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The inspired hill of Vézelay
The Burgundy hill of Vézelay, which French writer Paul Claudel named “eternal”, has been drawing hundreds of thousands of pilgrims (nowadays more likely tourists) since time immemorial. It has also drawn strife, battles and pillage: the big monastery was no less than six times destroyed by fire, and always rebuilt. Here, the Second Crusade was preached on Easter Day of 1146 by Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, whom King Louis VII of France had summoned to be lectured on the sort of penance his royal person should submit to to atone for his many sins: Bernard chose the Crusade. Crusaders congregated here as well for the Third one, in 1190.
The history of Vézelay began around 850, when Count Girard de Roussillon founded a nunnery at the foot of the hill, in the locale now occupied by the village of Saint-Père-sous-Vézelay. Fifteen years later, the nuns had been replaced by monks for reasons that never reached us. What we know is that further to a Viking raid on Burgundy in 887, the monks took refuge at the top of the hill, in the remnants of a Roman oppidum, and never went down again.
Originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the monastery they built on the hilltop was placed in 1050 under the patronage of Mary Magdalene, further to the claimed transport of her bones from the Holy Land by a monk named Badillon. This so-called “transposition” was validated by the Pope, but the people of Provence rebelled fiercely against that ruling: it had indeed always been well known that the saint, who had been the very first, even before the apostles, to see Christ resuscitated, had left the Holy Land and come to France where she finished her life in the mountains of the Sainte- Baume, which were named after her. Her bones had been kept in the basilica of Saint-Maximin, the largest church in the whole of Provence.
Thus sanctioned by the Pope, and confirmed yet again by Pascal II in 1103, the claim of the Vézelay monks drew immense crowds (and brought enormous riches). The fact that they also claimed to have the bones of Martha and Lazarus were not for nothing in the considerable attraction the abbey had on a pilgrimage-hungry Christendom. However, the Provençal people were victorious in the end, when they revealed that the bones of the Magdalene, which had been hidden during the 900s as the Saracens drew nearer, were opportunely re-discovered in 1279. This time, Pope Boniface VIII found in their favor and that ruling was never overturned: the pilgrimage to Vézelay was dead, even though the big church kept its dedication.
The rest of the history of Vézelay is a long downhill walk. In 1537, the Benedictine monks are replaced by canons. In 1568, the Protestants seize the church and burn it again. Finally, in 1819, lightning strikes and sets the church aflame for the last time. When architect Viollet-le-Duc, mandated by Minister Prosper Mérimée, arrives on-site in 1840, the abbey church of Vézelay is but a gutted carcass, ready to collapse. That same year, the church was put on the first list of French Historic Landmarks (“Monuments historiques”) and restoration works were undertaken urgently; they were to last until 1861, and many other such works have been undertaken since.
The church was granted basilica status in 1920, and in 1979 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, as it is the starting point of one of the major Paths to Compostela, the Via Lemovicensis, so-named because it runs through the large city of Limoges.
On that day of June 2024 I went to Vézelay as a side trip during a photographic expedition for the Fondation pour la Sauvegarde de l’Art Français, one of the non-profit heritage organizations I work for as a pro bono photographer, it was raining. Therefore, I took no photo of the outside, but instead concentrated on the inside. Furthermore, a lot of what can be seen on the outside, including the façade and the tympanum, are re-creations of the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc, and thus much less interesting for our purpose.
The nave has two tiers and is deliberately and staunchly Romanesque. It clearly refuses the architectural innovations introduced at Cluny shortly before, such as the false triforium that creates an impression of elevated height, or the slightly broken arches that appear to try and reach for the heavens. Instead, it favors the perfect barrel arches and the groin vaults that cover the nave as well as the aisles.
As Raymond Oursel points out in the Zodiaque–published book Bourgogne romane, the use of dichromatic stones casts an exotic note reminiscent of the Velay and Brionnais churches further South, even of Cordovan Spain. The architectural and decorative inspiration for Vézelay is to be found in the Anzy-le-Duc and Perrecy-les-Forges churches, both of which have already been featured in my stream.
