Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Church of Our Lady before Týn; Prague, Czech Republic

This is the iconic Church of Our Lady before Týn in Prague, or, if you prefer your Czech churches referenced in their Czech name, Chrám Matky Boží před Týnem. Let's stick with English.

This is the view from high atop the Old Town Hall in Old Town Prague. I believe this is the Old Town Hall because it is the Old "Town Hall," not the "Old Town" Hall, even though it is indeed in Old Town. It's on Old Town Square. Just to confuse things, I think it is "Old Town Square" because it is the "Old Town" "Square," in other words, the main square of Old Town Prague, and not the old "Town Square," with a new and improved town square nearby.

This is from my October 2011 visit to Prague.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Outside the Biserica Mănăstirii Stavropoleos; Bucharest, Romania

Back to one of the most beautiful Orthodox churches you will see anywhere, the Biserica Mănăstirii Stavropoleos in Old Town Bucharest, Romania.

A few Sundays ago, I posted a picture of the beautiful, intricately ornate interior. This Sunday, it is the beautiful, intricately ornate exterior, on the pedestrian-friendly side streets of Old Town Bucharest. This is the heart of Tourist Bucharest. But Bucharest is not very touristy. The few tourists who head to Romania immediately head off for the "Dracula" related tourist traps in the woods of Transylvania. Like some vampire focused on a throbbing neck vein. Although, I guess, if I were a vampire, throbbing arteries would be preferred because ... I'm not going there.

Bucharest does have vampire-related kitsch in the souvenir shops, but the tourist neighborhoods have waaaaaaay more Romanian Orthodox churches than vampire castles.

Visited May 2019.

Cool Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: St. Michael's Orthodox Cathedral, Sitka, Alaska

I don't have any pictures of chapels on top of snowy mountains, so for a "cool" church photo, I looked north.  Alaska!

This is St. Michael's Orthodox Cathedral in Sitka, Alaska.  This was the first Russian Orthodox church built in North America, from back in the time before Seward's Folly that Alaska was a little eastward extension of Russian Siberia that jumped the Bering Strait and took hold on North America.

This is from July 2017.  Alaska in July is still very cool.  Las Vegas is cooling down.  Yesterday, I was driving the Birthday Dog to the park at dusk and the car thermometer said/read 98 degrees, which was the first time in over a week that the temperature had already dropped into the double digits at that hour.  You know you've lived in Las Vegas a long time when the temperature is 98 at dusk and you're reaction is:  "Oh!  It's cooling down nicely!"

Sunday Church Digitized Analog Phot-o' the Day in B&W: Chapel of the Holy Cross; Sedona, Arizona

 

The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Catholic Church located on the outskirts of Sedona, Arizona. I am using the term "outskirts" generously, as it is not really near much of anything (except acres and acres of red rock). But it is a functioning Catholic Church.

For the longest time, I thought this church building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It's not. It's about as Frank Lloyd Wright as the Empire State Building. Or last night's bowl of pasta bolognese, for that matter. The architect was local gal Marguerite Brunswig Staude. She was inspired by ... not by any Frank Lloyd Wright designs ... but by ... wait for it ... the Empire State Building. Personally, I don't see the resemblance, but I'm not an architecture professional. She first tried to build a church of this design in Budapest, Hungary, with the assistance of ... wait for it ... FLW's son Lloyd Wright. Plans were abandoned because of this thing called World War II. You know, the one with Hitler.

That's too tenuous of a connection to Frank Lloyd Wright to have been the basis for my thought that this is a Frank Lloyd Wright work. Why I thought so is just a mystery. One of the joyful mysteries. It's not really one of the sorrowful mysteries.

Digitized Analog Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Igreja e Convento de São Francisco; Salvador, Brazil

This is the facade and main entrance of Igreja e Convento de São Francisco, the Church and Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi, in the Pelourinho neighborhood of Salvador, Brazil. The church is just as amazingly beautiful inside as it is outside.

Salvador is a wonderful city. It is the center of Afro-Brazilian culture. (It is probably the best place in the western hemisphere to experience African culture, period.) It has the best music and the best food in Brazil. Basically, it is a Portuguese-speaking version of New Orleans, only with miles and miles of the beautiful beaches.

Visited December 1997. For years, I had wanted to spend Christmas on a beach in Brazil. In 1997, I did. In Salvador.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Cathedral of Brasilia; Brasilia, Brazil

The most retrofuturistic cathedral in the world, in the most retrofuturistic city on the planet: the Cathedral of Brasilia, in the Brazilian capital city of Brasilia.

Like most of Brasilia, the Cathedral was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil's architect of the future, well, the future as envisioned in 1960. The most interesting thing about Brasilia? There are no cross walks. There are almost no intersections. High-speed, multi-lane roads cross above and below each other, but almost never "at grade." There was no thought given to the idea that there would be pedestrians.

