Sunday, June 7, 2009

Travel Journal: Old Montreal, Basilique Notre-Dame of Montreal


I won't spend too much time writing about the Basilique Notre-Dame of Montreal.
It's grandiosity mostly speaks for itself, and there is a world of information available to those wish to know more. (see the Basilica website here, or the wikipedia entry here)

I will say however, that I feel quite grateful to have seen this architectural masterpiece with my own eyes, to have sat in its its pews and marveled at the world we live in and at the imagination and creativity of the people who inhabit it together.

It won't surprise anyone who knows me to know that at one point, 
I simply sat down and cried at the majesty of it all. 
One of these days maybe I will encounter beauty without a tear dropping from my eye, 
but then again .. maybe not.

My photos, I am afraid, show nothing of the detail found inside. 
I strongly suggest following those links to see better quality images.
This staircase for example, was just . . . WOW. . . up close and personal, but the photo ... eh.

Frankly I was just too busy wandering around gawking to really get a good picture. I also apparently missed out on a room full of contemporary Christian art that I was told later would have blown my mind.  Sigh. Oh well.

I think I might have stayed there all day if everyone wasn't waiting outside for me once again!


2 comments:

plaidshoes said...

That just looks breathtaking. Can you imagine worshipping there every week? Awe inspiring.

Paul Oakley said...

They've sure got the luminosity thing going there!

It's possible I wouldn't have cried as you did, but I probably would have been farklempt!

Bookshelf

Shannon's currently-reading book montage

The Complete Poems
Collected Poems
Kenya: Between Hope and Despair, 1963-2011
Anti-Bias Education for young children and ourselves
I Laugh So I Won't cry: kenya's Women Tell the Stories of Their Lives
How to Be Compassionate: a Handbook for Creating Inner Peace and a Happier World
Children
The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections
The Secret Garden


Shannon's favorite books »

Shannon's read-in-2012 book montage

Rethinking Early Childhood Education
Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children
Safari Animals
Young Children Reinvent Arithmetic: Implications of Piaget's theory (early childhood education series
Total Learning: Developmental Curriculum for the Young Child
Clinical Supervision and Teacher Development


Shannon's favorite books »
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