reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

Apparently there were 210 objections and the list of Appelants included

Department of the Environment

Irish Georgian Society

An Taisce

Friends of St Colmans (largely made up of the parish council of St Colmans)

He was trying to get internal parish support for this for almost ten years and despite everyone elses opinion he is hell bent of leaving his what would appear extremely destructive mark on what is already an excellent interior.

I wandered into St. Colman’s when I was in Cobh last year and I was very emotionally moved by the peace and tranquility there.
No doubt in some way it related to the scale and grandeur of the building itself. I’m not sure if this re-ordering is a good idea. It definitely shouldn’t be carried out on the whim of one person. I know I definitely wouldn’t be affected the same way going into one of the modern creations.

It might be good to sound out opinion on the re-ordering of Carlow Cathedral a few years ago. I was in the church many times before it was carried out but moved away before it was completed.

There are special DEHLG guidelines for churches that are protected structures, such is the sensitivity of the area. Ultimately, liturgical requirements take precedence over conservation requirements. But interestingly, when Ratzinger was a Cardinal he wrote a piece (don’t know the chapter and verse, sorry) saying that there was no liturgical rationale to remove altar railings or other features, which is the reason usually cited by those trying to change things.
And didn’t Jesus himself say ‘wherever two or three are gathered in my name’ or words to that effect? Christianity began in caves and back rooms, so the setting is surely incidental to the practice. Why can’t the Bishop understand this?
Though not a believer, I have been to mass in the Cathedral on the basis that a building comes alive when serving its purpose, and it was a fine sight indeed.

They did something similar at Monaghan and ruined it. And the bishop is still a little sensitive about criticism.5 or 6 years back I said something negative here, and the next thing I get a letter from a dioscesan flunkey asked me to desist.

You’d think of all people who should value the integrity and splendour of such a magnificant structure, it would be the Bishop of Cloyne and Cobh, but no. I’m very much supportive of the opposition on this front – the proposed changes are not necessary requirements. It’s a very diappointing scenario. In Ireland, and certainly in Cork, it is perhaps on of the most tranquil and architecturally inspiring structures of a religious nature – especially inside. Along with St. Peter’s & Paul’s near Paul Street and St. Fin Barre’s – it is among my favourite interior designs.

From the vague plans I’ve seen, the expansive altar interventions look like the flooring scheme of an 80s television chatshow – is it intended to cap it off with a salmon pink carpet?

While it is easy to view the structure as a purely architectural entity, at the end of the day it is a working religious building and as such its use is as equally important as its fabric. Saying that, surely the proposed alterations are not necessary, or at least not on that scale?
Whereas previous Vatican reforms were logical in altering the clearly skewed relationship between the celebrant and the congregation, the notion of ‘bringing the people closer’ in Cobh Cathedral – which by definition is going to have people somewhere in the building detached from the proceedings – seems to be founded in a vague symbolisim rather than practical concerns.
It would be a great shame to see the interior so radically altered – especially having survived so long as it has intact.
You’d think we’d be able to issue a sigh of relief by now having got through the 70s – clearly not.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

From the vague plans I’ve seen, the expansive altar interventions look like the flooring scheme of an 80s television chatshow – is it intended to cap it off with a salmon pink carpet?

With Anna and Blathnaid from The Afternoon Show giving out communion? Or Thelma and Derek?

Good point about the difference between this and the post-Vatican II changes too.

As a member of the dioses of cloyne I must say that most people are fairly tired of sending off parish funds to fund the restoration. The work that was done from 1992 until 2002/2003 were the first four of five phases of restoration. This last phase is not so much restoration as an alteration. As well as the other objectors mentioned by Thomond Park are the Pugin society in London who are very angry at the proposed work, which is considered by some as Pugins finest work.

@PTB wrote:

This last phase is not so much restoration as an alteration.

That is an extremely mild description

didn’t eamonn casey “ruin” the cathedral in Killarney in a similar drive?

I think the problem is ideological – there is a body of opinion in the church that says that a church is not a museum but a living building that should be changed as they please according to their liturgical requirements. Though Im puzzeled as to why churches on mainland Europe and even in Britain retain pre-vatican two layout without much difficulty. It seems over here the churches are gutted just to prove a point.

Was in Iona Church (St Columba’s – a fine celtic revival church) on Sunday and I was amazed how it retained its pulpit and much of its altar railing was untouched. It seems this place was luckily overlooked when churches elsewhere were gutted.

Those are good points you make;

In essence the choice is not whether one wrecks masterpieces such as St Colmans but rather what one does with newly built places of worship. Surely if the parishioners of Cobh want a post V2 church atmosphere they can select another RC church on Great Island.

The text of Cardinal Ratzinger’s letter to Bishop Ryan of Kildare and Leighlin (12 June 1996) was published in the Carlow Nationalist on 10 January 1997 – having been requisitioned by the High Court. The full text is available on the internet at; htpp://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1998/cot1998p10_544.html. The tragedy is that what has happend in churches throughout Ireland was liturgically needless.

An interesting summary on liturgical requirement is available on the news section of the webpage of the Friends of St. Colman’s Cathedral (http://www.foscc.com) prepared for An Bord Pleanala by Arthur Cox.

As is clear from the case of Cobh Cathedral, Diocesan Historic Church Committees are a complete farce. In this case, the Historic Church Committe of the diocese of Cloyne, mostly made up of unqualified persons, did not even bother to conduct a heritage impact study of the proposed changes on the interior of the building.

Thanks for that info Praxiteles (great name, btw!). The FOSCC site is a goldmine.
One minor correction, though, to the URL you posted.
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1998/oct1998p10_544.html
This should work. 🙂

What came of the appeal to the Supreme Court do you know Praxiteles?

As far as I can make out from the webpage (http://www.foscc.com) the matter is still pending with An Bord Pleanala.

Sorry, I mean Carlow Cathedral – do you know what the Supreme Court ruling was from what seems to be 1998?

I do not, I am afraid.

How can the great Prof O’Neill have gotten himself involved in such a foolish enterprise
View his plans on http://www.foscc.com

That is indeed a million dollar question.

You would think that after his disastrous fiddling with the pro-cathedral, he would have learnt his lesson.
I am told one local wag in Cobh referred to his current plans for the interior as an ‘ice rinque’

The Friends of St. Colman’s Cathedral are made up of a group of concerned Cobh parishioners, none of whom are on the parish council. To clarify information posted by Thomond Park

Does anyone have any biographical or professional information re Thomas Aloysius Coleman (1865-1952), who was George Ashlin’s partner while working on the completion of St. Colman’s Cathedral?

A former colleague of mine wrote a History of Art thesis in Trinity in 1999 or so, either M.Litt or M.Phil, on Ashlin. I’m sure it would have some info you require. I’ll send you her email by private message.
Also, the office of Ashlin and Coleman still exists, though without family connections to Ashlin or Coleman, I believe. They might be able to help re old drawings, company archives etc. A quick google gives two addresses: 36 Pembroke Road, D.4, or 1 Grant’s Row, off Lwr Mount St, D.2, and an email (possibly out of date) of info@ashlincoleman.com

Is that it? Is the whole of Ireland ‘comfortably numb’ ? Does writing here constitute action? Do we just let the Bishop and O’Neill get away with this? We can’t blame the politicians for this one. You all seem to know what you are talking about so tell me what can one do about this sort of thing?

I was in Cork last week and went out to see the cathedral in Cobh. It is truly spectacular and it is a small miracle that it has survived for so long without the kind of ravages practiced on Killarney by Eamonn Casey or on Monaghan by Joe Duffy. Looking over the plans for this fine little gem, I cannot help but think that John Magee and Tom Cavanagh (aka Mr. Tidy towns of Ireland) have more money than sense – or good taste.

Perhaps the comments on architectural theory contained in the following link could be brought to bear on the Cobh Cathedral business: http://www.profil.at/?/articles/0544/560/125321.shtml

Further interesting comments are available on the subject of liturgy and architecture at http://www.kreuz.net/article.2121.html . Unfortunately, the English and French translations are very inadequate.

Has Bishop Magee no fear of God? Could they not get Pope Benedict to scribble him a quick note to let him know they’ll soon be putting everything back the way it was before the liturgical vandals were let loose?

“When men have come to the edge of a precipice, it is the lover of life who has the spirit to leap backwards, and only the pessimist who continues to believe in progress.”

“It is of the new things that men tire – of fashions and proposals and improvements and change. It is the old things that startle and intoxicate. It is the old things that are young.”

Do pessimists fear God?

The article referred to by Praxiteles in #28 is absolutely relevant to poor Cobh. The Lady Church in Dresden was destoyed free of charge in 1945 and in its ruined state remained a monument to the barbarity of war and the atheistic convictions of Communism until its resurrection began in 1990, a symbol of generosity, reconciliation and a new freedom. Surely at this time of episcopal shame the Bishop of Cloyne could offer a similar generosity, reconciliation and renewal of freedom to the Friends of Saint Colman’s and all who care for our religious and architectural heritage, at minimal pain to himself or the coffers of his Diocese. Isn’t there something in the Gospel against Christians forcing one another to appeal to civil tribunals for justice? Isn’t pride a terrible, terrible thing? Haven’t we all better things to be doing?

Someone has pointed out to me that in 1999, the Cobh Cathedral restoration Committee received a grant of some £8,937 from the Heritage Council to finance a conservation study of St. Colman’s Cathedral.

The Conservation study was completed in early 2001 by Carrig of Dublin. This fine and original study was very competently carried out by Jesse Castle Metlitski and Richard Oram.

Along with synthesizing a vast amount of archival material, much of which was examined for the first time, the study produced an important photographic archive of Cobh Cathedral.

The authors of the study concluded: “The wealth of information and sources pertaining to the design and construction of St. Colman’s can provide a unique insight into the whole process of the construction of such a building as this cathedral while providing a remarkable record. The importance of this material can not be overstated. This, together with the definitive record which is the cathedral itself, must be preserved and safeguarded for future generations”.

The authors also note: “The design is very finely tuned and any interventions which might contradict the delicate interplay of parts have the potential to compromise the architectural quality of the building. When St Colman’s was build it was already one of the finst expressions of the Gothic Revival style in Ireland. This eminence has been held to the present day”.

The proposals for the reordering of the Cathedral’s interior pay not the slightest heed to such remarks and have been elaborated as though the Metlitski/Oram conservation report never happened.

Does anyone have any information about Ludwig Oppenheimer’s career?

Information on Ludwig Oppenheimer is difficult to come by. What I know is that, in addition to St. Colman’s Cathedral, he is credited with the magnificent mosaics in the National Museum of Ireland –Archaeology and History. The floors are decorated with scenes from classical mythology and allegory, and are worth a visit to the museum in themselves. He is also credited with the wonderful mosaic floor of the Honan Chapel, University College, Cork. Biographical details for Oppenheimer, I have found, is very difficult to come by, perhaps other visitor this site may be able to help.

There was a lavishly illustrated monograph published not so long ago on the Honan Chapel (maybe by Cork University Press?). It might have some leads.

This must have been Virginia Teehan and Elizabeth Wincott-Heckett’s The Honan Chapel: A Golden Vision published by Cork University Press in 2004. Chapter 5 of same, by Jane Hawkes, has a long excursus on the symbolism of the magnificent mosaic floor which is by Ludwig Oppenheimer. He is also responsible for the stations of the cross in opus sectile. Oppenheimer’s work in the Honan Chapel was never publicized for it was the only work carried out there by a non Irish company. It has been suggested that he was commissioned to execute the mosaic floor and the stations of the cross through the influence of the Cork architect Thomas Newhenam Deane or of W. A. Scott who had worked on the Dublin Museum. As in Cobh Cathedral, Oppenheimer’s mosaic work was complemented in the Honan Chapel by the brass and iron work of J&G McGloughlin of Dublin.

Information on Ludwig Oppenheimer is difficult to come by. What I know is that, in addition to St. Colman’s Cathedral, he is credited with the magnificent mosaics in the National Museum of Ireland –Archaeology and History. The floors are decorated with scenes from classical mythology and allegory, and are worth a visit to the museum in themselves. He is also credited with the wonderful mosaic floor of the Honan Chapel, University College, Cork.
Biographical details for Oppenheimer, is very difficult to come by, perhaps other visitor this site may be able to help.

Ludwig Oppenheimer may well be responsible for the very elaborate moasic work on the floor and walls of the chancel of the church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Charleville, Co. Cork. This work is about a decade later than Cobh Cathedral (Walter Doolin exhibited designs for the church at RHA in 1898) but the similarities are unmistakable (e.g. the floors of the Sacred Heart and Lady Chapels in Cobh and Charleville). Unfortunately, the floor in the main chancel space in Charleville has been buried under several tons of concrete to make an emplacment for a hidiously unsympathetic re-ordering. It is possible that Oppenheimer’ may have had the commission in Charleville through the patronage of Bishop Robert Browne who was a native of Charleville and, in contrast with the present encumbent in Cobh, a very generous benefactor both of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh ,and of the new parish church in Charleville.

Another case of mosaics being covered over is in a modest but significant Ralph Byrne church c1920 in the North East, where the usual finance commitee of the parish elite saw fit to cover over the highly attractive grape vine mosaics of the altar floor with ‘a nice bit of carpet’ in the late 90s.
A large timber step was also partially built on top to regularise the step line and was also covered in carpet, which not only completely altered the nature of the altar design, but no doubt damaged the mosaics beneath too by its attachment to them, as with the carpet grippers drilled or glued onto the marble edging.
You see this type of practice a lot in small to middle-sized churches which is a great shame.

I guess most people on this thread have visited the brilliant website by the Friends of St Colman’s Cathedral at http://www.foscc.com my compliments to the friends for trying to stop this latest outbreak of architectural vandalism.

Neo-Goths of the world unite and strike back!