So just try walking around downtown Brasilia. On the other hand, don't try. The hot equatorial sun is searing hot, especially in late December (which is when I was there) (which is the beginning of the South American summer) (not the seasons matter all that much this close to the equator). Walking in Brasilia makes walking in L.A. seem like a stroll through a shady village green.

Visited December 1997. Still scanning my analog photos into digital.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Inside the Biserica Mănăstirii Stavropoleos; Bucharest, Romania

The Biserica Mănăstirii Stavropoleos, or the Stavropoleosis Monastery Church has got to considered among the most beautiful churches in Bucharest, Romania. I cannot be certain that it rates as "the most beautiful," although it would have to be a strong contender, exterior as well as interior. I have not visited all 1,883,425 Orthodox churches in Bucharest (one for every resident of the city).

Yes, that number is exaggerated (the number of churches, that is) (as far as I know that is an accurate number for the total population of the city which is bigger than you would think). But there are a lot of churches in Old Town Bucharest, nearly all of them Romanian Orthodox, and nearly all of the them tiny, which would account for the need for large numbers. (The Russian Orthodox church was the only one that looked regular-sized, what you would expect from a suburban Catholic parish church. All of the Romanian Orthodox churches appeared to be, as we would say, fun sized.)

The Biserica Mănăstirii Stavropoleos is incredibly beautiful, inside and outside. Every square inch is ornamentation, including the saints painted on the walls.

Visited May 2019. (That really feels like 10 million years ago as we are now in the fifth month of the COVID lockdowns.)

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Inside the Frauenkirche; Nuremberg, Germany

Interior shot from the Frauenkirche, the Church of Our Lady, on the Hauptmarkt in Nuremberg, Germany. The Hauptmarkt is the large square just north of the river (the Pegnitz, for those keeping score) that is the center for Nuremberg's famous Christmas market.

I visited Nuremberg in December 2018 specifically to visit the Christmas market. Nuremberg's Christmas market is considered to the best in all the world by the experts -- yes, there are people who are experts on all the various European Christmas market -- which in yet another tangential digression is more appropriately referenced as an "Advent" market since they are open for the Advent season, pre-Christmas, rather than the Christmas season, which begins with Christmas Day.

One of my more major travel regrets is that I did not set aside enough time to see and explore Nuremberg. The Christmas Market the evening of my arrival was all the Nuremberg I allotted time to see. The next morning I was off to Trier, Germany. Nuremberg would have been worth a whole day, or two. I'm not sure if I'll make it through to here again, since Nuremberg is a little difficult to get to, as it's in the center of the country and all the major cities and other places people want to see in Tourist Germany are on the country's periphery. This looks like a regret that will always remain unsated.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Our Lady of Grace Cathedral; Belém, Brazil

Our Lady of Grace Cathedral is the main cathedral for the Brazilian port city of Belém.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Altarpiece, Trujillo Cathedral Basilica; Trujillo, Peru

Inside the beautiful Basílica Catedral de Trujillo, on the Plaza de Armas, in downtown Trujillo, Peru, is this incredible altarpiece.  The Cathedral Basilica is very light and sunny inside, as befitting the sunny desert city of Trujillo.

Visited April 2018.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Santuario Nuestra Señora de El Carmen, Bogota, Colombia

This is the interior of Santuario Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Candelaria, the old Centro neighborhood of Bogota, Colombia. Mass is just about ready to start.

The exterior has that same red-and-white-stripe motif.

After several trips to Bogota trying to get inside this beautiful church, I finally was able to get inside in April 2018.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris; Paris, France

In memoriam on the Memorial Day weekend.

This is Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral, on an island in the Seine River in the middle of Paris, France. I visited in June 2016, although I did not actually visit. I walked past. I only had a limited number of days in Paris, and the line to get into the cathedral was long, so I decided to save Notre Dame for my next visit to Paris. It stood for several hundred years, so it was always going to be there, right?

Unfortunately, there was a massive fire in the roof area at the beginning of Holy Week 2019 and they are still assessing the damage and shoring up the structure so restoration can begin. These cathedrals may be built of stone, but there is a whole lot of wood in the framing and that was the tinder that fed the fire. The restoration itself has not yet begun and there still is not absolute certainty that the cathedral can be saved (although I understand that the optimism that it can be restored is much higher than it was a year ago).

May there be a resurrection after the restoration.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Altar de Oro, Iglesia de San José; Panama City, Panama

The Iglesia de San José, in Panama City's Casco Antiguo neighborhood, is an historic church built in the 1670s. The church otherwise may be modest, but there is one thing about it that is not, in the least bit, modest. It is the Altar de Oro, or the Golden Altar.

The church is located in the Casco Antiguo neighborhood of Panama City, Panama. This is the "old town" neighborhood not far from the downtown. This is not to be confused with "Panama Vieja," the original human settlement on the Isthmus of Panama, located near Panama City's International Airport (which must be how those first human habitants got there), which is just archaeological ruins that are in a very ruinized state. Casco Antiguo is not in ruins. It has historic architecture combined with restaurants and nightlife. It's the Panama City version of the French Quarter, but without the stench.

