MCT, you've brought to mind Notre Dame de Paris, by Victor Hugo (don't know why really, and i'm talking about the real novel, not "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"). In the opening pages of volume two, Hugo goes into a beautifully written disquistion on architecture as speech. He characterizes the ancient dolmens and menhirs as a mere word, the zigaruts and early primitive pyramids as phrases, the later pyramids and Greco-Roman architecture as complete thoughts . . . and finally arrives at the cathedral of Our Lady, built by thousands of workmen over a period of nearly two centuries (1163 to 1345)--which to him equates to a vast epic poem . . . one of the most inspiring passages of metaphoric literature i've ever read . . .
Laborare est orare. Raise high the roof beam, carpenters. The sanctity of labour. The craft guilds. The great buildings, often compared to symphonies and other works of the highest art.
There's a lot in there. Symbolism, tangible form of man's highest aspirations.
Phew.
Oh yes, I remember! Great citation, Set!
Also, McT, when I lived in Spain and was an artist who had shows, etc. etc., I was required to become a member of the artisan guild (yes indeed, no distinction made, a non-distinction I agree with!). I was given an ID card which looked as if it had been designed in the 12th century (still have it somewhere probably). Thought it was about the greatest thing that had ever happened to me. But I didn't orare, I probably raised a glass of Rioja!
Just as an aside, I've been to Barcelona, last summer, and I saw i.a. the Sagrada Famiglia cathedral which is building there.
I've got to say, for me, it doesn't work. I don't like it. I don't get it.
And I'm writing to ask: am I alone? Does anybody else here feel the same about this building?
Tartarin, yes, I am pleased, very pleased, by the refs to the Columbus buildings. Not only by each, but by the succession.
wow.
on the Sagrada Famiglia cathedral, I am still ignerent.
Well, Gaudi is kind of an acquired taste, I'd have to admit.
The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650
John Morris, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1973
This is not knights in armor or mythic heroes but the best history of the transition from the Roman to the Medieval world written in the last half century. Morris points out that the term "Dark Ages" is used to impose a point of view, that times are lost and unknowable, and therefore unimportant. He argues that there is in fact a good deal of information about this period, but it does not come in the forms historians are used to dealing with, thus they ignore it. He employs a broad range of sources from documents, to archaeology to place name analysis. As an archaeologist this is the best and most sensitive use of archaeological data by historian that I am aware of. I highly recommend it
"... that times are lost and unknowable, and therefore unimportant."
That's what got me going, Aquiunk -- the tendency to call "dark" or "unimportant" something one is unable to see!
oh, sorry, didn't connect that as gaudi's cathedral. Sadly I am not a fan. Although I can see that I should be, re groundbreaking.
I'm posting this awful news in various places, to catch the eye of those who might not see it in the Politics thread and General: Announcements --
Our friend, Mamajuana, died last Monday afternoon. She had been in iffy health for years but game and very much a participant in our lives and in those of her family. About two weeks ago she contracted a bacterial flu-like thing which her doctor believed was a result of air pollution in northern NJ. Her heart gave up the fight. Her last email to me (if the times given are to be trusted) was written within half an hour of her death. So she was still with us all in mind and spirit until the end.
If you'd like to add a response, we've created a thread in "General/Announcements." After a few days go by, I'll cut and paste the responses into an email for her daughter and husband (who let me know) and who would probably be comforted by the warmth of the many responses to the loss of this good, intelligent friend.
This is the link to the topic Tartarin is talking about:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12285
