OK, DUers! the Friday Afternoon Challenge: You got your world class cathedrals right here!

[CTyankee]

Six cathedrals, pictured here with distinguishing features to give you a hint, have been chosen for today’s challenge. Can you identify them? Which is the oldest? Which is the most recent?
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

[gateley]

1. Wow! nt

[xchrom]

2. i forget where it is -- but the first one is chagal isn't it?

and one of them chartre -- i think.

[Tx4obama]

3. #3 is Milan, Italy. View from roof of Milan Cathedral. n/t

[CTyankee]

10. Is that your guess?

[Tx4obama]

17. Yes. It is the view from roof of Milan Cathedral. n/t

[CTyankee]

21. Absolutely. I love the shot. Usually you only see that cathedral from the front.

It's very nice, BTW. Unfortunately, when I visited Milan I was just getting over a virus and I had to also visit several bathrooms along the way to the cathedral...it was nice to go in and sit in the coolness of its vast interior space...

[Lorien]

Yep. I guess I never made it to the roof because I don't remember that view

but it's there alright:

(on edit; how she got past the priests I'll never know. They were turning away women who weren't very modestly dressed when I visited. I had to cover my cleavage with a jacket to get past them).

[CTyankee]

35. Maybe she wore a jacket going in and then chucked it for the photo! nt

[Kurovski]

4. The last one, is it in venice?

[CTyankee]

12. No.

[Tx4obama]

20. The last one: Florence, Italy. n/t

[Tx4obama]

23. The The East Doors of the Florence Baptistry. I've been there :) n/t

[CTyankee]

27. My second trip to Florence was last September. What a place!

I walked everywhere and at every turn there was another art masterpiece in a church, or a palazzo. You are surrounded by a concentration of the best art of western civilization...

[CTyankee]

24. Of course. I really thought this would be guessed first because the Doors of Paradise are

so well known. Ghiberti was a genius...

[Kurovski]

30. I remember them from the floods when I was a kid. I got the wrong town.

They are astonishing. I had the Life magazine covering the flood in Florence for years. It was heartbreaking.

Or am I wrong again? :)

[CTyankee]

32. You should look for a book called "Dark Water." It's recent and it is about the

flood in Florence in 1966. Quite a story! The author also tells the story of how the Nazis blew up every bridge, except the Ponte Vecchio, in Florence in the face of the advancing Allied forces on Florence. The fiorentini actually put the David in scaffolding with batting stuffed in and then bricked it up to preserve it against any onslaught. If you love this art, the book is fascinating!

[Kurovski]

42. I do love it, and the book is now on my list.

You are brilliant, CT :)

Thanks.

[CTyankee]

45. Aww, you are sweet. I'm just retired and I have lots of time on my hands.

So I indulge my craving for art.

You will love that book, if you like art history. It is riviting. Did you know Ted Kennedy visited Florence right after the flood? And Jackie Kennedy raised $$$ for saving/restoring the art and books of Florence that were so damaged in the flood. So many young people from all over came there to volunteer their time and effort in the cleanup of so much art and old documents.

It was a different time, indeed...

[trackfan]

5. 2 is Hagia Sophia, isn't it?

That must be the oldest.

[CTyankee]

15. Yes! Right on both counts!

What an eye popping place! I hope to go to Istanbul some day to see that cathedral and also the Blue Mosque...

[pitohui]

81. go to istanbul sooner rather than later, you won't regret it

the hagia sophia will always be there, as far as the blue mosque, i am a little troubled that some of the asian tour groups are not respecting the rules as far as women covering their heads, don't take photos using flash, etc...i believe that eventually the blue mosque will be shut down to tourism because of this...could be the language barrier, i don't know, but these groups are making all tourists look bad even tho most are trying to be respectful

in any case, very beautiful city with a lot to do

[CTyankee]

84. I have a group of Turkish women in my ESL class.

They go back to Turkey to visit in the summer. We are so blessed in my city having two fabulous Turkish restaurants nearby and a Turkish food market where you can get great yoghurt. They are lovely people...

[CTyankee]

85. Ugh. I hate it when tourists act that way!

I have a group of Turkish women in my ESL class. We have a vibrant Turkish community here and we are fortunate to have two fabulous Turkish restaurants nearby!

They are lovely people...

[blogslut]

58. shoot

I knew that one without having to look it up. Kudos to you!

[CTyankee]

73. I can't get anything past YOU, blogslut! You are the best! nt

[CTyankee]

76. Yes, that is right!

[uppityperson]

6. No clue, kicking to mark to check back later

[Missy Vixen]

7. Okay. I'll try it. I like a challenge. LOL

I think #4 is the oldest. I think #1 is the most recent.

