Tailer's Family - journeying!
Project: Germany - Lubeck.
Nos. 3 of 5
Germany - Lubeck: Marienkirche - St. Mary's Church, built c1250 - c1350
There is no denying the fact that on the night of Palm Sunday from the 28th to March 29th 1942, the church was almost completely burnt out during an Allied bombing raid along with about a fifth of Lubeck city centre, including the Lubeck Cathedral and St, Peter's Church (which we saw earlier!).
(Let us not, however, forget the tremendous loss of so much within this church as a result of the bombing. This bombing was supposedly meant for the dockyard and the spires of these three places of worship were mistaken for cranes.
Coventry Cathedral was bombarded by the Nazis in 1940. "I am thinking of Coventry - and I have no objection to the doctrine that everything has to be paid for," Thomas Mann announced on the BBC after the raid on Lubeck, giving his fellow countrymen a certainly bitter moral lesson.)
That is the down side, but the flip side - for me right from this point it was an absolute "Wow!"
For two reasons:- in England most of our churches and places of worship were white-washed completely inside during the Reformation. So, immediately I could see something of what our places looked like pre-Reformation!
Secondly, the phrase which I just wanted to shout from the housetops was "we took away your present, but, we restored to you your past!' This place of worship was, like ours back home, completely changed.
The heat of the blaze in 1942 had dislodged large sections of plaster from the walls and ceiling, revealing the original decorative paintings of the Middle Ages, some of which were documented by photograph during the remainder of the Second World War.
It was a really wonderful revelation to see painting from the mediaeval period there on every wall and every column! I just hope that I may have been able to capture some of this wonderment in the work which I shall be sharing with you!
Project: Germany - Lubeck.
Nos. 3 of 5
Germany - Lubeck: Marienkirche - St. Mary's Church, built c1250 - c1350
There is no denying the fact that on the night of Palm Sunday from the 28th to March 29th 1942, the church was almost completely burnt out during an Allied bombing raid along with about a fifth of Lubeck city centre, including the Lubeck Cathedral and St, Peter's Church (which we saw earlier!).
(Let us not, however, forget the tremendous loss of so much within this church as a result of the bombing. This bombing was supposedly meant for the dockyard and the spires of these three places of worship were mistaken for cranes.
Coventry Cathedral was bombarded by the Nazis in 1940. "I am thinking of Coventry - and I have no objection to the doctrine that everything has to be paid for," Thomas Mann announced on the BBC after the raid on Lubeck, giving his fellow countrymen a certainly bitter moral lesson.)
That is the down side, but the flip side - for me right from this point it was an absolute "Wow!"
For two reasons:- in England most of our churches and places of worship were white-washed completely inside during the Reformation. So, immediately I could see something of what our places looked like pre-Reformation!
Secondly, the phrase which I just wanted to shout from the housetops was "we took away your present, but, we restored to you your past!' This place of worship was, like ours back home, completely changed.
The heat of the blaze in 1942 had dislodged large sections of plaster from the walls and ceiling, revealing the original decorative paintings of the Middle Ages, some of which were documented by photograph during the remainder of the Second World War.
It was a really wonderful revelation to see painting from the mediaeval period there on every wall and every column! I just hope that I may have been able to capture some of this wonderment in the work which I shall be sharing with you!