In Cobh Cathedral, for years the great central motif of the moasic in the chancel was covered by a green carpet ivo-stuck to the floor. In the first phase of the Cathedral restoration it was removed. Because it had been glued to the floor, and at a time when there was still some bit of respect for Oppenheimer’s work, it was taken up by steeping it in large quantities of petrol to avoid tearing up the tesserae of the mosaic. At that time, a phoney appreciation of the central chancel mosaic was used to justify removing the altar rails – all quietly forgotten, however, since Cathal O’Neill proposed digging out the entire floor, mosaic and all.

Oppenheimer is also credited with the design of the Clonard Redemptorist Church, Falls Rd., Belfast.

This church, also known as the Church of the Holy Redeemer, occupies a dramatic site on one wing of a three-sided courtyard. It is linked by a tower to the red brick and sandstone monastery extension. There is a large rose window in the west façade.
Clonard was designed in early French Gothic style by Ludwig Oppenheimer and built in 1897 by the Naughton brothers of Randalstown. It is home to the Redemptorists, who were founded in Italy in 1732 and contains mosaics from Gabriel Loire of Chartres. The Monastery was the scene of the first contacts that started the Northern Ireland peace process in the early 1990s.
http://www.gotobelfast.com/index.

After a little digging, it appears that Ludwig Oppenheimer worked on several major projects in Ireland:The Dublin Museum (1890); Cobh Cathedral (1892); Sts Augustine and John, Thomas Street, Dublin (c.1899); Newry Cathedral (1904-1909); Redemptorist Church, Limerick (1927); Sts. Peter and Paul, Clonmel (??); St. Mary’s, Nenagh (1910); the Honan Chapel, UCC,Cork (c.1915); Clonakilty; Fermoy; Midleton; Kilmallock. Interestingly, George Ashlin was involved in all of the above mentioned projects (except the Honan Chapel and Dublin Museum) and seems consistently to have retained Ludwig Oppenheimer to carry out mosaic work.

So the proposed changes necessitate the destruction of the mosaic floor of the cathedral but what will be put there in its place? Does the architect favour the bathroom tile model of the cathedral in Killarney?

A pastiche job is proposed incorporating salvage from the present central mosaic and some matching glories imported from the Domus Dei people who similarly obliged -albeit much less radically- in Newry (1992). Apart from that, no specifics have been outlined by Cathal O’Neill for the replacement.

I thought that the Parish Church in Nenagh was by Walter Doolin, not Ashlin.

Yes, you are correct. The parish church in Nenagh is by Walter Doolin. Ashlin was the assessor for the competition and chose Doolin’s submission. Walter Doolin had also been George Ashlin’s pupil. Jermey WIlliams in his Companion Guide to Architecture in Ireland 1837-1921 describes Doolin’s as a conservative architecture derived from Ashlin. The interiors of his churches “come as a welcome relief due to his determination to create a multi-coloured paradise out of the chancels, relying not only on frescoes, and stained glass but also on mosaics, and wrought iron grilles, painted and decorated”. G. Ashling completed Nenagh in 1910. You might also note that Walter Doolin is also the architect for the parish church in Charleville which explains Oppenheimer’s mosaic work there.

Thanks for that.
Can anyone confirm that the mosaic work in Charleville – that can still be seen – is by Oppenheimer.

:confused: At present the Sedelia has been removed from right hand Sanctuary screen and is now free standing in Sanctuary and a dining chair put in its place.

Can anyone explain who this can happen since the building was listed as a protected structure and is the subject of a Covenant with the Heritage Council

Thanks for the photo, Gianlorenzo. I’d have assumed you were joking about the dining chair!

They cannot surely have been so ignorant as to attach that awful piece of metal to the back of one of the sedilia!!

Does the genius who perpretrated this bit of hooliganism not realize that this sedilia is based on the classical faldisterium which was taken by the pro-Consuls on their missions outside of Rome as a symbol of their authority and jurisdiction? Does he not know that the pro-Consuls sat on it to give judgement and that its assumption into Christian usage is just one example of what is now described as “inculturation”?

Can anyone tell me how I post a photograph directly onto the tread? I am having terrible trouble with attachments.

Sorry Praxiteles for the incorrect spelling of sedilia on the picture caption!!!

I am still having trouble with attachments. The byte space is too limited. Help

I suppose hooligans always have a few iron bars to spare … I suppose this is a form of regressive inculturation.

Neo Goth. Given the etymology of the discription ‘Gothic’ I do believe that it is His Lordship Bishop Magee who should bear that tag rather than your good self

We’ve been trying to disavow the Vandals for centuries who’ve been giving us a bad name. It’s easy to spot them though, they usually go around with iron bars and sometimes they try to disguise and hide their iron bars in the most unusal of places.

More Pictures.

A is the current Sanctuary floor which is to be dug up.
B is the lower chancel floor and altar rails which are to be dug up and stored!!!!
C is a view of the Chancel Arch from the southwest.

The vandals are truly among us.

A recent picture of the chancel in St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh.

One passing shot before I retire. Attached is an example of the quality of ‘replacement/restoration’ work that has been carried out in St. Colmans with the help of over €170,000 (£ equivalent) of Heritage Council grants plus the hundreds of thousands donated by the people of Cobh and the Diocese of Cloyne for the restoration project. 🙁

“…Gothic adventurers crowded so earerly to the standard of Radagaisus, that, by some historians, he has been styled the King of the Goths…Alaric was a Christian and a soldier, the leader of a disciplined army; who understood the laws of war, who respected the sanctity of treaties; and who had familiarly conversed with the subjects of the empire in the same camps and the same churches. The savage Radagaisus was a stranger to the manners, the religion and even the language of the civilised nations of the South. The fierceness of his temper was exasperated by cruel superstition; and it was universally believed that he had bound himself by a solemn vow to reduce the City into a heap of stones and ashes, and to sacrifice the most illustruous Roman senators on the altars of those gods who were appeased by human blood….Comitantur euntem Pallor, et atra Fames; et saucia lividus ora Luctus; et inferno stridentes agmine morbi”. (Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 31).

To complete the newly acquired picture gallery, I thought you might like to have the enclosed picturesque photographic study of the South elevation of the exterior of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

(#52) Much as one might regret the hooliganism perpetrated on that sedilia, Praxiteles, no one who has tried sitting on one for any length of time could possibly begrudge an aging Pro-Consul the back support. Some of them, as you know, are nowadays quite spineless.

Could there be hope for Killarney at last!!! Did you all see the article below in the Sunday Indo. today?

Magnificent artifacts to return to Gothic Cathedral
JEROME REILLY
MAGNIFICENT artefacts removed from Pugin’s Gothic masterpiece, St Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney could be re-installed, if a historian and antiques expert has his way.
The cathedral was finally completed in the Twenties following some 80 years of construction work.
But in the early Seventies, under the direction of Bishop Eamon Casey, the cathedral was remodeled to take account of changes in the liturgy demanded by Vatican II.
That included the removal of a dozen brass chandeliers and a number of magnificent brass candelabra which then fell into private ownership.
Those artefacts were recently purchased by local historian and antiques dealer Maurice O’Keeffe who was very much aware of their historic provenance.
“I have restored one of them and they are magnificent. I would be more than willing to let the church have them for exactly the same amount I paid for them so they could be re-installed,” he said.
The cathedral was designed by Augustus Welby Pugin and is renowned for its Gothic proportions.
Work commenced in 1842 but stopped between 1848 and 1853 because of the famine, when the building was used as a hospital.
The Californian Redwood tree in the grounds was planted after the famine in memory of the children buried underneath. Pugin died insane in Ramsgate in 1885.

Well, just as civilization is sowing the first seeds of a serious “restoration” work in Killarney, the pall of Bishop Magee’s medieval darkness still hangs over Cobh cathedral. The Bishop of Kerry may not realize just how luck he is still to be able to locate the original fittings of Killarney cathedral. Have we come full circle?

For the purposes of contrast…… While much can be commented on, the floor is particularly noteworthy – especially after 35 years of wear and tear. The only remaining portion of the original floor is to be found in the Lady Chapel. Its destruction was staved off by the efforts of the redoubtable Beatrice Grovner who stood on her patronal rights as heiress to the Earls of Kenmare who are buried in the crypt underneath. The architect for the Killarney project was Dan Kennedy.

Perhaps Paul Clerkin might be able to provide a picture of St. Macartan’s before Joe Duffy was let loose on the building. I am told that a confessional in bee-hut form was subsequently introduced. While most would regard this as eccentric, not the good bishop who was eloquent about the early Irish penitentials and the monastic cells on Skellig Michael…… The architect in this case was Gerald MacCann, if memory serves me correctly.

O’Neill’s proposals for Cobh Cathedral look more and more like re-heated soup. -see attachment.

There is a very obvious lack of imagination in both clerical and architectural circles in Ireland.
😮 Just where do these clapped out prototypes come from?

The sanctuary furnishings in the cathedral in Monaghan look like a bathroom set. Does the ambo have hot and cold taps? Will the new liturgical furnishings for the cathedral in Cobh be the same? There doesn’t seem to be any details given about these.

Two more views of the O’Neill’s foolishness courtesy of http://www.foscc.com :p

The photomontage could pass for Monaghan had the high altar there not been demolished. All that seem to have been done in this “adaptation” was to knock off the hard edges of Monaghan and supply soft curves and semicircles.

Some views of Neo-Gothic heaven… photos taken from http://www.foscc.com

Will what happened to the cathedral in Monaghan be the fate of St. Colman’s?

The following is the ‘rationale’ from the official website of Clogher diocese for the iconoclastic ‘refurbishment’.

A radical rearrangement and refurbishing of the Cathedral was begun in 1982 to meet
the requirements of the revised Liturgy.

The people of Monaghan were told a big lie… people of Cobh beware this lie is long past its tell by date!

The pic below is the architect’s view of the ‘refurbished’ sanctuary of St. Colman’s

A shocked collegue thought that the “remodelled” sanctuary in Monaghan looked for all the world like a childrens playground!!

IT IS a playground – for wayward ‘children’.

52 / Praxiteles, I am still thinking about those Proconsuls. Did you know that it was the Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla) who decreed in 80 B.C. that the Provinces were to be governed by ex-Consuls? It was a way of getting them out of Rome once they had outlived their usefulness. Apparently they were appointed for a maximum of five years – but of course few of them survived that long. It was never meant that they should! See http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proconsul

Re Jerome Reilly’s article reproduced in no. 65: it should be noted that A.W.N. Pugin died, at the age of 40, on 14 September 1852 as a result, not of insanity, but probably of the effects of mercury poisoning cf. Rosemary Hill, Augustus Welby Northmoe Pugin: A Biographical Sketch, in A.W.N. Pugin:Master of Gothic Revival,Yale University Press, New Haven and London 1995.

For the picture gallery: a view of the west elevation of St. Colman’s Cathedral Cobh.

Another view of the interior of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney from c. 1899.

A magnificent ‘strong’ building: very imposing and located on a fine site – indeed one of the best aspects of the building is its environment.

Across the harbour from Cobh Cathedral the North Cathedral in Cork was vandalised by the liturrgical refurbishers,,,
Unfortunately this is another classical example of the after being worse than the before..

BEFORE

AFTER

After Killarney, Armagh must be one of the most questionable attempts at “reordering”. The building was begun in 1840 to designs by Thomas Duff of Newry but suspended because of the famine. It was resumed to plans by JJ McCarthy and the interior completed by G.C. Ashlin. Circa 1980, Ashlin’s original sanctuary was all but destroyed by an already liturgically dated effort by Liam McCormack. Casulties of the iconoclasm include Cesare Aureli high altars, Beakey’s pulpit, the roodscreen, M. Dorey’s choir stalls, and the 1875 Telford organ.

Another example for the list of “reorderings” that should not have happened is the Cathedral of the Assumption in Tuam, Co. Galway. Begun in 1837 by Archbishop John McHale to ambitious plans by the little known Dominic Madden, it was regarded as one of the finest examples of early Gothic revival in Ireland. The fine window behind the (demolished) high altar is by Michael O’Connor (1860). An iconoclastic outburst in 1979 saw the destruction the original baldichino, transcept altars, pulpit and altar rails. A further effort was made in 1991 under the direction of Ray Carroll which saw the demolition of the high altar, and the implantation of a misplaced faux roodscreen which succeeded in obscuring the lower part of O’Connor’s window. The great Lion of the West lies beneath all this, his crypt in-filled with the rubble of his own creation. One commentator described the overall present effect as reminicent of a set for a re-run of Snow White and the seven dwarfs.

Dominic Madden’s Cathedral of St. Peter and St Paul in Ennis is another example of liturgical adaptation gone wrong. Begun in 1828 and completed by 1842, the decoration of the interior was assigned to JJ McCarthy who is responsible for the internal pillars, with traceried spandrels, and galleries. The building was re-decorated in a renovation begun in 1894 under the direction of Joshua Clarke, father of Harry Clarke. The fresco of the Assumption, which stood behind and above JJ McCarthy’s (demolished) high altar, is by Nagle and Potts. Ennis Cathedral was one of the first in the country to undergo “reordering” according to a perceived need to bring it into conformity with the liturgical requirements of the Second Vatican Council. The guiding light in this was Michael Harty, dean of Maynooth College and subsequently Bishop of Killaloe. Although not an academic nor a trained liturgist , and more at home in teaching rubrics, Michael Harty acquired a reputation in church architecture circles for boldly going where no one went before and exercised a main morte on the design /execution of many Irish churches from the seventies on – his first being the ruination of St Mary’s Chapel in Maynooth College. Andy Devane was the architect for the Ennis “reordering”, backed up by the subtle aestesia of Enda King. The new altar and ambo were done in the erratic natural boulder style highly reminiscent of the de Bello Gallico‘s descriptions of druidic ritual. As in many of the Irish Cathedral “reorderings”, the noteworthy dissapearance of the Chapter Choir stalls is significant.