I think #3 is in France.

I think #2 is the cathedral at the Vatican.

And yeah, I'm probably wrong, but I'll takes my lumps. ;-) Thanks for posting the great photos!

[CTyankee]

31. No on your first two guesses,

Your guess on #3 is understandable...it has more of French feeling than other duomi in Italy but as you can see, it is the duomo of Milan...

[LuvNewcastle]

8. 2 is the Hagia Sophia

I'm guessing that 5 is St. Peter's

[CTyankee]

37. Yes on #2. But #5 is not St. Peter's.

[sufrommich]

9. I don't know what #3 is (or any of the others unfortunately) but that

is one cool pic! Nice find.

[CTyankee]

38. I know. I loved it when I saw it. Mind boggling...

[Reader Rabbit]

11. Hmmmm...

1. ????
2. Hagia Sofia (oldest?)
3. Notre Dame de Paris
4. St. Paul's
5. Canterbury
6. St. Mark's

[Reader Rabbit]

33. Kick for corrections! n/t

[CTyankee]

36. #2 is correct. I'm sorry but the other guesses are not...nt

[Brickbat]

13. 1. Reims.

[CTyankee]

18. C'est vrai!

That is the Chagall window. He did this back in the 1970s...

[Brickbat]

19. I love Chagall. I recognized it right away.

[pitohui]

82. more chagall windows

i didn't know that lovely window was reims, haven't been there, but i recognized his style and that beautiful shade of blue-- there are lovely chagall windows at st. stephens in mainz, germany (easy access from europe's largest airport FRA)

well worth the seeing, very emotional

[Kurovski]

14. #1, All Saint's Church?

[CTyankee]

48. It is not All Saint's. Where is that?

[Kurovski]

70. I think you will like this...

http://www.tudeley.org/allsaintstudeley.htm

All Saints’ Tudeley is the only church in the world* to have all its twelve windows decorated by the great Russian artist Marc Chagall.

[CTyankee]

78. what a lovely remembrance! I LOVED that. Wonderful explanation.

[Solly Mack]

16. 3 is the Milan Cathedral

Oh well..already answered.

[Kurovski]

22. I'm guessing #5 is the oldest.

[CTyankee]

44. Close, but no...as you can see, #2 is the oldest...nt

So that's a hint...

[Lefta Dissenter]

25. no clue (other than reading other people's answers!)

but thanks for posting the gorgeous photos. :hi: Stunning art and architecture!

[Kurovski]

26. At first I thought you were going to have a trick question with #1

The Chagall windows at the art institute of Chicago were recently re-installed.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. I got a few of them.

#1 is Marc Chagall, I don't know the church.
#2 is Hagia Sophia.

#4 is Eleanor of Aquitaine? not sure where. Looks familiar.
#5 is St. Peter's in Rome?

#6 is the famous doors to the Baptistry by Ghiberti at Florence Cathedral. With the famous egg shaped dome.
On edit: Ghiberti not Brunelleschi.

I have seen a replica of these doors at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, CA.

I liked Art History. Our professsor was a character named Peter Wolfgang Guenther. This was the University of Houston which is a large state school.
Supposedly, his parents were art dealers, and as a child he played on Paul Klee's knee.

His daughter Irene wrote a book on the Nazis and fashion. They made the Paris designers make clothes for the high echelon Nazi wives.

[CTyankee]

39. #4 is not Eleanor of Aquitaine. #5 is not St. Peter's. You got the rest right!

And yes, Brunelleschi did the dome but lost the contest on the doors to Ghiberti.

I LOVE the story of your art professor!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

43. I'm doing better.

for several weeks I have gotten NONE of them, and had no clue.

But it's fun to try and then learn the right answers!

:D


And some day I will get to Italy and Europe to see those fabulous cathedrals.

I have been in 3 serious cathedrals in America: The white marble one in denver, the green tile domed Romanesque one in St. Louis, and St. Patrick's in New York City right behind Rockefeller Center.

We do not have those spectacular cathedrals in the South because the cities are newer and don't have the long term Catholic presence.

[LuvNewcastle]

49. Check out New Orleans.

N.O. is old and is a very Catholic city. I've seen some beautiful churches there.

[Reader Rabbit]

29. #4, Canterbury Cathedral?

The couple remind me of a few British cathedrals I've been in.