It comes as no surprise that construction on the Romanesque church we can still see today began under the abbacy of Renaud de Semur, who was precisely from the Brionnais province (the “Semur” in his name is Semur-en-Brionnais, not the better known Semur-en-Auxois), and a nephew of Saint Hugh (saint Hugues in French, born Hugues de Semur), abbot of Cluny between 1049 and 1109.
Island Autumn - 15 images - Nikon D800 with Nikon AF Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D Prime (F mount) & Polarizer - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives on Vancouver Island, where he works as a writer.
James Joyce, Writer
Born: 2 February 1882
Birthplace: Rathgar (near Dublin), Ireland
Died: 13 January 1941 (perforated ulcer)
Best Known As: Author of Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake
Name at birth: James Augustine Aloysius Joyce
Joyce was to modern literature what Picasso was to modern art: he scrambled up the old formulas and set the table for the 20th century. Joyce's books Ulysses (1921) and Finnegan's Wake (1939) ignored traditional plot and sentence structure in favor of sprawling, witty, complex mixtures of wordplay, streams of consciousness, and snatches of sights and aromas woven in with the rambling reveries of the characters. Joyce grew up in Dublin, set all his major stories there, and is intricately associated with the city; Ulysses tells the story of one day in the life of Leopold Bloom as he travels the city's streets. (Bloom's wanderings are compared to those of mythical hero Ulysses -- hence the book's title.) Finnegan's Wake went even further with dreamy wordplay and inventive genius, but also cemented Joyce's reputation as a challenging, even difficult author to read. Joyce moved from Dublin in 1904 with his girlfriend Nora Barnacle; they had a son (Giorgio) in 1905 and a daughter (Lucia) in 1907, but were not married until 1931. They lived in Paris from 1920 until World War II forced a move to Zurich, where Joyce died in 1941. His other works include The Dubliners (1914) and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).
Joyce worked on Finnegan's Wake for 17 years before its publication in 1939... Joyce suffered from weak eyesight throughout his life and wore thick, owlish glasses... The day described in Ulysses is 16 June 1904, and in some cities 16 June is whimsically celebrated as "Bloomsday"... Though Joyce is closely tied to Dublin, he never returned to the city after a visit in 1912... Joyce's birthday also happens to be Groundhog Day... The main character of Finnegan's Wake is named Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker... The famous first line of Finnegan's Wake is: "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."
So I´ve been struggling with a bit of writer´s block. I knew where I wanted the story to go up until now. So far I had no idea how to continue it and feeling obligated to finish it didn´t help at all… Being swamped with work didn´t help either. So I took some time away from my Twisted Tales. During my summer break I suddenly knew where I wanted the story to go. However there still is room for alterations. So where would you like to see the story go?
Question mark made from pencil shavings on a writers notepad. generating new ideas concept. Writer workplace on a dark background.
Writers’ Tears undertakes a programme of celebrations for the Centenary of Ulysses; Carlow, Ireland – 25, May 2022: Writers’ Tears® super-premium Irish whiskey has released a limited, collector’s edition bottle of its Copper Pot expression. The bottling commemorates the centenary of one of the world’s most renowned literary works – James Joyce’s Ulysses.
A family member was in Ireland recently and picked this up for me for Father's Day. Not available for sale directly in US. I don't know why.
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By the studio of Ghemar Freres, Brussels.
One of the most important French writers of the 19th century, Victor Hugo's (1802-1885) best known works include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Miserables (1862). Hugo's political ideas won him both acclaim and hostility - he fled France in 1851 due to his opposition to Napoleon. At his death in 1885 he was publicly celebrated, receiving burial in the Pantheon with great honours.
This portrait is called a carte-de-visite and was taken at the studio of Ghemar Freres, Brussels, in about 1870.A carte-de-visite is a photograph mounted on a piece of card the size of a formal visiting card of the 1850s. The format was introduced by the French photographer Andre-Adolphe-Eugene Disdéri (1819-1889) in 1854. The craze for collecting celebrity cartes-de-visite in albums reached its peak during the 1860s but the format remained popular until the beginning of the twentieth century.
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"ONE SMALL STEP FOR SAM, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR SAMKIND"
What (you ask) has this magazine cover to do with the Science Fiction movie "Moon"?
