Friday, November 27, 2009

A Few Of My Favorite Things: Stained Glass!








No words can describe the windows I have viewed nor could my camera do them justice. From the top cathedral in Chartres, to Notre Dame in Paris to St Denis, Montmartre, Sainte Chapelle and every smaller, lesser-known eglise (church) they suited their purpose. The cathedrals were cold and dark. The congregations were not allowed to participate in the services at the churches. They were there to witness them. Indeed, they often couldn't see the priests who were so far away, that the people often became restless and bored. Enter stained glass: they told biblical stories and provided light (and warmth) and gave the people something to pray near. The light represented God, who according to the bible, is the light of the world. Of course, we have to assume they each had state of the art binoculars to see the scenes as they were often so elevated the individual pains were impossible to see. Still they left a lasting legacy.

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