The red rosette in the outré class of the Irish cathedrals’ reordering stakes must surely go to St. Peter’s Cathedral in Belfast. Designed by Jeremiah Ryan McAuley, the foundation stone was laid in 1860. The building opened for public worship in 1866. The present refurbishment was undertaken by the late Cardinal Cahal Daly in 1982 and concentrated to a peculiar degree of obsession on the doctrinaire insertion of the Cathedra in basilical fashion behind a miniscule altar. All major components were executed in Cardinal Daly’s preferred wooden types resulting in a precarious dependence on aesthetically poised flower arrangements to relieve a brooding monotony. Again, the Cathedral Chapter has been unseated and Choir Stalls are nowhere to be seen. “Further refurbishment is planned so that St. Peter’s Cathedral will be an adornment in the regeneration currently taking place in inner Belfast”. Nobody seems to want to own up for all of this.

Has some discreet cloning taken place in architectural circles in Ireland. From what I have seen so far it is all a variation on the same theme. Not only that, it is a theme that is pursued regardless of the setting. Maybe we should have a poll as to which is the most insensitive re-ordering to date. Any takers?

Does anybody know which architect is responsible for the re-ordering of St.Peters in Belfast? Was it perhaps Ray Carroll?

My vote on the worst re-ordering to date goes to Tuam. 😮

😎
Thought that this comment was worth sharing. One only hopes that this state of affairs can be maintained.

TAKING STOCK OF OUR ECCLESIASTICAL HERITAGE
The Heritage Council 1998

John Maiben Gilmartin.
Ecclesiastical Works of Art

However, the positive and the good must not be disregarded. Mention should be made of initiatives of high merit, such as the maintenance of Cobh Cathedral both externally and internally. This building has an outstanding interior which almost alone of Irish nineteenth century cathedrals survives intact. The beneficent authorities at Cobh have also seen that their fine collection of textiles has been superbly restored and conserved.

Killarney, Monaghan, Armagh, Tuam,Ennis,Belfast,………….. My God how do they get away with it.

This must not happen in Cobh

RE no 89 I agree my vote goes to Tuam for the worst re-ordering to date. With Ennis as a close runner up.
Killarney is in a category all of its own

Re.#91 They have been getting away with it because the only ones to object are their own parishioners and in the stratospheric world of architects and clerics they do not count. Fortunately in Cobh there is a very organised and informed opposition who hopefully will prevail.They have a wonderful website -www.foscc.com

Another boring application of the hackneyed pastiche formula – St. Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry. Begun in 1851 to designs by an unknown and eventually to plans of JJ McCarthy, St. Eugene’s was consecrated in 1873. The spire designed by G.C. Ashlin, added in 1899, was completed in 1903. The glass is by Mayer of Munich. Liam McCormack of Armagh Cathedral fame also struck in Derry in 1975.

Derry (#94) looks positively dangerous. Has anyone fallen off yet?

Longford Cathedral was widely regarded as Ireland’s finest example of a neo-Classical cathedral. The original architect was John Benjamine Keane with subsequent contributions from John Bourke (campanile of 1860) and the near ubiquitous G.C. Ashlin who is responsible for the impeccably proportioned portico (1883-1913) commissioned by Bishop Bartholomew Woodlock of Catholic University fame. The internal plaster work is Italian as were the (demolished) lateral altars. It was opened for public worship in 1856. In the 1970s a major re-styling of the sanctuary was undertaken by Bishop Cathal Daly who employed the services of Wilfred Cantwell and Ray Carroll. J. Bourke’s elaborate high altar altar and choir stalls were demolished and replaced by an austere arrangement focused on a disproportionately scaled altar. The results, which have not drawn the kind of universal criticism reserved for Armagh and Killarney, nevertheless leave the interior of the building without a natural focus. The insertion of tapesteries between the columns of the central apse was an attempt to fill the void and would be used again to solve a similar problem in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. The absence of choir stalls is to be noted as is the relative obscurity of the Cathedra – the very raison d’etre for the building.

@Praxiteles wrote:

After Killarney, Armagh must be one of the most questionable attempts at “reordering”. The building was begun in 1840 to designs by Thomas Duff of Newry but suspended because of the famine. It was resumed to plans by JJ McCarthy and the interior completed by G.C. Ashlin. Circa 1980, Ashlin’s original sanctuary was all but destroyed by an already liturgically dated effort by Liam McCormack. Casulties of the iconoclasm include Cesare Aureli high altars, Beakey’s pulpit, the roodscreen, M. Dorey’s choir stalls, and the 1875 Telford organ.

More on the interior of Armagh
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/armagh/armagh/st_patricks_interior.html

and no one has mentioned St John’s in Limerick yet

http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/limerick/limerick/st_johns_cathedral_interior.html

Or what about Wexford, does anyone know if this Cathedral of Pugin design has been laid bare to the vandals?

Dear thread contributors,

I am ‘Mosaic1’ and I am new to your discussions, which are very interesting to me. You have been discussing the work of Ludwig Oppenheimer Ltd. in relation to Cobh & elsewhere and Iyou might like to know that there are 2 additional churches that may contain their work – St. Fintan’s, in Taghmon, Co. Wexford, and St. Mary’s, in Listowel, Co. Kerry.

With scholars and mosaic enthusiasts in Ireland and the U.K., I have been researching the firm for some time now, prompted initially by the apparent, and puzzling, absence of information on them and their work. We now know a good deal more about the firm and the people and are hoping to have a seminar and to publish a book on them and their works. The firm was founded in 1865 in Manchester and operated until 1965. It’s mosaics are known in Ireland, England, France and 1 in the U.S. Bizarrely for a Manchester based firm, most of their presently known work is in Ireland, so much remains to be learnt about their work in Britain.

If anybody has any information or knows of any possible sources of such, I’d be very grateful to hear from them.

Kind regards, and many thanks in advance for your help,

‘Mosaic1’

Re n. 98: I am glad you raised the case of Limerick which has undergone a very recent restoration and “make over” of the interior, especially of the sancturay. The original architect here was Philip Charles Hardwick who had been retained by the Earl of Dunraven to build Adare Manor. It was constructed 1856 – 1861 and consecrated in 1894. From a distance, the spire (280 feet) makes a very memorable impression on the flatness of the Limerick plain. The Cathedral interior is a fine example of the effective use of light and is one of its principal features – nowadays not so clearly evident because of over-illumination. The high altar, throne, and pulpit were made by the Belgian firm of Phyffers. Although re-arranged by J.J. O’Callaghan in 1894, they survived into the 1980s when, unfortunately, the throne was removed and resited in the vacuum left by the altar mensa which had been moved “nearer to the people”. The tabarnacle in the reredos was abandoned and its door replaced by the heraldic achievement of the then Bishop. In placing the throne in the site intended for the mensa of the altar, little account was taken of the surprising (if not incongrous) effect of seeing the successor of St. Munchin seated on a throne at either side of which was clearly emblasoned a strophe of the Trishagion. A rood beam survived with its figures into the 1980. In the latest round, the choir stalls seem to have survived.

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, designed by WIlliam Deane Butler, was begun in 1843 and completed in 1857. Its neo-Gothic style is heavily Norman in inspiration and can be easily compared with St. Jean de Malte in Aix-en-Provence, St-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in Provence or indeed with many of the pure creations of the Norman displacement in central and southern Italy – such as the abbatial church at Fossanova in Latium, Sant’Eligio in Naples, and San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples. The decoration of the interior of Kilkenny’s St. Mary’s is by Earley and Powell and was brought to completion in 1865. This firm was responsible for the ceiling painting of the chancel, the glass, the high altar fittings and lightings. The mosaic work is by Bourke of London and the chancel murals by Westlake. In the 1970s, the socially minded Bishop Birch instigated, in the diocese of Ossory, an iconoclasm worthy of the emperor Leo III, a martial pesant from the mountains of Isouria whose hatred of images was largely inspired by an incomparable ignorance of both sacred and profane letters. Kilkenny cathedral, fortunately, escaped the worst ravages and retains its (albeit redundant) High Altar which was purchased in Italy. The altar rails (alas no more) and the altar of the Sacred Heart were the work of James Pearce. A diminuitive and out of scale altar was placad under the crossing and a new cathedra -redolent of Star trek – installed. The contour of this impianto is remarkably similar to the one now proposed for Cobh cathedral. Perhaps the greatest thing that can be said for this “reordering” is that it can (and will) eventually be removed leaving the building more or less as concieved by none too mean an architect.

So far, nobody wishes to claim responsibility for the effort.

The Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, boasts of being Ireland’s only 19th century cathedral to have been built in the neo-romanesque style. Building commenced in 1865 to plans by JJ McCarthy who relied very heavily on North Italian or Lombard prototypes, modelling the facade on that of the Cathedral in Pisa, and, succeeding to some extent in conveying the spacial sense of the Cathedral complex in Pisa with his free standing baptistery and tower. The Cathedral was consecrated by Archbishop Croke on 22 June 1879. Archbishop Croke replaced JJ McCarthy with George C. Ashlin as architect for the remaining works which included the decoration of the interior on which no expense was spared. The ceiling, designed by Ashlin, was executed by Earley and Powell. The same company are also responsible for the galss and some of the sculpture work, the more important elements of which were executed by Pietro Lazzarini, Benzoni and Joseph O’Reilly. Mayer of Munich also supplied glass as well as Wailes of Newcastle. The most important item, however, in the Cathedral is the Ciborium of the Altar by Giacomo della Porta (1537-1602). This had originally been commissioned for the Gesù in Rome in 1582 by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. The same Giacomo della Porta built the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica 1588/1590 and finished the lantern in 1603. The altar from the Gesù was acquired by Archbishop Leahy while in the City for the First Vatican Council in 1869/1870. Reordering work began here in 1979. The altar rails have given way in the face of a projection into the nave. Unbelievably, the High Altar has been dismantled and its mensa separated from the della Porta ciborium which is now relegated to an undescript plinth. The original stencilled work disappeared in 1973. As with Longford and the Pro Cathedral, the removal of the High Altar leaves the building without a focus, the present dimension and location of the Ciborium not being to the scale of the building. The temptation to hang banners in the apse has not been resisted.

It is difficult to ascertain the architect responsible for the current interior of Thurles Cathedral.

The Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Colman, Newry, Co. Down is a composit building in a neo Gothic idiom developed in three main phases bewteen 1825, when it was begun to plans by Thomas Duff, extended between 1888 and 1891, futher extended between 1904 and 1909, and finally completed in 1925. The only part that can be reasonably described as Victorian are the transepts (1891); high Altar, pulpit and belfry (by Ashlin). The decorative scheme was drawn up by Thomas Hevey and executed by G.C. Ashlin who alsoextended the nave and chancel in 1904. The sanctuary was re-ordered in 1990 by extending the dais into the nave, and placing the mensa of the original altar under the crossing. The pulpit appears to have survived but not the altar rails. The reredos of the altar was needlessly divided into three section for reasons not easily or immediately fathomed. The present tri-partite re-constructed reredos is slightly reminiscent of the revolving stage scenes of an 18th century petit theatre. The most remarkable implant of the reordering must be the throne in a neo Gothic idiom. Curiously, it is probably the largest throne created in any re-ordering in Ireland -for what is one of the smallest dioceses in the country. Among the conoscenti, it is often deferred to as a “model” for what could be done in Cobh Cathedral – a building far outstripping Newry in its superiority of conception, execution and stylistic unity. Again, this cathedral is bereft of Choir Stalls.

Thanks for all the pictures Praxiteles – partiicularly Longford, what a gem of a building. Those columns are magnificent!
How disturbing to see all of these reorderings in black and white – whatever about the removal of architecturally significant features, but to then install bathroom showrooms as liturgical and architectural focal points of these splendid buildings is nothing short of criminal.

Another by Duff, and whilst not (quite :)) a cathedral, and not as opulent as others featured, St. Patrick’s in Dundalk has had the most horrendous rubbish thrown up in the sanctuary. I don’t remember what was here before the ‘changes’, but in its place has been put what can only be described as an altar table from Homebase fronted by an 8×4 sheet of MDF with laser cut gothick arches, bright verdigris paint and backlit with a florescent tube:

Luckily the worst of it is concealed here beneath the altar cloth. It beggars belief when you see it up close – looks like a cartoon plonked into the ‘real world’.

Also the throne looks like it was a nicked from a 1980s country house hotel, whilst the timber lecturn with ‘feature panel’ is equally inappropriate in an exclusively marble environment.

On the upside, I believe St. Patrick’s also has mosaics by Oppenheimer, just not sure which particular ones.
I dread to think what was there before the timber-n-carpet conference stage was introduced 🙁

The Cathedral of St. Brendan in Loughrea, Co. Galway was begun in 1897 to plans drawn up by William Byrne and completed by 1902. In size, it is quite modest and, exteriorally, not much different from many churches then being buit in Ireland. Byrne was commissioned to bulit a church in the neo Gothic idiom, having a nave, absidal chancel, lean-to isles, a shallow transcept and a spire. The interior, however, is another matter. By some strange providence, the interior became a veritable icon of the Celtic revival movementin terms of sculpure, above all glass, metal work and wood work. This gem was the product of a partnership of interest in the Celtic Revival shared by Fr. Jeremiah O’Donovan, who was given charge of the Loughrea cathedral project, and by Edward Martyn (benefactor of the Palestrina Choir in the Pro-Cathedral). John Hughes was commissioned to do the sculpture for the interior -including the bronze relief of Christ on the reredos of the High Altar and a marble statue of Our Lady. Michael Shortall was commissioned to execute a statue of St. Brendan and the corbels. He is also responsible for the scenes from the life of St. Brendan on the capitals of the pillars. Designed by Jack B. Yates and his wife Mary, the ladies of the Dun Emer guild embroidered twenty four banners of Irish saints. The same studio provided Mass vestments etc.. The stained glass is by An Tur Glaoine (opened in 1903) under the direction of Alfred Childe and Sarah Purser. Over the next forty years A. Childe, S. Purser and Michael Healy executed all of the glass. Michael Healy’s Ascension (1936) and Last Judgement (1937-1940) are amongst the Cathedral’s greatest treasures. Fortunately, the liturgical Boeotians have not yet managed to exact their vengence on this little gem. The High Altar, communion rails, and pulpit are all still in tact – though the inferior quality of the modern liturgical furnishings inserted into the original organic whole is patently obvious.