Well, it's one that I just happen to have in my collection, a copy of which I spotted in the film....
Here's my review:
MOON
Feature Film
Directed by Duncan Jones
Screenplay by Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker
97 minutes
United Kingdom
Zowie! Let’s get that out of the way. Yes, Duncan Jones, co-writer and director of the British Science Fiction movie “Moon” is David Bowie’s son and if you want to think of the film’s plot as revealing the ultimate fate of Major Tom, go right ahead I won’t stop you.
Budgeted at five million dollars, “Moon” cost a lot less than a NASA lunar mission, or indeed a NASA moon shot toothbrush but, as with the slightly more pricey genre hit, “District 9”, provides an astonishingly big bang for its paltry space-credits.
Well, perhaps not so much literal pyrotechnics, as this is more cerebral Science Fiction, rather than space war, super hero slugfest or giant robot rampage. (Which is not to say that they can’t be brainbusters as well.) Rather, “Moon” is set on the title satellite within futuristic spitting distance of today. We’re mining dear old Selene naked (Down lads! Naught to do with the star of "Underworld"!) essentially raking through the moon dust for Helium 3, celebrity isotope of the century because of its potential use in nuclear fusion reactors. Here splendidly realised (in a tidy montage at least) and providing 70 percent of Earth’s energy needs. Korean based Lunar Industries Ltd. is a big mining concern that maintains a semi-automated one-man station on the moon station. Why they don’t shift over to total mechanisation given the high level of sophisticated robotics otherwise on display is one of the film’s few sticking points. Never mind, perhaps there’s a property rights derived legal necessity that requires the base have an actual human living and working on site. If so, you’d think that Occupational Health And Safety wouldn’t let them get away with a lone operator! With good reason too, as solo Astronaut Sam Bell, very near the end of a gruelling three year contractual tour of duty, is looking and acting increasingly seedy. Taking his character on what turns out to be an existential quest to find himself is actor Sam Rockwell, who's shaping up into a rather noteworthy genre star.
Rockwell was Crewman Number Six from “Galaxy Quest”, Zaphod Beeblebrox in the “Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” movie, and even played Batman in the short film “Robin’s BIg Date”. He’s also rogue industrialist Justin Hammer in “Iron Man 2”. The “Moon” role is an actor’s challenge that results in one small step for Sam, one giant leap for Samkind. Rockwell quirkily paints a ‘Dorian Gray’ portrait of an off world working stiff coming messily unglued at the space suit seams. As who wouldn’t, with nothing to do but service dust harvesters, build intricate scale model buildings and watch reruns of “Bewitched” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. Even his technical reading mater is dustily dated, I spotted a copy of the old weekly aviation encyclopaedia “Take Off” on his space bunk. What sad ubergeek would still have that? It’s issue # 15 and came out in 1988. Very interesting article on carpet bombing Germany with B-17s, as well as a spiffing reference guide to business jets, including (Tee hee) the “Rockwell” Sabreliner Series. (Sometimes, I even let Arnold J. Rimmer borrow my copy.)
There aren’t many other faces to take the focus off Rockwell’s cleverly star-crossed performance, though I did notice that Matthew Berry has a minor, as opposed to a miner, role. Berry is well known to surreal genre buffs for being in “The IT Crowd”, “Garth Marenghi's Darkplace” and “The Mighty Boosh”. Blink, and you’ll miss him here!
Poor Garth is well upstaged by the voice of Kevin Spacey, whose genre credits include: “Superman Returns”, “Seven”, “Outbreak”, “K-Pax”, “Austin Powers In Goldmember”, “Fred Claus” and the upcoming “The Men Who Stare At Goats”. It’s just as well he’s a voice actor too, (in “A Bug’s Life” at least) because he’s the calmly spoken GERTY, the base’s built-in HAL -9000 like computer/robot assistant. Actually Kubrick’s “2001” and its implacable Right Stuffy Space Rangers has a little less to do with the gritty tone of “Moon” than films like “Silent Running”, “Outland”, “Dark Star” and, at an existential stretch, “Solaris”. So, regarding rogue robots, you won’t find too many echoes of Duncan Jones’ bachelor degree in philosophy thesis: “How to Kill Your Computer Friend: An Investigation of the Mind/Body Problem and How It Relates to the Hypothetical Creation of a Thinking Machine.”