[CTyankee]

40. Not Canterbury...

[Reader Rabbit]

46. Is it in Britain?

If so, I might have a chance at guessing.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

51. Never mind.

[Tx4obama]

34. Links to some awesome statues

Christo Velato (full image shot from the side): http://www.museosansevero.it/cappellasansevero/cristovelato.html
Christo Velato (photo shot from above):


More here - click on all the thumbnails: http://www.museosansevero.it/photogallery.html

p.s. Be sure to look at the one called 'Disinganno', it is all carved from one piece of stone - the netting is stone!
And the one called 'Pudicizia', that is not a cloth veil over the face - it's carved that way.
To see them in person is unbelievable, the photos don't do them justice.

They are in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples, Italy :)

[CTyankee]

41. Wow, there's some weird church art out there!

[WinkyDink]

47. #4: Cathedral Saints Peter And Paul, Naumburg, Germany

http://www.lessing-photo.com/search.asp?a=L&lc=2020202047F7&ln=Cathedral+Saints+Peter+and+Paul%2C+Naumburg%2C+Germany&p=1

[CTyankee]

52. Right! Tell me how you found this or did you know these statues?

[WinkyDink]

54. I searched for "king queen cathedral statues", found one labeled "Queen of Sheba" (although

it isn't!), but that led to the photo site I linked to!

[Tx4obama]

50. More: St. John's in Rome and St. Mark's in Venice and The Duomo of Orvieto

St. John's:


St. Mark's:


Duomo of Orvieto (the gold on the front is real gold, very beautiful when the sun shines on it in the afternoon)

[WinkyDink]

53. Have seen them! Yeah, big on European/UK cathedrals in my household!

[CTyankee]

55. I'm fascinated by Uta. The look on her face! What, I wonder, was she thinking

(in the mind of the sculptor)?

Hubby's family on his father's side is German heritage. You too?

[hfojvt]

59. ah that is better, at least the 2nd one is very cool

the first one sorta looks like an average college building with some statues on top.

[CTyankee]

68. Well, these cathedrals are very old and to Americans I think they can look

kind of strange. It was a different world in the day when they were created. I tried to get images that suggested the cathedral (in most cases) rather than a straight-on photo of the front of the cathedral. That, I felt, would be boring. Thus, the Chagall window was commissioned by the French government for their treasured historical cathedral. It's part of art history that Chagall did its windows.

Remember I did say I chose the images to reflect a "defining characteristic." Thus, what I posted was more suggestive of the history or the interesting features of the architecture, rather than just frontal views of the building itself.

I hope this helps as an explanation of my methods here.

[hfojvt]

74. I understand that you picked a defining characteristic

but I expected world class cathedrals to look pretty awesome from the outside. At least I made a point to take a picture of this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_Cathedral

[CTyankee]

77. As I said, this was an art or architecture history lesson in many ways.

But also, it was a way to let people who knew this art to tell me their stories about how they encountered it. It's not that your pictures are not awsome, but I just wanted to tell the story in a different way. It's my thing, I guess...

Please join us next week. Maybe you'll find it better for you...

[CTyankee]

56. A hint on #5.

What is it in the photo that you find striking?

[hfojvt]

57. What the heck?

The art on that first one isn't any better than the crap you posted last week. And only two and three look like cathedrals.

Seriously, my local church has better stained glass than that first one. That one is probably the most recent.

[WinkyDink]

61. Your church has Chagall?

[CTyankee]

64. Well, I'm sorry but Marc Chagall is a world famous artist.. However,

chacun a son gout, as the saying goes...

[hfojvt]

67. a cajun son has gout?

I was right though, it is the most modern. Isn't it?

I bet Ruskin wouldn't like it either.

[CTyankee]

69. Reims Cathedral is not the most modern. It is quite old.

The French government just wanted Chagall to do a window for them at Reims. Reims has a distinguished history. I believe that Joan of Ark crowned the Dauphin there...

It is not the most modern. Far from it.

Translation of my quote: Each to his own taste.

[hfojvt]

71. well the window is probably more modern than the others

[CTyankee]

72. Oh, of course! It was done in the 1970s. I think they were honoring a distinguished

French artist. New meets old in an old cathedral. A modern interpretation, as it were...

[WinkyDink]

60. #5: Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

[CTyankee]

62. Great! How did you figure it out?

[WinkyDink]

80. Searched "incense burner cathedral." :-)

[xchrom]

63. kick

[CTyankee]

65. I LOVE your tag line, xchrom! It is so wonderful!

[xchrom]

66. she said it! -- not me. nt

[CTyankee]

79. Of course, I said it. And I meant it....

[malaise]

75. They're beautiful n/t

[suffragette]

83. I could stare at Chagall windows all day

Great thread!