Another view of St. John’s in Limerick. The more I look at the sanctuary floor the more I am reminded of something from a Harry Potter movie. 😮

For Praxiteles re #84 Tuam Cathedral. Here is a shot of the original sanctuary showing baldachino 🙂
and one of the side altars.

“……… St. Mel’s Cathedral, begun to the design of Joseph Keane in 1840. While the portico lacks the sophistication of Keane’s great Dominican Pope’s Quay Church in Cork, the interior, by contrast, is now regarded as noblest of all Irish Classical church interiors. It is designed in the style of an early Christian basilica, with noble Grecian Ionic columns and a curved apse. It also shares the remarkable distinction of being the only major Catholic Church in Ireland to have actually been improved by internal reordering, when the fussy later altar was removed and replaced by a simple modem table altar, which accords harmoniously with the early Christian style of the interior. The tower and portico give a striking approach to the town from Dublin.”
(An Taisce)

Is this true? I have been unable to find any photographs of St. Mel’s so am unable to judge. Does anyone have before and after shot so we can decide.

Well Graham, at least St. Patrick’s in Dudalk still retains the beautiful italian altar rails and brass gates insitu and though the homebase altar is quite disturbing, the sanctuary hasn’t quite been turned into a disney ice rink!!!

Re. post 109

It also shares the remarkable distinction of being the only major Catholic Church in Ireland to have actually been improved by internal reordering, when thee fussy later altar was removed and replaced by a simple modern table altar, which accords harmoniously with the early Christian style of the interior.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

What came of the appeal to the Supreme Court do you know Praxiteles?

I noticed that no one has attempted to answer your question. To the best of my knowledge the Friends of Carlow Cathedral lost their case in the Supreme Court – legend has it that one man lost his home as a result. I have tried following this story up on the web but there is nothing obviously available.

Speaking of Carlow, there was a story in the Carlow People today about some of the stained glass window being smashed.

“Smashed Cathedral windows will cost thousands to repair
A number of stained glass windows in Carlow Cathedral were broken last week in an attack which is expected to cost thousands of euro to repair.
The damage was done when a man threw a bin at a number of windows in the Cathedral last Wednesday night.
The motive for the attack is not known but Carlow Gardai apprehended a man at the scene.
This is the second attack on a church in Carlow in recent times as just over a month ago vandals threw kerbing through a number of windows in St. Mary’s Church of Ireland in Rathvilly.

Assessors have now examined the damage to the Cathedral although according to administrator Fr. Ger Aherne they have not yet completed their examination.
‘We don’t know how much it will cost to repair them, there were three or four panels broken,’ he said. ‘The windows are quite old and we expect the cost will be substantial.” Carlow People 18/11/05

The vandals have struck inside and out.!!!! 🙁

Interior of Carlow. Does anyone have a view of the sanctuary before the changes?

re #107

Looking at the floor in Limerick, there might be a vague suggestion of the Campidoglio in Rome – but I would not swear to it!

🙂

Well done Praxiteles, I think you are correct. Is there some significance to the disign?

en suivant la guerre….this time, we have the Cathedral of St.Eunan’s in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, which, mercifully, has been subjected to a minimalist approach to “reordering”. It was the last of the major Gothic Revival cathedrals to have been built in Ireland. Begun to plans drawn by WIlliam Hague in 1891, it was completed in 1901 by his his partner T. F. McNamara. Here architecture “stained glass, sculpture, frescoes and mosaics are orchestrated into a triumphant unison”. The external sculpture is by Purdy and Millard of Belfast. The mosaic tiling of the choir is by Willicroft of Henley. The Pearse Brothers’ The High Altar, throne, pulpit (depicting the Donegal Masters), and communion rail all remain in situ. The glass is by Mayer of Munich and by Michael Healy whose work is to be seen in his windows of 1910-1912. The clerestory windows were designed by Harry Clarke. Great creidt is due the enlightened former Bishop of Raphoe, Dr. Seamus Hegarty, for this sensible approach to “reordering” and for his concern to preserve the integrity of the building.

The Cathedral of the Annunciation and St. Nathy, Ballaghadereen, Co. Roscommon is another example of a minimalist approach to “reordering” that has succeeded in conserving much of the original fabric and fittings of the building. Designed by Hadfield and Goldie, the foundation stone was laid in 1855 and completed in 1860. In the Early English idiom, a plan for a fan-vaulted ceiling had to be abandoned because of lack of funds. The external tower and spire are by W.H. Byrne. The glass was supplied by Earley, Mayer and An Tur Glaoine (the windows depicting St. John and St. Anne by Beatric Elvery). There are (and were) no choir stalls.

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Waterford is the oldest Catholic Cathedral in Ireland. Begun to plans drawn up by John Roberts in 1793, the cathedral was completed c. 1800. The present sanctuary was installed in 1830; the apse and High Altar in 1854; and the Baldachino, supported by five corinthinan columns, in 1881. The pulpit, Choir stalls, and throne, designed by Goldie of London and carved by Buisine of Lille, were installed in 1883. The glass is mainly by Mayer of Munich – except for the chandeliers which are a gift of Waterford Glass Ltd.. A fairly minimalist reordering took place in 1977 during which the Choir Stalls were moved from their original position flanking the High Altar to a new position against the abse walls. The altar rails seem to have been removed and a moveable altar inserted.

The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed in to Heaven and St. Nicholas, Galway, was the last Cathedral to be have been built in Ireland. Its patron was the formidable Bishop Michael John Browne and architect was John J. Robinson of Dublin. The builders were John Sisk. The foundation was laid in 1957 and the building was finished by 1965. The style, much criticized by the politically correct establishment, is certainly different from much of what was being built in Ireland at the time and reflects all sorts of eclectic elements borrowed from tpyes such as St. Peter’s in Rome, Seville, and Tuscany. The interior gives the impression of not having been completed and still lacks Choir Stalls, pulpit and perhaps even a proportionate High Altar in the apse. Those furnishings and fittings already in the building by 1965 have survived without any reordering.

Another of the neo-classical Cathedrals, this time the Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Phelim in Cavan town. Built to plans by W. H. Byrne of Dublin, it was begun in 1938 and completed in 1942. The tympanum of the portico contains figures of Christ, St. Patrick and St. Phelim by George Smith. The columns in the interior, the pulpit and statutes were supplied by Dinelli of Pietrasanta in Italy. The stations of the cross and the mural of the Resurreection are by George Collie. The High Altar is of green Connemara and red Midleton marble. The altar rails are in white Carrara marble. All of the original fittings and features are still in situ and reordering here has been minimalistic. Some of the glass was provided by the studios of Harry Clarke. In 1994 the Abbey Stained Glass company installed a set of eight stained glass windows made by Harry Clarke originally for the Sacred heart Convent in Leesons Street, Dublin between 1919 and 1934. Thee set depicts ST. Patrick and two princesses; St. Anne and the Blessed Virgin; St. Francis Xavier; St. Charles Borromeo; the Sacred heart and St. MArgaret Mary; St. Michael the Archangel; and the Apparition of Our Lady to St. Bernard. There do not appear to have been Choir Stalls.

The Cathedral of Crist the King, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, was built to plans drawn up by R.A. Byrne and WIlliam H. Byrne of Dublin. Work began in 1932 and the building was opened for public worship in 1936 and consecrated in 1939. Reordering here has been minimalistic with all of the main original fittings still in situ.

The Cathedral of St. Patrick, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, is the Cathedral church of the the diocese of Ross. It was buit between 1825/1826 and 1830 by the Rev. Michael Collins, subsequently Bishop of Cloyne and Ross. The Cathedral was built in a neo-classical style, and while modest in scale, is not without interest. The architect for Skibbereen was Michael Augustine O’Riordan, a remarkable man by any standards. Educated in the neo-classical style, he worked extensively in Cork City and County. Some of his churches include the North Chapel in Cork i.e. the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Anne (1808), Blackrock Village (1818), Doneraile (1827), Millstreet (1836), Bantry (1837), Kinsale (1838), and Dunmanway (1841). In 1826, at the age of 42, he made profession as a Patrician Brother. Along with continuing building churches, convents and schools throughout Cork, he spent his time teaching in the schools for poor run by the brothers. Skibbereen Cathedral, fortunately, survived the rush to “reordering” and the worst phases of its consequent iconoclasm – partly due the sensitivity arising from the recent status of the diocese of Ross. It was only in very recent time that a fairly minimialist approach to reordering took place which saw the preservation of the High Altar but the loss of a portion of the fine altar rails and their gates in the face of the forward thrust into the nave all too familiar in Irish “reorderings”. The refurbishment and renovation of elements of the Cathedral in Skibbereen are by Wain Moorehead of Cork. The same refurbishment could usefully have removed the amplifiers adhering to the capitals of the columns at the chancel arch. Choir Stalls never appear to have been installed in Skibbereen.

St. Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina, Co. Mayo was begun in 1828 and externally completed in 1831. The patron was John McHale, the young bishop of Killala. The architect was Dominic Madden who is also responsible for the cathedrals in Tuam and Ennis. Lack of funds and the famine inevitably induced changes to the original design. The spire was added in 1853 by John Benson. The project was finally completed in 1892. The ribbed ceiling, by Arthur Canning, is based on Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome , the original painted decoration, however, has vanished. The glass is by Mayer of Munich. Of the High Altar, commissioned in Rome by Sir Kenelem Digby, only the mensa survives.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo, has been dubbed by some as Ireland’s least loved Cathedral. It was built in a Germanic Romanesque style, quasi officially, and overwhelmingly, described as “Normano-Romano-Byzantine”. The Cathedral was built by Bishop Lawrence Gilloly to plans drawn up by George Goldie. WIth a seating capacity of 4,000, it has the largest capacity of any Cathedral in Ireland. The foundation stone was laid in 1868. The Cathedral opened for public worship in 1874 and was consecrated in 1897. The glass was supplied by Lobin of Tours. The High Altar is surmounted by a baldachino supported by columns of Aberdeen granite and was designed by Goldie. Benzoni is responsible for the large alabaster statue of Our Lady in the Lady Chapel. The Cathedral has undergone two major reorderings since it was built; one in 1970 which was minimalistic leaving all the main features in situ; and another more recently which saw a grille implanted in Goldie’s Baldachino which has the effect of obscuring the central focus of the building. Several prissy devices have been used to solicit a minimal attention for the new altar which has been placed in the main plain of the sanctuary. The fine altar rails have long disappeared and no Choir Stalls are to be seen.

#124 Found these nice photos of stained glass in Ballina. 🙂

St. Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford was built to plans drawn by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852). It was one of a series of commissions obtained through the patronage of the Countess of John, sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, whose uncle, John Hyacinth Talbot was patron of the re-building of Enniscorthy church. Writing from Alton Towers to Talbot at Ballytrench on 14 May 1843, Pugin presented his plan for the a new church in Enniscorthy which would be build and “perfectly done by degrees …and make a glorious church”. He suggested “pulling down the farthest compartment of the present church and moving the altars….so that the whole of the present nave would serve for the church while this was being done” (Belcher, Collected Letters vol.II, p.52). With the completion of the chancel, and trancepts by 1846 and the nave build over the existing church, the original church was demolished in 1848. A central spire was finished in 1850 but subsequently rebuilt by JJ MCCarthy. While the building of St. Aidan’s opened new opportunities for Pugin, they were not however realised. Writing of Enniscorthy in 1850 he says. “There seems to be little or no appreciation of ecclesiastical architecture amongst the clergy. The cathedral I built at Enniscorthy is completely ruined. The bishop has blocked up the choir, and stuck an altar under the tower!!…it could hardly have been treated worse had it fallen into the hands of the Hottentots….It is quite useless to attempt to build true churches , for the clergy have not the least idea of using them properly. There is no rood screen as intended by Pugin. The High Altar was added by Pearce and Sharp to the designs of JJ McCarthy in 1857. The east window is probably by Hardmans of Bermingham to the designs of Pugin. Later glass is by Lobin of Tours and Mayer. A first modern reordering took place in the 1970s when a large granite altar was place under the corssing. This was replaced in 1996 in a more sensitive restoration of the building which saw a return of the original stenciling work. The 1996 Enniscorthy reordering was important for it signalled a change in reordering that exhibited a greater sensibility ot the integrity of the original contexts into which new elements were introduced. A similar approach would subsequently be taken to the more irretrievable situation of Armagh Cathedral. Several of the original fittings were returned to Enniscorthy and its original ceramic tiles restored but the installation of a victorian tantulus to serve as an ambury was, with hindsight, perhaps a little too iconic and its classical allusion all too poignant. The centrally sited sedilia gives the impression of nothing more than a modern carver. There are no choir stalls. Sheridan Tierney were architects for the 1996 restoration.

Does anyone know where one can obtain any published works on Ludwig Oppenheimer or of his firm. Thanks.

Has anybody seen or mentioned Holy Trinity in Cork City

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what a disaster. Fortunately St. Peter’s and Paul’s in Cork City seems to have escaped all vandalism so far! Has anybody pictures of Holy Trinity in Cork City before the vandals got in?

