The Church of Our Lady is next door to St. Johns Hospital and is famous for this altar centerpiece statue of Mary and the Christ Child (Madonna and Child). It was created by Michelangelo around 1504 and is believed to be the only sculpture by him to have made it out of Italy. The Church is famous and with a lot of history.
When I looked up pictures of it before we went it made me think it was going to be larger than it actually was. I guess it is the same with the Mona Lisa in Paris.
Still, it is a very beautiful piece with amazing detail.
Detail not appreciated by our cell phone cameras from a 30-foot distance and behind protective glass :(
Tried to play with the lighting. Is anyone else out there sad about how no camera can really capture what we see in real life?
This side view was the best I could get. If it is disappointing to you then look up the statue on the Internet, and I am sure you will find something better than my photo here.
More oil paintings. I have decided these are my favorite. I could look at these all day.
This is a view of the organ balcony from inside the center of the church
These are the tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter Duchess Mary. According to the plaque inside this area, their bodies are not located here. An empty tomb is a cenotaph that honors the famous person and allows the body to be buried where it has far less chance of being desecrated.
The outside of their sarcophagus is this elaborate family tree. I thought that was really cool.
Love stained glass.
Me trying to distract Zachary and keep him from hitting or spitting on his sisters.
Outside of the Romanesque church. Looking at this reminded me of the Medievil Fair we had when I was in 6th grade when I built a cathedral with marshmallows and glue and painted it grey.
A photo of the kids walking through this old city.
Comments
What I love most about stained glass is the stories they tell. They were called Biblia pauperum (Latin for Bible of the poor) because they show images from Bible stories (plus some of the Apocrypha). This was important to the poor, because they didn't speak Latin, and all the masses were in Latin, so they were kept in not only poverty, but in ignorance, except for the stained glass stories.
I think it is wonderful to interpret them from our perspective.
The glass is really that brilliant and never needs replacing except in war destruction. It maintains its color and brilliance over the centuries - which is so amazing. It was one of the greatest treasures of the Medieval Era - a.k.a. the Age of Faith. The formulas were so guarded in the Monestaries where the stained glass was produced, that they were "lost" after the Medieval Era and rediscovered in the Victorian era when it became a new rage in Renaissance and Medieval Revival architecture and Victorian homes.
Hope to hear that you can decipher Bible stories in the art glass.