To Show You What You're Missing...

[endlessrarities]

I have no photographs of mind-blowing Byzantine art from Crete, so here's the next best thing, a few pictures showing the interior of the San Giovanni Baptistry in Florence. 

When I first set foot in here, my jaw nearly hit the floor.  I'm sure you can understand why!!

 

WOW!!!

Okay, I saw nothing that was this big, this in-your-face or this well-preserved on Crete, but...  It does convey a similar impression, what with the gold and the colour and the imagery.  It just makes you wonder what our own churches and cathedrals were like, when they were competing on a global market for the medieval tourists on the pilgrim trail...

Oh, dear.  If you ask me, the Reformation has got a lot to answer for....

Comments

[bellakara.livejournal.com]

The Reformation was a cultural/artistic disaster in Scotland.

Those Florentine photos are lovely.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Least we kept a hold of a good chunk of the music.

If Robert Carver's work had gone up in flames, it would have been a major blow to Humanity. And we wouldn't even have known it, either!!

England didn't fare much better, either...

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

Wow. These are just plumb amazing. I think of all the work that went into some of these buildings, the time and resources. Granted, perhaps the people were hungry and sick and that's not a good thing. But I also think about our public buildings & structures around the world and how many cultures/countries are putting this level of detail and beauty into them? I've been surprised at the new motorway upgrades in our area. They *are* decorative. They might be huge concrete pieces but they have designs in the concrete. Our local train station has put ceramic artwork (topographical renditions of the area) along the walls (also helps with noise) and stained glass-style Pacific-themed decals on the glass along the trench. They are nothing compared to the beauty in your picts though!

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

They certainly knew how to build for posterity!

I think most modern buildings are deliberately built with a 30 year life span, something which would have been unthinkable to our medieval, etc. ancestors.