All you theorists should take a good look at the http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/pubs/saj/books/index.php

The trip through Irish Cathedrals, courtesy of Praxiteles and co., has been absolutely fascinating. There is no doubt that Cobh (prior to wreckage) stands head and shoulders above the others in terms of architectural excellence and attention to detail. Monaghan leaves one wondering when the diving board is going to be installed. All credit is due to Archbishop Brady for removing the dinosaur tooth in Armagh – he has gone some way towards recuperating the situation. Killarney externally is a beautiful building, reminding one of Salisbury, but alas the Isaurian (Eye-sore-ian?) dynasty, beloved of Praxiteles, has done untold damage within.
Nobody seems to have dealt with Dublin as yet, but I think it is most pertinent to the Cobh situation, as the Great Professor O’Neill is also involved here. How is it that an architect who generally builds railway stations, public offices and the likes, and claims to be inspired by classical models, could have been chosen for a Neo-Gothic building, for which, I gather, he has little sympathy? Poor Turnarelli – his high altar in Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral has been atomised, echoing a similar approach to Della Porta’s altar in Thurles.
It is interesting that the Great Professor does not mention either the Pro-Cathedral or Cobh Cathedral among his “achievements”, accomplished or planned, on his website. Why the uncharacteristic reticence? After all, he seems very proud of the refurbishment of Drogheda railway station and the chaplaincy building in UCD with its rather strange spiritual space, suggestive of an encounter between the Buddha and the Goban Saor!

@descamps wrote:

All you theorists should take a good look at the http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/pubs/saj/books/index.php

Thanks dechamps. Great articles on this site. 🙂

Recently I had occasion to visit the website of the Friends of St Colman’s Cathedral. I would recommend it to the visitors to this thread. The mounting of the planned reordering on their site leaves little to the imagination, although I do wonder how the Archdeacon and the other prebenderies, resplendent in cremosin and rabbit fur, are going to be able to chaunt the canticles and antiphons in stalls which the Great Professor O’Neill proposes to reduce to little more than a set of antiphonal chicken perches hovering precipitously over the abyss. This is another example of the functional knock-on effects of his proposals on the building.
I wonder at the abandonment of the traditional liturgical symbolism of life’s journey from baptism at one entrance, progressing through the other sacraments, culminating in the Eucharist at the altar, to exit via the mortuary chapel. Is it not strange that the planned reordering of Cobh does not take into account the importance of symbol, rightly emphasised by any liturgist with a modicum of Wissenschaft?

Another very interesting aspect of the Cobh Cathedral project is that no one seems to know how much it is all going to cost. From what the local parishioners were told at a meeting to display the plans, it would appear that the application for planning permission was sought without any idea of how much it would cost. Is this usual practice in these circumstances?

@sangallo wrote:

…. the chaplaincy building in UCD with its rather strange spiritual space, suggestive of an encounter between the Buddha and the Goban Saor!

Here are a couple of photos of said building. 😮

Have you one of the “spiritual” space?

@Praxiteles wrote:

Have you one of the “spiritual” space?

This is all I could find – it is called the Contemplation Room. Not sure if that qualifies as ‘spiritual’ space!!!!!

Always happy to oblige. Here are two more.

Thanks Gianlorenzo and Sangallo for the pics.

I am illuminated and purified!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can anybody tell me how can a ‘space’ be spiritual???

I am sure the Great Professor knows all about vis locativa and will be more than happy to explain – on application.

The Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow, was begun in 1826 to plans drawn for the patriot Bishop James Doyle (aka JKL) by Joseph Lynch, eventually replaced by Thomas Cobden. The Cathedral is more a large parish church done in the neo-Gothic idiom, allegedly influenced by the Town Hall in Bruges. The building cost the considerable sum of £9,000 and was opened for public worship in 1833 but not consecrated until 1933. It has a simple interior approached through a columned gallery, the shallow transepts divided from the nave by narrow clustered columns. “The result was the clearest view of the high altar in any Irish cathedral”. The magnificent (demolished) wooden pulpit was designed by M.J.C. Buckley and carved in Bruges in 1898. Its canopy survives as shelter for the (liturgically) misplaced baspismal font. The glass is by Mayer of Munich. The (vanished) Choir Stalls were by Cobden. The Cathedral contains a fine statue of JKL by John Hogan. In 1997, following a High Court case and an arbritration process and in the face of widespread public opposition -remarkably unheeded in the age of the laity- a brutal reordering of the interior was mitigated to some degree. The High Altar survived but relegated to redundant remoteness in favour of a disproportioned altar raised on the inevitable projection into the nave. Prissy trellis work chairs replaced the Choir Stalls along both walls of the chancel. It is not clear what purpose these can possibly serve. The Throne has, yet again, been moved forward and parked against a column – at the liturgically incorrect side of the chancel and altar. A grand piano has strayed into the formula. Although a relief from the hackneyed use of the same formula, it has gone unnoticed that pianos are liturgically excluded from Catholic churches since Pius X’s motu proprio Inter sollicitudines of 1903. With the reordering of the interior in Carlow, it may not have been noticed by the architects that the great dramatic gesture of Hogan’s JKL has acquired an altogether new significance – an example of transignification – for he now gestures at their work. Perhaps Eirn’s dejection is more contextual than may have been realized.

#127

Some stained glass from Enniscorthy.

Lest we forget what started all this.

A few more shots of St. Colmans from the foscc site.

@johannas wrote:

Does anyone know where one can obtain any published works on Ludwig Oppenheimer or of his firm. Thanks.

Dear Johannas,

So far, we (the group researching the firm of Oppenheimer) have been unable to identify any published work on the firm. The only material seems to be the reference already mentioned earlier in this thread. We have identified 2 company catalogues, unpublished in art-historical terms, which will be published in due course with a narrative on the company, the people, the little surviving archival material as well as an inventory of their known works. Because this is a collective effort, you’ll appreciate that I cannot post this material yet.

Any information that contributors can offer about Oppenheimer Ltd. and their works would be very gratefully received.

Kind regards,

‘Mosaic1’

Oppenheimer mosaics from Honan Chapel. 🙂

@Praxiteles wrote:

“There seems to be little or no appreciation of ecclesiastical architecture amongst the clergy. The cathedral I built at Enniscorthy is completely ruined. The bishop has blocked up the choir, and stuck an altar under the tower!!…it could hardly have been treated worse had it fallen into the hands of the Hottentots….It is quite useless to attempt to build true churches , for the clergy have not the least idea of using them properly. A.W.N. Pugin

I wonder what Pugin would have to say about our current crop of ecclisiastical Hottentots 😉

Re #147: “Hottentot” was apparently a Boer dialect word for “stutterer”. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English nowadays condemns it as offensive. Interestingly enough, though, the Khoikhoi – their own name for themselves, meaning the “people-people” – were moon-worshippers. Their merry moon dance would have graced perfectly the new interior of Carlow Cathedral (#142), grand piano and all – but they too, alas, have been the victims of a ruthless “modernity”…. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoikhoi

The Pro-Cathedral Church of the Conception of the Virgin Mary was built on the site of Lord Annsley’s town house at Marlborough Street and Elephant Lane, which had been acquired by Archbishop Thomas Troy in 1803 for £5,100. The building commenced in 1814 and was completed in November 1825. Plans for a church in the revivalist Greek Doric style, submitted by an architect who signed himself “P”, won the commission. It is accepted that the architect was George Papworth (1781-1855). Born in London, he moved to Ireland in 1806, and won commissions for Grattan Bridge, King’s (Heuston) Bridge (1828), Camolin Park, Wexford (1815), the Dublin Library in D’Olier Street (1818-1820) and Sir Patrick Dunn’s Hospital and was eventually Professor of Architecture in the Royal Hibernian Academy. The Pro-Cathedral contains monuments to Cardinal Paul Cullen and his immediate predecessor Archbishop Daniel Murray by Thomas Farrell. The apse is decorated by an alto-relief of the Ascension by John Smyth. Thomas Kirk (1781-1845) supplied a monument for the Reverend Thomas Clarke: two figures of Religion and Charity bewteen an urn which was his first exhibited work at the Society of Artists (as Piety and Chastity) in 1813. A relief of the Good Shepherd and a monument to William and Anne Byly are also attributed to Kirk. The organ is by the Dublin organbuilder John White. Its present architectural case was build by WIlliam Hill c. 1900. The great artistic treasure of the Pro-Cathedral, however, was the High Altar by Peter Turnerelli (1774-1839). Born in Belfast, Turnerelli had been deeply influenced by Canova (who much admired Turnerelli’s bust of Grattan (1812). From 1798-1803 drawing master to the princesses of George III, he was appointed Sculptor in ordinary in 1801. While his busts of George III, Washington and Wellington (1815), Louis XVIII (1816), Henry Grattan (1812 and Daniel O’Connell (1829) are well known, his master piece was the High Altar of the Pro-Cathedral with its splendidly proportioned mensa, reredos and ciborium. In 1886, rather incongrously, three stained-glass windows were installed behind the High Altar. Archbishop Dermot Ryan introduced a reordering to the Pro-Cathedral in the late 1970s. The architect for the re-ordering was Professor Cathal O’Neill . In an act beggering civilized belief, he demolished Turnerelli’s High Altar and reredos. The praedella of the altar mensa was salvaged and re-used to form a new altar erected on a lower plain in a hum drum extended sanctuary covered with carpet. The neo-classical altar rails were removed. The canopied and dignified neo-classical Throne was dismantled. The pulpit was reduced to the redundancy of a side aisle and a few surviving vestiges of the High Altar scattered about the interior. The Ciborium of Turnerelli’s High Altar was conserved and placed on a squat disproportioned plinth on a lower plain. The result has been the complete loss of the graceful, proportioned, symetrically articulated dimensions of the Apse and of the building itself which now lacks a central focus and suffers from the same focal void as Longford and Thurles. It seem strange that nobody seems to have realized that the High Altar was custom built to a location it occupied for 150 years. Attempts to relieve the focal void by drapery have not been convincing. It is suggested that at the time of the reordering, the significance of the High Altar and its provenance may not have been known to the architect responsible for its demolition. In Irish circumstances, the destruction of such a major work of art may possibly have cultural significance not too dissimilar to the bombing of Monte Cassino or the feuerblitzing of the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

It is without doubt the loss of the High Altar that so destroyed the interior of the Pro-Cathedral.
You have the great line of Doric columns marching into the distance, building up the tension and heightening expectation, then they powerfully sweep around at the western end, terminating the vista by enclosing…….well…….nothing.
It’s such a let down.

The mind boggles how such drastic alterations could be carried out at any time, even the 1970s, and that they be permitted by so many people, not least the church’s own congregation. Was there any disquiet at the time Praxiteles do you know?
The altar rails look magnificent too – so befitting of a classically inspired church 🙁

One niggly thing that’s always annoyed me about the Pro is the little circles with gold crosses painted on them half-way up every column. They look finicky and inappropriate, an unnecessary detail so typical of Catholic churches – features that are for the most part appealing in a strange way – but here they detract from the power and drama of the columns, especially around the sanctuary.
It is the bold architecture of the Pro-Cathedral that makes it what it is – there is no need for applied decoration.

🙂 ‘Mosaic1’ , thank you for the information, I look forward with anticipation to the publication of the materials mentioned. Thanks 😉

Stained glass window by Mayer of Munich in Monaghan Cathedral.
And as we cannot enjoy his masterpiece I give you this lovely piece by Peter Turnerelli – Robert Burns Mausoleum.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

The mind boggles how such drastic alterations could be carried out at any time, even the 1970s, and that they be permitted by so many people, not least the church’s own congregation. Was there any disquiet at the time.

I don’t know about Dublin, but there was great opposition in Carlow as there is now in Cobh, but should the appeals to ABP fail, Bishop Magee and O’Neill et al. will forge ahead irregardless.
I believe if you were to investigate you would find that the congregation of the pro-cathedral were presented with a fait accompli. Also in the 1970’s people tended to trust their priests and bishops and would never have contemplated going against them on any issue. This situation has changed and nowadays it is usually the more committed catholics who object to the destruction of their churches/cathedrals. The vast majority are generally too apathetic to bother. Unfortunately many clerics are still living in the past and tend to think that any opposition to their plans is tantamount to perfidy. 🙁

Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich who are responsible for stained glass in at least nine of Irelands Cathedral churches (Derry, Thurles, Letterkenny, Ballaghadereen, Waterford, Ballina, Enniscorthy, Carlow, Cobh) is an interesting firm. I found the snippet below on the site for St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, New Zealand.

“Franz Mayer and Co., Munich. This firm has been working in stained glass from 1848 to the present day. According to Konrad Mayer (fourth generation), Franz Mayer had a school for crippled children. When their schooling finished about the age of fifteen, there were not job opportunities for these children. Franz Mayer founded his Art Studios to provide work for these handicapped children. It is said that at times as many as a hundred young people worked on church furnishings in his studios.
Regarding the windows in St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, New Zealand the Franz Mayer and Co. firm state that the stained glass in the fourteen windows is genuine mouth-blown antic glass produced in Bavaria. The colouring of the glass is made by different metal oxides. After the artist has drawn his subject it is transferred on to pieces of glass to match the drawing in detail and colour. There can be as many as four to five hundred pieces in each window. The glass is put into a furnace and the colours thoroughly burnt in. This process results in the colour not deteriorating, and they grow more mellow and beautiful with the lapse of time.”

See attached some examples of their work.

Franz Mayer is still flourishing in Munich and has branched out to more than glass. All information is available under http://www.mayersche-hofkunst.de .

The enclosed photograph shows the Chancel of Cobh Cathedral without the temporary altar placed there in the 1970s.

South Transept WIndows of St Colman’s Cathedral installed in 1899 by John Hardman of Birmingham with “water themes” appropriate to the window’s overlooking the sea:

1. Namaan washing in the Jordan
2. Elisha dividing the Jordan
3. The ark carried through the Jordan
4. The creation of water
5. The passage through the red sea
6. Noah’s sacrifice after the flood
7. David pouring out the cup of water to the Lord.

