I have visited a number of cathedrals around the world. They are gorgeous, but they start to blend together after a while. Today I visited St. Stephan's in Mainz. It was simplistically stunning. The stain glass windows were the works of Chaguall or his students. The ones with more color at the front and back were his and the others (all blues and clear) were his students. I was told that they were so positioned, that when the sun shines through, the whole interior is bathed in a blue light. Unfortunately today was overcast, so I must take their word for it. There were however two windows that I did not think went along with the rest. They were much brighter and cut differently, they simply appeared new. Accompanying me was Y, the husband of my friend S, and he agreed that they did not appear to match the others. In fact he said he'd never seen them before, despite multiple visits to the cathedral in the past.
But there were two really unique things that caught my eye (other than the stained glass). First off the organ. Upon first glance one may think the organ stands there majestically, but on second glance one feels as if they are simply being duped.
No they are not trying to pull the wool over your eyes, a new organ is in the works, to be completed in 2012. It is being erected to the tune (pun intended) of 900,000€. That's nearly $1.2 million.
The other unique thing that caught my eye was this cloth covered object (pulpit maybe?) at first I thought it was one of those street performers who dress up like statues!
Oh yes, when you open your eyes, you might just be deceived!
But all in all I had a great short visit to Mainz, and I really do hope to go back and visit one day when the sun is shining through!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Mainz, Germany
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