No, it’s not robot revolution that’s at the heart of Lunar Station Sarang’s (the Korean word for ‘love’) increasingly over pressurised troubles. Still, that entirely unflappable, too reasonable voice is one more reason to go over the edge and stay there. The film’s effectively evoked atmosphere is a low budget marvel and everything in the production design, from the womb like padded space suits to the cramped lunar rovers and the unyielding confines of the base itself, serve to bottle up the long suffering main character’s angst; as the human condition turns in on itself backed by a constant, air conditioned hum. (Craftsmanship like this doesn’t just happen, take a bow Production Designer Tony Noble, Costume Designer Jane Petrie and all your clever artisan Selenites!)
As an occassional propmaker myself I couldn’t help but keep an eye out for the usual recycled flotsam and jetsam being used in the sets, but for a film this low budget I was quite surprised that even I had trouble identifying the usual junk, apart from a few repainted plastic cutlery draw liners and packaging discards. I also suspect extensive reliance upon real miniatures and models tweaked with computer jiggerypokery also helped keep costs down. Oh, and Luna’s 1/6th Earth gravity is generally well depicted outside on the surface, with ‘moon hopping’ being the preferred (presumably wire rigged) mode of walking and roostertails of dust taking a long, stately time to fall. INSIDE the base, however, the filmmakers either worked around or ignored the issue. Given the questionably high level of biotechnology on display perhaps ‘The Company’ also makes artificial gravity generators?
I’m not sure if the main idea has enough juice to warrant an additional two planned sequels without serious tinkering but for the most part “Moon” is a deliberately slow paced, reflectively sturdy Science Fiction film, though veteran buffs will probably twig to what’s going on quickly enough. No real matter, the ending still feels organic to the plot, even if the ‘grand gesture’ finale doesn’t quite deliver on the measured build up. In a year that also yielded up the splendid “District 9”, “Moon” is a most impressive debut feature. You’ve really made the grade Mr Jones, protein pills all round!
Rob Jan
Zero-G
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A paperbark maple tree in the arboretum of Glasgow Botanic Gardens. According to the blurb:
"Plant collector Ernest Wilson brought seeds back to the UK in 1901. This tree is probably descended from one of them. While the tree produces lots of seeds, only around 1% germinate. Consequently it's extremely rare, particularly here in Europe.
Its papery copper-brown bark peels off in crisp shaped pieces. In spring it produces pendant flowers. In autumn the leaves turn bright red."
Milano
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"no, we are explorers..."
"Stay away from these tunnels, you will get caught and it will be very bad for you"
Casa Morales is nestled amongst the store fronts on the east side of Tlalplan in Centro CDMX.
The weathered storefront has been tended by Jorge Morales Arroyo for business for over 35 years. Before then, it was his father's.
This photo essay focuses on the mechanics of each machine, but the real story remains in the years Jorge's family spent behind this counter, caring for machines that were essential in a time of oil, gears, and metal.
Graffiti writer, Step in the Arena, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2016
On Saturday the 4th of June 2016 I went to the 6th version of the graffiti festival Step in the Arena in Eindhoven. On this graffiti festival I spotted this graffiti writer. I asked him, if I may make a pictures of him, and he agreed on it. I didn’t ask this stranger for his name this time.
Thanks for posing!
100 Strangers Group
This picture is #47 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
The Human Family Group
This is portrait #20 in my Human Family project. To view more street portraits and stories visit The Human Family
Mona Gabriel, writer. First public reading of the biography of one of the most prominent German female writers, Hedwig Courths-Mahler.
Hi,
like I promised I got some more stuff for you. I really love this series. Why it´s called the writer? You will find out later ;). Feel free to leave comments!
Wish you all the best! See you tomorrow!
Cheers, Marcus
Canon EOS 5D MK III
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4
TV 1/8000
AV 1.8
ISO 50
Post - Production with Photoshop