Hardman of Birmingham windows from Cobh Cathedral.
South Transept – (slightly clearer version)- description provided above by Praxiteles – he just beat me to it. :p
Detail of centre of south Rose window – Mary Star of the Sea.
Detail of window in Blessed Thaddeus Chapel – Death of St. Finbarre at Cloyne

Just seen a direct link to this thread from the foscc site in their news section.

For Mosaic 1.

Mosaic from Cobh Cathedral that may be lost plus some detail shots.
The harp symbol in the second attachment signafies that St. Colman was a Bard to the King of Munster.
The third attachment show detail of the mosaic in front of Our Lady’s Chapel.
The final attachment show a section of the sanctuary mosaic which it is proposed will be lifted up to allow the dropping of the level of the floor and then relayed. 😮

A view of the West Portal of Cobh Cathedral taken in 1903 before the completion of the statuary.

The ornate wrought iron hinges are by Fagan’s of Dublin.

C. W. Harrison and Sons, Dublin are responsible for the tympanum of the West Portal showing the Christ Pantocrator, surrounded by the Four Evangelists, St. Colman, St. Ita, Blessed Thaddeus McCarhy and Bishop Boetius Mc Egan above a range of twelve Apostles.

Some general statistics from the foregoing regarding Ireland’s Catholic Cathedrals:

There are 27 Irish Cathedrals of which 19 are in the neo-Gothic Style; 6 are in the neo-Classical Style; 1 is in the neo-Romanesque; and 1 can be classified as other.

The Neo-Gothic Cathedrals are:

Killarney, Cobh, Monaghan, Armagh, Tuam, Letterkenny, Enniscorthy, Kilkenny, Sligo, Ballina, Derry, Loughrea, Limerick, Ennis, Cork, Carlow, Newry, Ballaghadereen, Belfast.

The Neo-Classical Cathedrals are:

Waterford, the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, Longford, Skibbereen, Cavan, Mullingar.

There is one Cathedral in the Neo-Romanesque: Thurles.

One other Cathedral has been classified as other: Galway.

is athlone not a cathedral?

what is the architecture of the church of ireland cathedral? chistchurch and St. Patrick’s eetc? largely victorian now since restoration?

Athlone Cathedral ?

If I recall correctly, the town of Athlone is divided between the dioceses of Elphin on the western bank of the Shannon; and Ardagh and Clonmacnoise on the eastern bank. The cathedral for the former is in Sligo and that of the latter in Longford.

Concerning the Cathedral churches of the Church of Ireland, in general, these are the pre-reformation Cathedrals whose replacement after Catholic emancipation in 1829 gave rise to the spate of building of Catholic Cathedrals. However, as you mention in the case of Dublin, not all of the original Cathedral buildings retained their original outlines for a variety of resons (war, abandonment, refurbishing, the rise of the neo-classical and of the neo-gothic, changes of diocesan boundaries) but survivors might be seen in St. Canice’s in Kilkenny, St. Mary’s in Limerick or St. Flannan’s in Killaloe. Perhaps the worst victim was the Cathedral on the rock of Cashel which had its roof stripped off in the 18th century when a small replacement in the classical style was built in the town of Cashel. In stark contrast to the Catholic Cathedrals of Ireland, these buildings (at least since the 16th century) have not been subjected to the kind of liturgical vandalism that has seen the ruination of all of the neo-Gothic Catholic Cathedrals,except one (Cobh), the only neo-Romanesque in the country (Thurles) and two of the finest of the neo-classical ones (Dublin and Longford).

I hope to post some more statistics on the subject shortly.

The photograph in 164, I think, shows Sts. Peter and Paul’s parish church in the Elphin part of Athlone.

Finally worked out how to do this, so watch out. Lots of pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

The magnificent pulpit by Beakey of Dublin.

Sorry guys, looks like I got it wrong again. 🙁 😡
This is what I was hoping to put on the page.
The magnificent pulpit by Beakey of Dublin.

Or maybe not????

The attachment contains a scan of G.C. Ashlin’s original drawings (1894) for the Pulpit in Cobh Cathedral.

This attachment contains a scan of G. C. Ashlin’s drawing for the Baptismal Font. The cover was not executed as planned.

Nave looking to Chancel arch and Sanctuary. 🙂

Unusual angle.

Aerial VIew

@Praxiteles wrote:

Concerning the Cathedral churches of the Church of Ireland, in general, these are the pre-reformation Cathedrals whose replacement after Catholic emancipation in 1829 gave rise to the spate of building of Catholic Cathedrals. However, as you mention in the case of Dublin, not all of the original Cathedral buildings retained their original outlines for a variety of resons (war, abandonment, refurbishing, the rise of the neo-classical and of the neo-gothic, changes of diocesan boundaries) but survivors might be seen in St. Canice’s in Kilkenny, St. Mary’s in Limerick or St. Flannan’s in Killaloe. Perhaps the worst victim was the Cathedral on the rock of Cashel which had its roof stripped off in the 18th century when a small replacement in the classical style was built in the town of Cashel.

St. Canice’s Kilkenny

St. Mary’s Limerick

St. Flannan’s Killaloe

Dear G.

Many thanks for those images, which are very helpful.

regards,

M1

Rock of Cashel.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and St. Patrick’s Rock, Cashel

Old engraving of Rock of Cashel

That’s not St. Mary’s Cathedral in Limerick but Mary’s RC Chrurch. They’re quite close to each other.

Sorry Anto, my mistake.
Is this the right one?

That looks more like it but it’s hard to tell from the angle. Here’s an older picture of it:

Re posting # 177:

The engraver of this print of the Rock of Cashel is probably Bartlett and was done about 1840. It has been tinctured to heighten the romantic atmosphere.

@Gianlorenzo wrote:

Sorry Anto, my mistake.
Is this the right one?

Yeah, that’s the one!

William Henry Bartlett’s (1809-1854) series of prints appeared in The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland . I have scanned a few of his steel engravings of the lupi in fabula!

The view of Cobh was engraved almost twenty years before the building of the Cathedral.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

One niggly thing that’s always annoyed me about the Pro is the little circles with gold crosses painted on them half-way up every column. They look finicky and inappropriate, an unnecessary detail so typical of Catholic churches – features that are for the most part appealing in a strange way – but here they detract from the power and drama of the columns, especially around the sanctuary.
It is the bold architecture of the Pro-Cathedral that makes it what it is – there is no need for applied decoration.

Found this print of the Pro Cathedral interior from the Lawrence collection. The little circles with gold crosses don’t appear in this.
Neither are they apparent in Sir John Lavery’s painting of the Funeral of General Michael Collins, August 1922.
Also attached ‘Lying-in-State of Daniel O’Connell in St. Mary’s Metropotian Chapel, Marlborough Street (Illustrated London News 1847)

Re posting #103

Further to comments on the unfortunate re-ordering of Thurles Metropolitan Cathedral carried out in 1979, I enclose a photograph of the High Altar of St. Francis Xavier’s church in Gardnier St., Dublin which was built in Rome in 1838 to designs drawn up by Fr. Bartholomew Esmond, S.J.. The Altar incorporates several very rare marbles including an antique porphyry from Nero’s Domus Aurea (originally in the Basilica of St. Paul and salvaged from the fire of 1823), yellow jasper, malachite, and lapis lazuli. On completion, it was dimantled and shipped to Dublin and re-erected in Gardnier St. c. 1842. The altar of the Gesù , mother house of the Jeuits in Rome, may have served as a model for the Gardnier St. Altar. It affords some idea of what Giacomo della Porta’s altar would have looked like in Thurles before it was torn to bits.

(cf. Irish Arts Review, vol. 14, 1998, Maureen Ryan, Roman Opulence in a Dublin Church , pp.33-39)

Finally, I have located some photographs of the original interior of the Pro-Cathedral with Peter Turnerelli’s High Altar as intended by the artist. I think the occasion in question was the consecration of Archbishop McQuaid in 1942.

Closer inspection of the photograph will explain why the Ciborium, in its current form, looks wrong. It is wrong because it is an ungainly malformation. Professor O’Neill, in his devastating reordering, capped the original Ciborium with the canopy used for the crucifix (which, as can be seen from the photograph, was above the Ciborium). Clearly, had the Ciborium been retained in tact, the problem of the focal void would have been greater. In a brutal attempt to disguise this problem, even the Ciborium of Turnerelli’s Altar had to be jack-hammered.

The Ciborium had its own smaller domed finial (as is clear in the photograph). What now sits in the sanctuary of the Pro-Cathedral is merely an assemblage of bits and pieces.

Does anyone know if the frescos in Cashel are going to be restored?

@Praxiteles wrote:

This attachment contains a scan of G. C. Ashlin’s drawing for the Baptismal Font. The cover was not executed as planned.

Ashlin’s Design.

Baptismal Font.

Base by Luigi Tomasi of Carrera and the brass cover by Mr. Kane, brass-worker, Dublin.

Dear Boyler,

It appears that a further round of restoration work was carried out in Thurles in 2003 but no mention was made of frescos. The following may be of interest:

http://www.catholiccommunications.ie/Pressrel/architectsreportthurlescathedral.html

A fuller picture of the 2003 restoration work is available here:

http://www.catholiccommunications.ie/Pressrel/3b-october-2003.html

Does anybody know who the architects for the 1979 reordering of Thurles Cathedral were?

Images of Thurles Cathedral of the Assumption.

Thanks Praxiteles, but I was wondering about the medieval frescos as seen in the pictures of the Rock of Cashel. It doesn’t seem like the centuries have been good to them. sorry for not making myself clear 😮

Enclosed is a photograph of the Ciborium of the High Altar in Thurles, designed and executed by Giacomo della Porta in 1584 for the Gesù in Rome. The Altar was commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III. Della Porta was the dominant architect in Rome for the last quarter of the 16th century and worked on all the major commissions in the City, most notably the building of the dome of St. Peter’s between 1588 and 1590. He completed the project in 1602 by adding the lantern. He was a highly practical architect and influenced by Michelangelo’s mannerism and Vignola’s classicism.

The Ciborium is made up of a variety of antique marbles that includes giallo antico, roso antico and africano.

The mensa of the altar is of white carrara marble inlaid with malachite, lapis lazuli, rosso agate and other semi-precious materials. It has an arcaded praedella of 16 columns of which 6 are in yellow Siena, 6 in griotte, and 4 in vert campan. All columns have bases and capitals in bronze.

As with the reordering in the Pro-Cathedral, the Ciborium was removed from the High Altar and placed on a disproportioned plinth while the Altar mena was moved forward into the chancel. The sum total of the effect was to create a focal void in the sanctuary.

It is worth wondering whether Cashel followed the Pro-Cathedral or vice versa. Certainly, the designs for the reordering are remarkably similar. The idea of trying to improve on Turnerelli is, however, surpassed in Cashel with the absurd prospect of someone trying to “improve” on one of the great master of European civilization.

I think this is most of the Irish ones that I have photos of….

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/southcity/christchurch_place/christch.htm

St Patrick’s Cathedral. Dublin
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/southcity/patrick_street/stpats.htm

St Macartans Monaghan
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/monaghan/monaghan/stmacartans.html

St Canices Kilkenny
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/kilkenny/kilkenny/stcanices_cathedral.html

St Marys Kilkenny
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/kilkenny/kilkenny/stmarys_cathedral.html

St Mary’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Limerick
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/limerick/limerick/st_marys_cathedral.html

St John’s Cathedral, Limerick
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/limerick/limerick/st_johns_cathedral.html

St Patricks, Armagh C fo I
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/armagh/armagh/cofi_cathedral.html

St Patricks, Armagh RC
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/armagh/armagh/st_patricks.html

St. Finn Barre’s Cathedral, Cork
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/cork/cork/st_finn_barres.html

St Anne’s, Belfast
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/antrim/belfast/19thc/stanns.html

Dear Boyler,

Not to worry. You may be interested in an article on the frescos in Cormac’s Chapel published in The Irish Arts Review Yearbook, vol 18 [2002], pp. 25-29 by Roger Stalley. A fragmentary inscription ite et interrogate diligenter de puero, ironically quoting Herod’s words to the Wise Men, seems to suggest that the frescos depicted the nativity cycle and especially the Three Kings – a theme appropriate to Royal cashel.

I have no idea of what the official guardians of Irish heritage intend to do with the Chapel and its frescos. The last time I visited Cashel, I was subjected to the ahistorical twaddle of an official guide who knew next to nothing of the place.

My God! Thurles is far worse than I thought.

The inscription over the chancel arch is certainly an erratic and ironic survival at this point.

Been looking at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. I love it and I notice that the power that be in the Cathedral feel no need to re-order to introduce inappropriate additions.

I am a sucker for the flags. 😉

Nice angle

The foregoing pictures of Thurles Cathedral show only too well the vairous petit obsessions that the Liturgical Commission of the Irish Episcopal Conference has gone through over the past twenty years.

In the mid 1990s, the great discovery was the ambry. Hence, we have the Holy Oils now hawked about in several Cathedrals thoughout Ireland in a wide ranging series of eccentric compositions.

Enniscorthy chose to locate them high up on a bracket in the wall of the North transept. Most inappropriately, they are housed in a Victorian Tantulus.

Cashel seems to have gone for another spirited theme: the guarded liquids.

Surprisingly, none of the liturgists seems to have been aware that the Holy Oils are to be veiled in cloths of three different colours.

I would suggest that a visit to the Armenian Catholicos at Ekmiadzin in Armenia would teach the Archbishop of Cashel a thing or two on the proper reservation of the Holy Oils.

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

I think this is most of the Irish ones that I have photos of….

