Tag Archives: church

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel

Duomo Facade, Orvieto

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Duomo Facade, Orvieto
“Duomo Facade, Orvieto” — The highly detailed facade of the Orvieto Duomo.

It seems like almost every Italian town has its duomo, or cathedral. All that I’ve seen are impressive, but some have especially notable features. This one is in Orvieto, a lovely hill town in Umbria. Oddly, even through we were dropped off very near this cathedral when we arrived, it wasn’t until later that we finally took the time to visit it. The inside is very interesting, but it seems to me that the ornate work on the exterior is the most impressive.

The detail is remarkable, from the sculpted shapes to the statuary to the beautiful mosaics. It is hard to imagine the amount of craftsmanship and artistic talent that must have gone into producing it. Almost any square foot of the exterior would be remarkable on its own, but the fact that it covers so much space is almost unbelievable.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral

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Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral
“Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral” — The pipe organ at the St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.

Pipe organs are impressive in many ways. The sound is remarkable, especially in appropriate acoustical spaces. (It must be quite an experience for the lone musician to make that much sound, at volumes that can compete with full symphony orchestras.) The visual appearance is compelling and somewhat magical. But there’s another aspect that has long impressed me. Back in my college music teaching days, I used to point out to classes that early versions of the organ were entirely mechanical — and that it is just about impossible to imagine a more complex and sophisticated technology from that era. And it was all for a musical instrument!

This set of pipes belongs to the organ at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, where we stayed for several days earlier this year. Sometimes we have only the vaguest notions of what we’ll see in the cities we visit — and sometime I’ll explain why that occasionally is a good thing. In that manner we essentially stumbled into St. Giles’ on our first afternoon in Edinburgh and found it entrancing.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Light Beam, St. Giles Cathedral

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Light Beam, St. Giles Cathedral
“Light Beam, St. Giles Cathedral”— Light from an upper window forms beams inside St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.

We concluded our three weeks in Scotland earlier this year with a few days in Edinburgh. This marked one extreme on the continuum of our visit, with the opposite end defined by a week spent walking the quiet trails of the Great Glen Way. Edinburgh, of course, is not just a rather large city, but it is also a place that attracts crowds of tourists, even when we were there before prime tourist season. Since it was our first visit to the city we had to, of course, visit some of the famous sites.

On the day we arrived by train we checked into our little hotel, located on a quiet side street less than a half mile from the famous Edinburgh Castle. After getting settled we set out on foot, walking toward this landmark at the upper end of the Royal Mile. We had not done much research, which means that we got to be surprised by “discovering” places like St. Giles’ Cathedral, the subject of this photograph.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Holyrood Abbey Ceiling

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Holyrood Abbey Ceiling
“Holyrood Abbey Ceiling” — The ceiling vaults of the Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edinburgh is a busy city, popular with tourists — and there is quite a lot to see there. A lot of the main attractions are found in the Old Town area along the Royal Mile that runs between the hilltop Edinburgh Castle and the Holyrood Palace, a residence of British royalty. The ruins of the Holyrood Abbey are on the grounds of the palace.

The Abbey dates to the 12th century, The suffix “rood” refers to the Holy Cross, There were several versions of the place, and this is the last, most architecturally advanced version. In addition to its religious significance, the site is also connected to Scottish history. The structure eventually fell into disuse and was neglected. An ill-advised attempt to restore and strengthen it ended up adding too much weight and portions collapsed, leaving the ruins that we see today.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.