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The last part of our visit of the Romanesque churches in Le Puy-en-Velay (central France) now takes us to the one that is possibly the most moving, and certainly the most spectacular of them all: the Saint Michael Chapel, perched on top of the Aiguilhe Rock, an enormous, 82 meters high geological dike made of hard basalt and left standing like a finger sticking out of the plain below by the erosion of all the sediment that once surrounded it.
There is only one way to get there: climb the hard, tall and uneven 268 steps carved out of the basalt, and in doing so, you will be following in the exact footsteps, not only of the millions of Compostela pilgrims that came here over the centuries, but also of innumerable historic figures, among which the Kings of France Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII, who ascended the rock to pray under the humble vaults of the chapel.
According to persistent legends, the first edifice built on top of the rock of Aiguilhe (notice how close the name is to the French word aiguille, i.e., needle) was a Roman temple dedicated to Mercury. No trace of such a sanctuary was ever found by archæologists. The chapel that one can see today was built in two successive phases. First, the initial and very small square chapel, probably with three apses but only two remain today. This was built soon after 950, either by bishop Godescalc (who had been the first French pilgrim of Compostela in 950–51), or more probably by Truannus, dean of the canons of the cathedral chapter, duly authorized by Godescalc. I have not been able to find any definitive evidence pointing to one rather than the other. What is documented, however, is that the finished chapel was consecrated by the said bishop in 961. It was a pre-Romanesque monument.
Secondly, during the late 1000s, the primitive oratory was “surrounded” and augmented by a Romanesque chapel built on the flattened top of the dike. In the process, the probable third apse of the oratory was destroyed to open a way of access between the newly built “nave” and the square space of the oratory, repurposed as “choir”. The best way to understand the layout if to have a look at the floor plan drawn by architect Mallay in the 19th century, here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plan_de_la_chapelle_Saint.... The imposing bell tower was also built at the same time.
One last majestic view of this unique and memorable chapel. If you are ever in Le Puy-en-Velay, I urge you to go visit it, even though the climb may be strenuous to some people —it was to me, to some extent, but there are benches and places to rest along the way, so the ascent really remains manageable, unless you have a serious heart condition, I suppose. Anyway, believer or non-believer, the place truly deserves the effort, especially if you like Mediæval frescoes.
Beautiful Spring Day at Lock 8 along the I & M Canal. Five exposure HDR processed with Nik HDR Efex Pro 2
I cannot claim credit for coming up with this idea. The cosplayers were already posed in these positions when I walked by but I *got* what they were trying to accomplish: using the pillars and lights to look like they were on display.
Not the first time I've seen cosplayers look like they were part of a display or collection (the Shatner/Star Trek and Barbie cosplayers in their toy boxes comes to mind) but the first time I've seen someone use this location for this purpose.
UPDATE: I was totally surprised to find that this image make it on to Flickr's Explore page (No. 425 out of 500). A big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who commented and liked my image!!
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my written permission.
© Toni_V. All rights reserved.
my first time with snowshoes... it was a very nice experience :-)
Happy Slider Sunday! For this creation I started with five exposures converted to HDR with Nik HDR Efex Pro 2. I then used Nik Color Efex Pro 4 for further enhancement
"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries
of the earth are never alone or weary of life" ~ Rachel Carson
I hope you all have a great weekend and see some of the beauty
that surrounds us each and every day....
I am amazed every day with the images I see all around me....
Thanks so much for your visits and your lovely comments and favs....
Be safe ..Be Well...Be Happy......
This image was taken on Sunday 12th June 2015 up at the Pontypool / Blaenavon station where the WWII re-enactment took place.
My thanks to all the people that very kindly posed for me today ... and also for Jeff (Jeffda2) for yet another great day out !
I exaggerated the saturation in order to get a colorful print using my Canon Pixma pro-10. Worked very well.
Another of the many images I took of this Gentleman who kindly posed for me while at the *Blaenavon at War* re-enactment at the Ironworks back on August 8th 2015.
This image was captured with a Nikon D-1 camera with a 70-210mm D SERIES lens using the Nikon electronic file format (.Nef) Shot on Lexar Flash media. All file was post processed using NIKON capture.
© Vincent Versace 2008
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Dave's Old Trucks in Sprague, Washington is an interesting stop for capturing decaying old trucks. The trucks lend themselves to some nice artistic impressions.
Genova, winter 2016
° 500px
° Flickr
° Flipboard: Genova - La Superba
Nikon D7000, sigma wideangle 8-16 mm
Photoshop, Nik Silver Efex Pro
This is the same location as the Subway shot, but taken later after the mist had dissipated.
A bit of fun on the way back from dinner.