Great photos – I particularly like the doors, though I am not sure what is going on in St. Anne’s Belfast, is that glass inside the doors?

St. Canice’s Kilkenny

St. Mary’s Limerick

St. John’s Limerick

St. Patrick’s Armagh Church of Ireland

St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Armagh

St.Finn Barre’s Cork.

St. Anne’s Belfast

I always photograph the doorways – especially in older churches and cathedrals, the doorways are often incredibly impressive.

Have you got one of Cobh Cathedral with the doors closed and of Fagan’s wrought iron hinges in all their glory?

This is the best I can do for the moment.

Baptistry Door. I have put is as an attachment also, as it appears to be very slow appearing on the page.

Main doors

To digress for a moment, encosed is an image of the drawings for the completion of the spire of Cobh Cathedral signed in 1911 by Bishop Robert Browne and the builder, John Maguire. On the right hand side the measurements are included: from the section above the windows to the base of the spire is 72 feet; and from the base of the spire to the base of the cross is 128 feet. To solve the question of the highest spire in Ireland requires merely the hight of the initial base of the spire tower and the hight of the Cross. Any takers?

A small treat for viewers on to-day’s Feast of St. Colman of Cloyne (c.530 -604)

The great West Window of Cobh Cathedral whose subject is the Vision of the Throne of God taken from the Apocalypse of St. John (4:1-11). The subject is Our Lord seated in glory, sourrounded by the elders, clad in white teguments and crowns of gold. Around the throne are the the four living creatures (symbolic of the found evangelists): the lion, the ox, the man, and the soaring eagle. As they cry out Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty Who was, Who is, and Who is to come , they cast down their crowns before the throne and pay homage to Christ. The inner circle depicts the twelve Apostles. The outer circle depicts the saints in glory.

Remarkably, this is the only image I can find of the West Portal of Cobh Cathedral showing Fagan’s wrought iron work to full effect.

The three figures in the porch are by George Smyth and were installed in 1912-1917.

Re message 192.

If the the 2003 renovations in Thurles Cathedral involved the installation of what appears to be a copper-pan baptistry in the side aise of the Cathedral, does anyone know what has happened to the free standing Baptistry which is based on Pisa? This is the only example of a free standing external Baptistry in an Irish Cathedral. Is it too much to hope that it is now a potatoe store or trinket shop?

@Praxiteles wrote:

Does anybody know who the architects for the 1979 reordering of Thurles Cathedral were?

Is it not Prof. O’Neill who is responsible for Thurles? ]http://www.cashel-emly.ie/gallery/galleries/Cathedral%20of%20the%20Assumption/cathedral5.jpg[/IMG]

The green hued bottled aumbry is perhaps too suggestive of Biddy Early!!!! :rolleyes:

Perhaps “three cascades of perlucid yellow……”

(pace Samuel Beckett, Murphy )

More for Mosaic 1.

Some details of the Oppenheimer Mosaic’s in St. Colman’s.

1. Medallion on Predella in front of Pieta Chapel.
2, Detail of floor in Blessed Thaddeus Chapel
3. Detail of floor in Our Lady’s Chapel
4. Detail of floor in Sacred Heart Chapel
5. Detail of mosaic in Sacred Heart shrine.

One final pic for Mosaic 1

Medallion on Predella in front of Sacred Heart Chapel

Only came across this last night. Story in last Sunday’s Times concerning yet another ‘renovation’ to St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral. Maybe someone should suggest that they put in a hydraulic lift under the Cathedra eliminating in future the need for further readjustment. :rolleyes: 😀 :rolleyes:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-1880124,00.html

Re hydraulic lift under the Pro Cathedral throne, I think that would be a wonderful idea and a very cost effective means of dealing with the declining or rising stature of the Dublin Archbishops. Looking at the fine job Cathal O’Neill did with the foot-bridge over the Dublin – Belfast railway line at Drogheda railway station with its dignified, symetrical and elegantly proportioned steel-cased lifts, I cannot think of a better person than himself to deal with this unexpected side-effect of his ruination of the sanctuary in the Pro-Cathedral.

Somebody, however, should tell the administrator of the Pro Cathedral that canopies, if not original or of artistic value, are not allowed by the post Vatican II liturgical rules. Even if a canopy were allowed, the colour should be an “ecclesiastical” colour (that is either red or green) and not some piece of raggady tribal totemism. After all, the Archdiocese of Dublin also includes the diocese of Glandalough – that is, large areas of Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow, Laois and even Wexford. The positioning of the Dublin colours overhead the present Archbishop does not seem to demonstrate much of the kind of diplomatic souplesse normally associated with major practioners of that particular art, such as the Cardinal D’Ossat, but perhaps gives the impression of a not too unconscious retreat to the Danborg and Dublin’s foreign ecclesiastical roots.

Thanks, Colman (#212), for that Sunday Times reference. It is consoling to note the interest of the foreign press in our predicament. And it is important not to miss the good news about the Dublin Pro-Cathedral: “The renovations yielded a surprise when workers came across the original sanctuary lamp of the cathedral, which has now been restored to its former glory.” That is clearly a luminous sign. But can anyone explain to us the ongoing significance of “The Pro”? Does it mean that they are still hoping to re-possess Saint Patrick’s Cathedral? And should we be grateful to Almighty God that they haven’t, as yet?

Re the former sanctuary lamp serendipidously happend on in the choristers’ gallery in the Pro- Cathedral in Dublin, I just happened to notice that in the photographs posted in # 149 there is no trace of a hanging sanctuary lamp. Since most of the sanctuary seem to be under the cupola, it is difficult see whence it could be hung – if not from the lantern of the cupola. The Lawrence collection photograph in #184 (taken last decade of the 19th century) does not show a hanging sanctuary lamp. Curiously, the 1847 print from the London Illustrated News showing the obsequies of Daniel O’Connell in the Pro-Cathedral does depict a hanging sanctuary lamp. Is it possible, if the depiction is accurate, that this was removed sometime between 1847 and 1890? In the event that it was this is an interseting discovery. But, having restored it, what are they going to do with it?

I add a picture of the magnificent Sanctuary Lamp of the Honan Chapel in Cork. It was commissioned by the Rev. Sir John O’Connell, to the glory of God, in memory of the Honan benefactors. It was designed by William Alphonsus Scott, first Professor of Architecture in the NUI, and executed by Edmond Johnson of Dublin.

The Sanctuary Lamp weighed 28 lbs. in sterling and consisted of a bowl of open-work interlace decoration embellished with blue enamel studs. It was suspended on chains.

Despite the dedicatory inscription which did not envisage the lamp being moved anywhere, it disappeared during the unfortunate (but reversable) 1980s re-ordering of the Honan Chapel. There is no liturgical justification for its removal. When placed in the Chapel in 1916, it was so placed in accordance with liturgical norm which found its way into the first Code of Canon Law published in 1917. The text of the 1917 canon on sanctuary lamps was transcribed practically verbatim into the 1983 Code of Canon Law which currently governs the positioning of sanctuary lamps. The assertion that the liturgical reform of Vatican II required the removal of the Sanctuary Lamp from the Honan Chapel is not only misleading but is positively mendacious.

The real reason for this bit of vandalism, I suspect, is to be found in an article by Gearoid O Suilleabhan entitled The re-ordering of the Honan Chapel in Verginia Teehan and Elizabeth Wincott-Heckett’s otherwise excellent monograph on the Collegiate Chapel The Honan Chapel: A golden vision , published in 2004 by Cork University Press. G. O Suilleabhan, aided by Richard Hurley and Vincent Ryan, reproduces a scanty potted version of the history of the Latin Rite for the past 2000 years. What is not mentioned, however, is that the historography employed in this potted history is that patronized by Odo Cassell and, the more notorious, Annibale Bugnini. This particular school posits a three fold division of the history of the liturgy: a primitive period: the golden age reached under Gregory the Great (d. 604); and a period of decline and degradation from the 7th century. In this school, the reform of the liturgy is seen in terms of an almost archeological restoration of the liturgy as celebrated at the time of Gregory the Great and a total jettisoning of any thing or practice to have arisen after that period. G. O Suilleabhan fails to tell us that this school of liturgical historiography was never completely accepted and has been even more eclipsed – if not indeed discredited- in liturgical research, especially over the past twent years. Alternative historical approaches, such as that advocated by Dom Alquin Reid, OSB, emphasise the continuity and organic development of the liturgy over a long period of time. That organic development sees the gradual emergence of new things and the demise of old things but excludes the kind of brutal caesura imposed on many Cathedrals and churches throughout the English speaking world in the name of the liturgical reforms of Vatican II.

I understand that plans are afoot to restore J.G. Mac Gloughlin’s grille to the west door of the Collegiate Chapel. Could it be too much to hope that such an important element in the decorative scheme of the Honan Chapel as the Sanctuary Lamp could not also be restored to its proper position.

I also include a picture of the High Altar of the chapel and would draw your attenton to the red altar light which is sitting on the mensa of the altar. It is surprising that the liturgists responsible for the removal of the Sanctuary Lamp (which should contain the light) did not seem to know that liturgical norms specifically prohibit placing anything of the like on an altar.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Pisa (1063-1350) prototype for the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles.

The external Baptistry in Pisa

http://tacampbell.smugmug.com/gallery/804185/1/43925300

Great photos Praxiteles 😀

@Peter Parler wrote:

Thanks, Colman (#212), for that Sunday Times reference. It is consoling to note the interest of the foreign press in our predicament. And it is important not to miss the good news about the Dublin Pro-Cathedral: “The renovations yielded a surprise when workers came across the original sanctuary lamp of the cathedral, which has now been restored to its former glory.” That is clearly a luminous sign. But can anyone explain to us the ongoing significance of “The Pro”? Does it mean that they are still hoping to re-possess Saint Patrick’s Cathedral? And should we be grateful to Almighty God that they haven’t, as yet?

Absolutely!! 😉

@GregF wrote:

I dunno if this has been discussed before on a different thread but I saw on the Irish Times this morning that Kevin Myers raises the issue of the proposed renovations of St Colmans Cathedral in Cobh. I had heard this before and couldn’t believe it. This is a fine Victorian Gothic cathedral designed by Pugin. Surely any tampering with the orignal features would be an act of vandalism and must not go ahead. As I said before, the councils, clergy etc… here in Ireland can’t seem to leave well alone regarding important public buildings, statues etc…..All Corkonians should be up in arms and stop any proposed tampering that should alter the cathedral in any way, especially as it was probably the poor local Cork Catholics that provided the funds to build the cathedral in the first place.

(Bishop McGee of Cloyne is the culprit. Get writing your protest letters rebel Corkonians!)

News on the grapevine is that Bishop Magee is receiving a lot of letters, well done Gregf 😀

More for Mosaic 1, courtesy of http://www.foscc.com

Detail of Mosaic in Good Counsel shrine.

Detail of Mosaic in Sacred Heart shrine.

Medallion in front of Pieta Chapel

Medallion in front of Sacred Heart Chapel
[img]http://www.foscc.com/images/slideshow/Medallion%20in%20front%20of%20Sacred%20Heart%[/img]

Are these mosaics by Oppenheimer?

Yes, that is why I address them to Mosaic 1 who has a special interest in Oppenheimer.
As the last didn’t upload I will try again.

Medallion in front of Sacred Heart Chapel

Thanks, Gianlorenzo. Sorry for having confused matters.

Re Baptistry of Thurles Cathedral: Some more examples of external baptistries:

Florence: http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/monu/bc.htm

Interior of the Florentine Baptistry: http://firenze.arounder.com/florence_baptistry/fullscreen.html

The Porta del Paradiso: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/ghiberti/paradiso/

Another example of the prototype for Thurles Cathedral is Cremona with its typical romanesque complex of Cathedral, external baptistry and campanile:

http://www.italiamedievale.org/sito_acim/concorso_2004/concorso_2004_cremona.html

Aother prototype for Thurles is the Cathedral of Monza :

http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Lombardia/Monza.htm

Praxiteles, these are wonderful 🙂 🙂

by Lorenzo GHIBERTI

I have followed with great interest the development of this theme for the past few weeks. Returning to the original question – Cobh Cathedral – what I can’t understand is this: why the insistence on pushing this proposal through on the part of the Diocese? I can understand that a Bishop might feel he has the right to alter his altar (!), but when it becomes as contentious and widely opposed as this attempt in Cobh seems to be, mightn’t it be better not to insist on a right and choose the gentlemanly, not to mention pastoral, route of listening to one’s people?

Now a suggestion for Bishop Magee – for whom I have great respect – it would be useful for him to read the remarks on this page to see that his legacy will be forever blighted if he pushes ahead with this programme. We see that even after many years, E. Casey is remembered (despite his other follies) above all as having initiated the rather vulgar (sorry, but it’s the most apt word) re-decoration of St Mary’s; J. Duffy, otherwise a conspicuously invisibile (not always a bad thing) member of the hierarchy, even in his own diocese, is known nationally only as the man who presided over a disappointingly crass re-ordering of Monaghan. I could go on. [As an aside – has anyone a picture of Monaghan’s interior in its original state; I have never seen such an image.]