Visited November 2013.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Interior of Crkva Sv. Petra; Petrovina, Croatia

This is the interior of Crkva Sv. Petra (Church of St. Peter) in Petrovina, Croatia. This is the small village in Northern Croatia from which my father's family migrated. As befits a small village, it is a small church.

All church records were destroyed by the communists, so there was no tracing family history here. Yugoslavia wasn't as hostile to the church as were the communists elsewhere (except for Poland). You were allowed to go to church in the former Yugoslavia. You would not be arrested or imprisoned if you did. However, according to the priest who opened this church up for us to see, you would never get promoted beyond an entry-level job or otherwise advance.

Visited September 2014.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Inside St. Stephen's Cathedral; Vienna, Austria

Light a candle for me. Today is my last day of being "middle aged." Tomorrow, I pass a point of demarcation and enter the fourth quarter of life (or, if you prefer baseball, the late innings).* I turn 60.

These particular candles were lit inside St. Stephen's Cathedral, the enormous and tall Gothic church that anchors the historic core of Vienna, Austria. Visited December 2018. When I was still middle aged.
_____________

   * A footnote to explain my quarters/innings analogy. If we get 80 years on this planet, each 20-year period would be a "quarter." As of tomorrow, I will have completed the first three quarters. I do hope the game goes into overtime after the end of the fourth quarter! If you prefer to use innings, then each decade of life is an inning. Traditionally, the middle innings would be the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, with the sixth inning ending the sixth decade. The seventh inning is considered "late innings."

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Infant of Prague; Church of Our Lady Victorious; Prague,Czechia

This is the Infant Of Prague, found in the Church of Our Lady Victorious (Kostel Panny Marie Vítězné) located in the Mala Strana neighborhood of the Czech capital.

On my first visit to Prague, I went to this church (just down the block from the hotel where I was staying) hoping to see the statue. When I walked in, wondering where the Infant of Prague would be, I looked up and I was shocked. Off to my right, halfway down the aisle between the doors and the altar, there he was, the Infant of Prague. Right in the open!

This is one of the most important religious icons in the world. It is definitely the most important icon in the Czech Republic and, unless I'm forgetting something obvious in Poland, it is the most important religious statue to be found in the Slavic world. And it is located in a relatively small, nondescript church in a modest neighborhood of Prague. And it is right there, in the middle of the church, for all to see. It's not locked away in a reliquary in the cathedral, paraded about once a year on an important feast day. (The Infant of Prague's feast day, for those keeping score, is January 14.)

For those who are not well-acquainted with Catholic theology, we Catholics do not pray TO the Infant of Prague. We pray AT the Infant of Prague, because, even though this is only a wax doll, this wax doll reminds us that our lord came into this world as an infant. So, yes, it would be accurate to describe the Infant of Prague icon as the world's most important wax doll.

This picture is from my second visit to Prague, in May 2018.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Interior of La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, Lyon, France

Inside La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, in Lyon, France.

Visited June 2016.

Palm Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Iglesia Timana, Timana, Colombia

This is the strangest Palm Sunday since I converted to Catholicism back in '93. Since church is closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day is a beautiful church building in a beautiful physical setting,

This is the Iglesia Timana, the Catholic church in the southern Colombia city of Timana. I passed through Timana on the five-hour drive from Neiva to San Agustin. Back when I was there, the closest airport to San Agustin and the amazing San Agustin Archaeological Park was in Neiva. Five hours away! The proprietor of the guest house where I was staying in San Agustin came to Neiva airport to pick me up. We stopped in Timana, about two-thirds of the way to San Agustin, just to take a look at this incredibly beautiful church. It has to be old and historic, too -- just look at it! -- but I do not know the back story. I could make one up, but that would be very inappropriate, especially on the Sunday when I should be in a church listening to the passion story.

Timana, Colombia. Passed through in September 2012.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: St. Mark's Church, Zagreb, Croatia

Crkva sv. Marka. Saint Mark's Church. Located on St. Mark's Square, in Gornji Grad, Upper Town, the historic old town of Zagreb, Croatia.

The church dates back to the 13th Century. However, the iconic tile roof dates back only to 1880, with the coats of arms of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia (not to be confused with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, the original name of Yugoslavia) (left) and of the City of Zagreb (right).

Visited May 2010.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: St. Stephen's Basilica, Budapest, Hungary

Szent István Bazilika. St. Stephen's Basilica. On the Pest side of the Danube in Budapest.

Churches are closed all over Las Vegas today due to the coronavirus shutdown, so we have to enjoy our Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day from the outside,

Visited May 2010. I walked past it on other visits to Budapest, but I only went inside on my first visit to Hungary. No flash photography was allowed inside, and the inside was very dark, so the interior photos are extremely dark. And that's the real reason why I am not posting any pictures from inside this beautiful basilica.