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More singing
ETA: They're apparently singing the French Ave Maria
ETA: They're apparently singing the French Ave Maria
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Work began on Notre Dame in 1180. It took 200 years to finish. And in the time since the cathedral was largely completed in 1260, it has survived war and weather and changing fashions. It survived the loss of its spire once before, in 1786, after the spire’s supporting structure was so weakened by centuries of weathering that restorers removed it and replaced it. It survived riots from the Huguenots. It survived the French Revolution. It survived Napoleon. It survived World War II.
Notre Dame represents the most beautiful things that we as human beings can make if we pour unimaginable amounts of labor and wealth and resources and time into the effort. It’s a pinnacle of a certain kind.
We're on good terms, right? You wouldn't use your powers to curse me, right?On a completely related note, I was catching up with a friend and we were talking about her mom still going to church as a Catholic, and this happened (my texts are on the right):
View attachment 227
Oh, guess who now fancies himself as a firefighter and knows more than they do! He's a complete idiot, even in that role! Anyone with half a brain knows that dumping that much water all at once on a burning structure is going to collapse pretty much the entire structure!Asshat45 has advice for every situation. Right?
"And when California burns you threaten to take away federal support... "
Well it was an innovation for sure; before the Gothic art style came along, Romanesque was the way to go, which looked completely different. The first ever to be considered Gothic church was Saint Denis near Paris, today a suburb of Paris, build by abbott Suger. After it was built the art style spread around France, England and the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation as well.My understanding that either a relic or a cathedral was the middle ages version of a moon shot. It placed you "on the map" and just having one turned your city into an economic engine and a seat of power ... well, more than it was, anyways, since it took serious resources to build one.
On visiting the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto, Douglas Adams was impressed at how well the 14th-century structure had weathered the passage of time. His Japanese guide told him that it hadn’t weathered well at all; in fact it had burned to the ground twice in the 20th century.
“So this isn’t the original building?” Adams asked.
“But yes, of course it is.”
“But it’s been burned down?”
“Yes.”
“Twice.”
“Many times.”
“And rebuilt.”
“Of course. It is an important and historic building.”
“With completely new materials.”
“But of course. It was burned down.”
“So how can it be the same building?”
“It is always the same building.”
“I had to admit to myself that this was in fact a perfectly rational point of view, it merely started from an unexpected premise,” Adams wrote. The essence of a building is its design, the intention of the builder. The materials may decay and be replaced, but these are only instantiations of a persistent idea. “I couldn’t feel entirely comfortable with this view, because it fought against my basic Western assumptions,” Adams wrote, “but I did see the point.”