Tag Archives: duomo

Columns and Ceiling, Sagrada Familia

Columns and Ceiling, Sagrada Familia
“Columns and Ceiling, Sagrada Familia” — Wide-angle view of interior columns and ceiling, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

Many have seen photographs of the exterior of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família, the basilica based on Gaudi’s architectural designs. After visiting, I realized that we may be less familiar with the building’s remarkable interior — perhaps this is because it is easy to photograph the outside but much less simple to photograph inside. The scale of the interior is gigantic, with huge columns leading to a vault high above. It is very complex and busy, with details everywhere — but in some ways not like those in older cathedrals.

Many of the forms are based on organic models. (It is said that there are almost no straight lines here at all.) You can see some of them in this photograph — the columns that evoke tree trunks, the floral shapes, foliage, and more. (This wide angle view produces an additional and perhaps unintended association — the spine and rib cage.) In many places the building is full of vibrant colors from light coning through stained glass. But in this particular area, the colors are more subdued, though they span a range form the warm colors in the distance to the cool, slightly blue tones of the upper columns.


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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Duomo di Siena

Duomo di Siena
“Duomo di Siena” — An overhead interior view of the Duomo di Siena.

Here is another photograph made from the upper levels of the Duomo di Siena, or Siena Cathedral. In this case we signed up for an early morning tour that took us way up to the roof of the building and listed a number of rooms and passageways that you wouldn’t know about by visiting the main floor. At times we had incredible views of the surrounding city and countryside, and at other points we got unusual and striking views inside the church itself. I made this photograph through a narrow opening as we crossed between the two sides of the duomo.

As with all such cathedrals, it is worth pondering how their architecture and interior additions must have seemed almost incomprehensible to people when they were constructed. Today we put up much large buildings in a year or a few, but then it took decades or even centuries. Even more remarkable, at one point at even larger cathedral was planned and initial construction begun — and it that version the space in this photograph would have been merely the width of the church, not its length.


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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Interior, Duomo di Siena

Interior, Duomo di Siena
“Interior, Duomo di Siena” — An elevated view of the of the interior of the Duomo di Siena.

When we travel we prefer finding our own way over relying on guided travel. In our experience, a big part of the value of travel comes from things like feeling somewhat out of your element, encountering unanticipated things and events, and even just devoting some time to wandering. However, there are times and places when paying for guided access can get you to place that are otherwise inaccessible. That’s how we ended up on a guided tour of Siena’s Duomo, one that took us high up into the upper reaches of this remarkable structure.

I made the photograph on this tour. As we crossed over from one side of the roof area to the other we passed a portal into the cathedral, and it provided a remarkable perspective on the interior and, far below, the floor of the duomo. (One other advantage of this tour? It started well before the crowds arrived.)


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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Detail, Duomo of Orvieto

Detail, Duomo of Orvieto
“Detail, Duomo of Orvieto” — Detail of a twisting column from the facade of the Duomo of Orvieto, Italy.

As per the common pattern, the hilltop town of Orvieto Italy has a large “duomo” on a central square. As is also typical, the facade of this church is packed with remarkable visual features — statuary, columns and arches, and fascinating details like this twisting column. Much of it is high enough that it can only be seen at a distance, but this bit is right for eye-level viewing.

You can read about these places and look at pictures of them for years (as I, a late-in-life traveler, did) and not really understand the effect of their physical reality. In particular, if you imagine them in the times when they were first created you start to understand how astonishing and even magical they must have been (and still are). It is remarkable that those who produced a structure that depends so much on massive scale for its effect also had the energy to attend to such tiny details with so much precision.


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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