Cathedrals

[Q Classic]

i've just returned from Easter Sunday Mass at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral.

coming from this mass and comparing it to the usual church i go to when i'm home in atlanta, and not in school, Cathedral of Christ the King, i'm curious as to what any of you like/dislike about various cathedrals. i'm curious in particular about New York's St. Patrick's, for instance, and if any of you have visited Seoul's Myongdong (i was there younger, but i barely remember it).

here's what i think of Holy Name:
the sanctuary itself is absolutely gorgeous, particularly when the sunlight enters the rose petal stained glass windows, which are colorful, but abstract--lots of greens, whites and yellows. the sanctuary itself has a very airy and bright feel to it, and the altar area is quite large. it looks somewhat remodeled, however; on the left is a huge speaker installation which was designed to sort of blend in, and there is no altar wall.
however, the lobby that is immediately before the sanctuary is dim, and doesn't do the church justice; indeed, the separator between the two is made of a plexiglass wall and glass doors.
it has a spectacular organ, and the choir was breathtaking.

and Christ the King:
the sanctuary is beautiful and gothic, with high vaulted ceilings and stunning stained glass windows that portray the apostles--very blue and red. it's a far cozier church, however, being smaller; the altar area is smaller, but retains the pre-vatican II wall, gates removed.
the lobby continues this gothic style, and the doors are hewn of old wood and so the building maintains a very old, traditional feel.
the choir is fairly good, and the organ is also quite spectacular.

[Bereta_Eder]

ah... gothic...

[Bereta_Eder]

did you know that the first ones to challenge and attack gothic architecture were the italian renaissance maasons who felt it had degraded roman style and architectural rythme?

like that was something bad.

[Bosh]

you still can't beat gaudi...

[Heresson]

Churches of my city

The cathedral in my city isn't very old, it's neo-gothic.
Diocese in my city was not established that long ago,
but I was a bit suprised that this church was chosen.
It's my parish church. It's quite big, representative, but
when it was being made cathedral, it was not even 100 years old. There are some older churches here. The oldest one is romanesque-gothic one (quite suprising for a surrounded by number of young, industrial cities. In fact it would be a charming place if not ugly buildings and a big road going right next to it), once belonging to the Templar knights (and they say some treasure of theirs is still buried somewhere around). It is built on a hil, with a little and is said to be built as a little fortress. It is pretty small though, surely not suitable for a cathedral, especially that it is located in one of the worse quaters of the city. It is dedicated to st Bartholomeus, as well as big, neo-gothic (but completely different from "mine") church built right next to it. It is one of the biggest, and can be seen from afar. It is nicely illuminated, but not as nice as the cathedral.
The church I'd have made cathedral is big, gothic (but northen, brick-gothic), church of All The Saints.
It is located in the oldest quater of the town, with remains of the city wall discovered next to it not so long ago.
It is all made of brick, except for small stone parts next to
windows. Two small towers are covered with renaissance helmets. The biggest one was covered with some strange thing, but now, a giant cross found by my grand-grandpa is placed on top of it. Around there is a small square which used to be cementary. The oldest part comes from XIII century, but the rest is younger, the tower comes of the very beginning of XVI century. The church itself looks pretty massive, and it was really impressing for me when I saw it at night once, as the first illuminated building in my city. One thing I can not stand is that I noticed in one niche in the church some fresques and everytime I pass it I see them in worse and worse state. Most of them have already fallen apart.
The roads which in the Middle Ages used to go through the mentioned gate leads to another church, church of St Cross, and a monastery next to it. Polish king John IIII Sobieski stayed there at night in his way to Vienna to fight the Turks (but no-one mentions He later complained it was very uncomfortable). In this church, there used to be the most precious baroque fresques in the Upper Silesia, but from what I can remember, the roof collapsed several decades ago and it was all destroyed. I can't say if all, as I have never been inside.
The other church which deserves a notice is a little chapel of St Trinity. It is Armenian-catholic church, one of three Armenian-catholic parishes left in Poland. My grandpa used to go to this church. It is worth mentioning not only because of that, but also because of saint icone of St Mary of Lysiec, brought here by fleeding Poles from Ukraine.
There are of course some more

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Wells Cathedral- the West front. Very impressive- covered with over 300 medieval statues.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Salisbury Cathedral- was the tallest building in Britain for hundreds of years.

[Heresson]

oh, really nice, especially Salisbury one.

[VetLegion]

From Zagreb, my hometown. It is also not very old, little more then 100 years. I guess the style is neo-gothic? Built on place of old one destroyed by earthquake in 1880. They do not know how to build churches here, it was build badly and is constantly under reconstruction.

And when I saw notre dame in paris first time I thought "why didn't they complete it?" because it looks simmilar but has no towers.

[Bereta_Eder]

Talking about gothic cathedrals I remember seeing one in northern France or was it Southern Germany which was very imposing and gloomy. Very tall and predominantly near black colour.

Anyone has any idea what that cathedral is and in which city it is?

I have forgotten since it was almost 4 years back.

[Bereta_Eder]

Salisbury Cathedral looks deliciously eerie BTW

[VetLegion]

I think Germany. I have seen a picture of a black cathedral in some city in Germany. It looked like it was taken from Gotham city itself

[Bereta_Eder]

It must be in Germany then... southern Germany since I recall we were close to France anyway. Will try to find a pic.

[Bereta_Eder]

That must be it.



Cologne cathedral is the symbol of the town. Work on it began in 1248 and it was not completed until the 19th century.

Now is Cologne close to France?


It is quite something to stand below that structure; you instictively turn around to look if someone around you has particularly white long teeth, even in broad daylight.

[Bereta_Eder]

A quite breathtaking building is also the Town Hall of Leuven in Belgium. I think it can be classified as gothic.

You can't see it clearly from the picture but it is adorned with myriad of statues from all sides. And it is the first building you see, in all its splendor, when you arrive at the end of Bogenlotenlaan (sp?) a long boulvard that finishes in a plaza with the town hall in plenty of space to be appreciated. (this pic is from a different angle)