Friday, January 25, 2008

A tour of Cathedrals

Sorry I have been missing in action this week. Too much to try to accomplish and too little time. I thought I would share a little dream tour with you. These pictures were actually taken by my daughter Victoria for her art class. Her dad took a day and drove her to some of the prettiest churches in the area so she could snap some photos for drawings. Melissa at the Inspired Room has been doing house drive-bys , and I love those, but I have always been in awe of churches. I have often said I would love to take a tour of Cathedrals and even small country churches as long as they were old. We just don't seem to build them like we used to. It's all about the details and these buildings have them! I grew up in a little country church and it was old enough to have little "secret" rooms and stairs that many people didn't know about. As a teen I cleaned the church so I found them. (Ok, I'm a bit of a snoop too!) Ever since, I have looked at churches like these and wondered what I could find inside if left to myself for an afternoon?
What forgotten doorway, walled up stairway, unused Sunday school rooms or storage rooms?

Could I find old chairs? pews? artworks? Churches are constantly adding on, repurposing rooms. One person stores an item and nobody else thinks of it for years. I found a folk art model of the first Free Methodist church in our little town while we were cleaning out the storage room several years ago. I asked that if nobody wanted it could I have it? I got it, and found out that it was actually made by my husbands great grandfather who was one of the founding families of that church. What a treasure, and I had no idea when I asked for it.

So I would love to go on a tour of Cathedrals and old churches, alone, with my flashlight. Just like treasure hunting old houses, bet I'd find some really amazing stuff!

29 comments:

  1. Kathleen, I agree with you. Are you as curious about old theaters too like me? And another one for me is I love old cemetaries. I know I'm alittle off!LOL But the stones are so beautiful, makes great pictures! Take care, Lori

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  2. Kathy,
    These are WONDERFUL. How much fun, I love these. I toured some churches in Budapest, Italy and Paris and felt the same way. Thanks so much for the fun tour! I have some photos of old colleges too for a future tour! How much fun we can have touring from our own computer!
    Thanks for the intriguing tour. You snoop! LOL!
    Melissa

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  3. Kathy,
    What a neat post! Your daughter's pictures are beautiful, and I know just what you mean about wanting to explore all the forgotten nooks and crannies...

    thanks for the tour!
    xoxo,
    Mary

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  4. Hi Kathy... good morning! Love the new title banner; looks great!and your valentine hearts are just as lovely.

    Have a wonderful day my friend...


    Cielo

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  5. Gorgeous photos of magnificent churches. My sister-law 'collects' churches - she does a lot of photography of churches wherever she goes. She started out with a few that she hoped to put on a calendar just for herself. Now she loves to find the treasures in church buildings any time she visits a new area. Thanks for sharing these with us. I love to photograph architecture - there's a lot of detail that intrigues me. ~Adrienne~

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  6. Love the photos and so much detail!
    Your daughter did a good job..
    I too would like to snoop around in these buildings..

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  7. Oh these are lovely Kathy! We have a lot of beautiful churches here too! In fact, Midland is known as the town of churches! Thank you for the beautiful photos!

    Did your paint dry the same color as the chip on your walls??

    Thanks :)
    Amy

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  8. I love old churches. My favorites are the old country churches. Usually painted white, with one steeple. They stand out in the middle of no where and maybe have a congregation of 50. I have always had a dream of buying an old abandoned country church and remodeling it for my home....can you imagine the peace you would feel living in a place like that?
    Hugs,
    Penny

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  9. I love old churches too Kathy! And these are just beautiful! The photos are so pretty. Thanks for sharing them!
    Barbara

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  10. Very pretty she did a great job.I have never seen such beautiful churches.

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  11. What beautiful places...I love old churches so. These are so very pretty.
    Oh! Did my payment for the heart come through? I never saw anything and may have done something wrong!
    And I got my package and LOVE everything! Thank you SO much. I have taken a few pictures and will post them soon!

    Thank you!!!

    Hugs,
    Sue

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  12. I love old churches. When my husband and I traveled those 4 years we made it a point to visit every Capital building and all the churches in every area we could.
    Susan

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  13. Hi Kathy. Thanks for the tour. The photos are beautiful. Hope you enjoy your Saturday.
    Rhondi

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  14. I love the architure of old churches - great photos!

    Manuela

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  15. Lovely photo tour, Kathy! I bet it would be great fun to go investigating some wonderful old churches:)

    Have a great weekend.
    Rhonda

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  16. I love old Churches, and any old structure for that matter.
    I think it was because of my grandma also why I love white linens so much to this day I can not find sheets that felt as good as hers!
    Have a nice day
    ginger

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  17. I loved the details in these photos! If you ever get to go "church searching" you better call me too! I'll bring the chai tea and the backpack for our finds.

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  18. I have a thing for churches, particularly old ones. I grew up in small Catholic church (less than 100 members) and it was so simple and beautiful. Marble floors and stained glass. These photos are lovely.

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  19. Hi Kathy, we adore old churches too. Your daughters tour was fantastic, beautiful photos and lovely details. A lovely visit, as always :) Jenn and Jacqui

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  20. Hi Kathy - I can relate to the too much to do and so little time to do it in! Now to the churches...how gorgeous! I love old cathedral's and these shots are beautiful. Your daughter did an awesome job.

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  21. Your daughter has captured some beautiful images!

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  22. I really like your banner and your little heart pillows! Great photos too! I agree it would be a lot of fun to poke around in old churches with a flashlight. My imagination always starts running when I dig through old stuff.
    Michelle

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  23. OOOOOOOOO....I GOT MY PACKAGE TODAY and I am just so thrilled absolutely to death with these precious hearts. I bought them for gifts and I DON'T WANNA GIVE 'EM AWAY....oh, my girls are going to love these. I will be ordering more for ME, ME, ME.....
    I will post them tomorrow and can hardly wait to show them off....
    You did an excellent job on the hearts and the wrappings were just lovely. The tags are sooooo precious and such a surprise.
    Many thanks....
    bj

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  24. When I was a little girl I took ballet in one of our local old churches. I've loved them ever since. They even have a scent all their own. And I love your new hearts!! Blessings.. POlly (p.s. too bad I didn't keep up with that ballet!)

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  25. Beautiful Pictures, What a Wonderful Post :)


    Angie

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  26. These pictures are lovely. I jst finished reading Pillars of The Earth by Ken Follete. Set in mideival (I know that is not spelled right!) times, it's all about a communtiy building a church but interestingly goes in to the use of architecture at that time. An easy going, fascinating read!

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  27. Thanks for sharing those wonderful pictures. We attend a very old country church and it's so tiny and I love it.

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  28. I always love seeing you peek over those roses!

    Well, Kathleen, I went and did it! I turned 50 today and I can see you are hot on my trail. Yippee! I'm halfway to 100! It will be fun to see what God has in store for li'l ol' me...

    One gal told me today that I am now officially a crone. Well, to be sure of what this meant, I looked it up and found out that it means "wither old woman." For some reason I felt the urgent need to run and hydrate!!!

    Have a great day!
    KJ

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  29. What great photos. I'm always amazed at how ornate and beautiful churches and cathedrals are that were built so long ago. I was fortunate enough to visit Westminster Abbey a few years ago and also Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

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