquakes.

As described on the UNESCO site:

The Church of San Agustín at Paoay is the most outstanding example in the Philippines of 'Earthquake Baroque'. Fourteen buttresses are ranged along the lines of a giant volute supporting a smaller one and surmounted by pyramidal finials. A pair of buttresses at the midpoint of each nave wall have stairways for access to the roof. The lower part of the apse and most of the walls are constructed of coral stone blocks, the upper levels being finished in brick, but this order is reversed on the facade. The massive coral stone bell tower, which was added half a century after the church was completed, stands at some distance from the church, again as a protection against damage during earthquakes.

 

Construction of the church started in 1704 and was completed in 1894 by the Augustinian friars. The bell tower next to the church dates to 1793 and served as an observation point of the Katipuneros during the Philippine Revolution in 1896 and later by the guerrillas during the Japanese occupation.

It’s no wonder Paoay Church was also declared a national treasure.

As you can see from the photos, we arrived at the church after the sun was down, and while our party explored the grounds, the lights were turned on and the tables were set up for us. It was just a few days after Christmas, so the tree was still standing.

This post is linked with ABC Wednesday where the letter of the week is C. Go check out how other interesting C posts.