I’m sure the Bishop of Cloyne would not want to provide for himself a legacy of equal, if minor, infamy?…
:confused:

The problem with the Bishop of Cloyne, despite having spent nearly thirty years in Rome, is that he knows relatively little about art or architecture and is dependent on advisers who know even less. The project for the sanctuary of Cobh Cathedral is primarily the brain (!) child of one Denis Reidy, the Parish Priest of Carrigtwohill. He believes that he is reproducing in Cobh a solution that was adopted in the much vaster Cathedral of Milan and expects to have the plaudits of the plebs for this before he shuffels off his eccelsiastical coil in a few years time. When the Cobh project was first mooted, an advisory committee was formed basically of a few nuns and few of he more pliable members of the parish. What they knew about the building or its importance is debatable but they recommended a plan put before them by the good Reidy and catagorically excluded a number of less radical alternatives. When the ridiculousness of this was exposed in the letters page of the Irish Independent (23 December 1999) the project was temporarily shelved. A new advisory committee was formed, this time of several prominent artists, and charged with the task of advising Bishop Magee on what to do. Several of the artists, however, disagreed with the ethos of the advisory committee and resigned (among them Imogen Stuart and Ken Thompson). Eventually, a recommendation was made to Bishop Magee not so surprisingly recommending something very like the previous project. An art advisory committee unanimously accepted the proposal as did the Historic Churches Advisory Committe of the diocese of Cloyne. In their courtly rush to faun, neither of these bodies thought of asking to have a heritage impact study conducted on the impact of the proposed plan on the historic interior of the building. Another committee was formed to choose an architect to execute the plan and, not at all surprisingly, the architect chosen was Professor Cathal O’Neill. His appointment was recommended by the art and architecture committee of the diocese and by yet another body, the Cathedral Restoration Committee. With such a quiverfull of committees and experts, the poor advice-needy Bishop had no option but to go along with the Milan solution of D. Reidy. In all of this, no notice was taken of the common plebs of Cobh who would only be called upon to pay for the exercise.

The Italian inspiration for Thurles is most interesting, particularly the connection with Pisa. Cobh, as is well known, is inspired by the tight and compact models provided by French Gothic cathedrals, as distinct from the more relaxed and rambling English Gothic style, seen for example in Lincoln.
An intriguing connection can be established between Cobh and Chartres – the tympanum over the west door in Cobh seems to have been inspired by that of the Royal Portal in Chartres (Christ and four evangelists), while the tympana of Reims and Notre-Dame de Paris are completely different. 😎
Does anyone have information as to whether the planners of Cobh were deliberately imitating the Chartres model? Admittedly Cobh is more complex with the addition of Irish saints.
In any case, those responsible for the construction of Cobh had an extraordinary knowledge of both Italian and French prototypes, as is emerging from the discussions on this thread.

From the images of the Cathedral of Norte Dame de Chartres in the inclosed link, I think that it is more than clear that it is an important prototype for the building of Cobh Cathedral. The tympanum of the Royal Portal was clearly an influential ptototype for the West Portal in Cobh, but then so was the roof line of Chartres which is clearly evident in the drawing of the south elevation. Detach the apse ambulatory from the Chartres prototype and the line becomes even more clearly similar to Cobh. Note also the shallow and narrow south transept both in Chratres and in Cobh.

Chartres – South elevation

Cobh – South elevation

To facilitate comparison of the south elevation of Chartres with that of Cobh, enclosed is a copy of E.W. Pugin and G. C. Ashlin’s contract drawing of 1869 for the south elevation of Cobh.

The last three upper windows of the sanctuary in Cobh seem to be directly modelled on their Chartres counterparts, while the lower three windows of the sanctuary seem to have been modelled on the wndows of the Chartres ambulatory.

The clerestory windows in the nave in Cobh Cathedral seem to have been drawn directly from the windows in the south aisle of Chartres.

For the tower on the north corner of the west facade in Cobh, the south tower on the west facade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens must surely have been the prototype?

Rheims Cathedral is also a prototype for Cobh especially in matters relating to the internal decoration and to external detail e.g. the figure of Our Lady in the porch of the West Portal in Rheims.

Another undoubted inspiration for interior details in Cobh is the use of pierced quatrefoil by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the panels of the North Door in the Florence Baptistery. I attach an example.
One wonders what inspiration lies behind the O’Neill plan – perhaps a bathroom showroom or a projected Olympic pool? 😀

Correct Sangallo. There are thirty such panels in the spandrels of the nave in Cobh Cathedral all framed in cornices of pierced quadrafoils directly inspired by Ghiberti’s doors in the Baptistry of Florence.

In Cobh, the nave panels depict the early and more recent history of the Church in Ireland.

The O’Neill project does appear to have quite as distinct an artistic pedigree. But, after the Turnerelli event in the Pro Cathedral, I am sure that Professor O’Neill would not shrink from improving on Ghiberti too.

Regarding influences on Prof. O’Neill, one should note that in the 1950s he studied in Chicago under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, known for his connections with the Bauhaus movement and for developing what has been called a “monumental ‘skin and bone’ architecture” (i.e. glass and steel boxes). 😮
Other Irish architects who sat at the feet of the same master were Peter Doyle and Robin Walker.
Two interesting links for information on Mies van der Rohe:

http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe.html

http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/bg.html

As a suitable waltz for the reception following the wedding of Gothic Revival and Bauhaus, I would suggest the danse macabre.
However, one shudders to think what the offspring will look like! – :rolleyes:

Another prototype for St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh is the Cathedral of St. Pierre in Saintes where we find the combination of the white caen stone of the walls off set by a timber vaulting.

Saintes Cathedral:

The Cobh variant on the theme:

The Altar of the Mortuary Chapel, Cobh Cathedral by Pearse and Son, Dublin (1901-1902)

Mies van der Rohe may be considered a direct influence on Prof. O’Neill’s architectural outlook. He in turn is influenced by the father of the Bauhaus movement, Walter Gropius. Such an architectural progeny is indeed cause for disquiet. 😮

For examples of Gropius’ work see the following link:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/gropius.html

An interesting critique on Bauhaus architecture from a religious point of view is E. Michael Jones, Living Machines: Bauhaus Architecture as Sexual Ideology, published by Ignatius Press. For details, see the Amazon website at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0898704642/103-4356301-6450247?v=glance&n=283155&%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&no=283155&st=books

Duncan Stroik, Chair of the Architecture School of Notre Dame University, has an interesting critique of the approach of the Modernist school (of which Gropius and Mies van der Rohe are two important representatives) to Church architecture. In “The Roots of Modernist Church Architecture” he outlines the guiding principles behind the work of the school. Although many churches are still built to the designs of architects of this school, such as a recent church by Richard Meier at Tor Tre Teste in the suburbs of Rome and the concrete box that passes for a cathedral in Los Angeles, the modernist style is now becoming somewhat passé, as more recent church architects (though, alas, not yet in Ireland) pay more attention to liturgical sign, symbol and typology, and pay more heed to the great church buildings of the past for inspiration. Is it too much to hope for that more recent thinking in this area will eventually come to influence Irish church architects?

Here is the link to Stroik’s article: http://www.adoremus.org/1097-Stroik.html

For Meier’s church in Rome:

More delights from the modern school: Los Angeles Cathedral and Mario Botta’s Evry Cathedral, France. 😉

After our little trip abroad, perhaps it’s time to take a look at some of the home-grown variety. A particularly eloquent example is the “Eucharistic room” in Carlow’s Institute of Pastoral Liturgy, designed by the architect Richard Hurley and theologically justified by the notorious Sean Swayne.

The architect tells us that that “The uncompromising character of the all-white space is softened by the intimacy of the assembly. The space comes alive during the celebration. The complete flexibility of the timber furnishings, designed by the architects, respond to similar flexibility required by the liturgical celebrations from time to time. “
Sounds like musical chairs!

Moving quickly northwards, we come to Pugin’s St Mary’s Chapel in Maynooth College, enhanced by Richard Hurley, following a rather eccentric reordering in 1967.
For the present reordering, which owes little to the principles of pointed architecture, Hurley was aided and abetted by Benedict Tutty (tabernacle) and others.
He tells us that “This ensemble, designed by the architect, creates an explosion of colour on the west wall, and presents a strong and prayerful focus, outside of the Eucharistic area.”

“Explosion” is indeed the operative word here! 😀

For description, follow the link http://www.rha.ie/maynooth.html

For photograph of the “explosion” see the attached photo.

Qiuite clearly, Richard Hurley has not read the Institutio Genralis Romani Missalis as his arrangement in St. Mary’s Chapel, Maynooth, does not conform to the requirements laid down for the celebration of the Eucharist – not least being the demarkation of an area that is specifically a “presbyterium”. Even in churches where there has been an antiphonal arrangement for the celebartion of the Liturgy of the Hours, such always antecedes the presbyterium, as is the case in an abbatial church where the offices are daily sung, or indeed in JJ McCarthy’s great masterpiece which is the College Chapel in Maynooth. It is very difficult to see where R. Hurley is taking his cue from but one thing is certain – it is not from the established norms governing Catholic worship.

Maynooth College Chapel, from the presbyterium:

The grace and elegance of Hurley’s efforts in St. Mary’s oratory in Maynooth can easily be understood from the thought and art-historical acumen invested in the furnishings:r

http://www.fitzgeraldsofkells.com/images/samples/p_maynooth2_small.jpg

I would regard it as highly foolish of R. Hurley to have attempted anything like an antiphonal church arrangement in Maynooth of all places where he simply begs uncomplimentary contrast with JJ McCarthy’s great Choir Chapel disposed in a true antiphonal fashion and architecturally articulating all of the main spaces to be included in a Catholic church -with the exception of the nave, which the circumstances of Maynooth College did not require. When one looks at the faux antiphonal pastiche and at the poor quality conception of the the furnishings of St. Mary’s Oratory, one begins to realize that one is facing a true example of a misbegotten and malformed Bauhaus offspring (their unremembering hearts and heads, base born products of base beds ). The “explosion” of colour surrounding the tabernacle, for example, dwarfs into sham insignificance when one beholds the exquisite kaleidescope of colours of the glass in the lancet windows above and at either side of Kim En Joong’s magnum horrendum, especially when seen in the declining light of a summer’s afternoon. Clearly, neither the form or content of the tabernacle surround has any Christian significance whatsoever and could pass equally well, indeed better, in the departure lounge of a suburban bus depot. Was the provision of panelling along the northand south walls of the chapel a conscious effort to emulate the panelling in the College Chapel? If so, I am afraid that all it serves to illustrate is the sad decline in Irish architecture and craftsmanship over the past century for it is but a shodow of JJ McCarthy and the magnificent wood carving of the Monan Brothers from Dundalk to say nothing of the almost total intellectual demise of the Catholic Church in Ireland – even in those sciences which one would consider essential for the adequate execution of its mission. Truly, St. Mary’s Oratory is a symbol but not, I am afraid, of what is officially propagandized.

We remember how difficult it was years ago to get a seat in the College Chapel at Maynooth for Sunday Mass or Evening Devotions. Could it be true, as we have heard, that Saint Mary’s Oratory now adequately accommodates the worshipping remnant and the College Chapel is used only for concerts and conferrings and the like? This too is symbolic perhaps.

There is no “perhaps” about it !!

@sangallo wrote:

After our little trip abroad, perhaps it’s time to take a look at some of the home-grown variety. A particularly eloquent example is the “Eucharistic room” in Carlow’s Institute of Pastoral Liturgy, designed by the architect Richard Hurley and theologically justified by the notorious Sean Swayne.

The architect tells us that that “The uncompromising character of the all-white space is softened by the intimacy of the assembly. The space comes alive during the celebration. The complete flexibility of the timber furnishings, designed by the architects, respond to similar flexibility required by the liturgical celebrations from time to time. “
Sounds like musical chairs!

Have you ever seen such a miserably uncomfortable group? 🙁 ” The space comes alive..” :rolleyes: 😡

This space does not conform to the liturgical norms of the Institutio Generalis Romani Missalis and is consequently unsitable for the celebration of the Mass. Indeed, it is no more than room which has no specifically religious, let alone Christian or Catholic , articulation. It is a prime example of what sacred architecture is not and at total variance with the tradition of Christian architecture accumulated since the Edict of Milam of 312. Its only interesting architectural features are the sash windows.

In his preface to Richard Hurley’s book Irish Architecture in the age of Vatican II (Dominican Publications,2001), Arthur Gibney traces the roots of ecclesiastical architecture in Ireland during the last half of the 20th. century to a number of sources. Among them, he mentions a symposium on church design organized by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland held in 1955 and to the establishment of the Church Exhibition Committe in 1956. This committee organized two important exhibitions: Eglises de France Reconstruites and Modern Churches in Germany, respectively held in 1957 and 1962. Not surprisingly, both France and Germany had seen much rebuilding work after the war. Two further sources for modern church architecture in Ireland identified by Gibney are the Irish Episcopal Commission for Liturgy and the National Advisory Commitee on Sacred Art and Architecture. Among the first members of the latter were: J.G. McGarry, Professor of Homoletics in Maynooth, Austin Flannery, OP, and prominent architects such as Wilfrid Cantwell, Andrew Devane, Liam McCormack and Richard Hurley -examples of whose reordering work have already been seen above. In the same preface, Gibney writes: “…Richard Hurley has been closely involved with the promotion of avant-guard ideas on church design since the 1960s and has an established reputaton as a lecturer and writer on sacred art and architecture”. Gibney further writes: “His [Richard Hurley’s] work in older monumental churches in the 1990s reveals a sensitivity to historic spaces which has been sadly lacking in the modern liturgical interventions of the past”. As an exemplification of this last assertion, Gibney suggests that “the refurbishment of the Honan Chapel in U.C.C. complements its architectural qualities”. Again he claims: “The complex task of refurbishment of Cork Cathedral (of St. Mary and St. Anne) in 1995 combines a sensitive re-ordering of liturgical functions with a dramatic recovery of the spacial and architectural language of an important monument”.
Behind the modernist movement in Ireland lay the figures of French and German architects such as Auguste Perret, Otto Bartning, Rudlf Schwartz and Dominikus Boehm. Investigation of these may well throw light on the devastation practised on Ireland’s non too extensive heritag of ecclesiastical buildings and explain why much of the work carried out on Irish churches in the past forth years could easily leave the impression that during the Second World War Ireland was as heavily bombed as Dresden.

As an example of the work of the Lutheran architect Otto Bartning, a close collaborator of Gropius, I enclose images of Bartning’s work in Dresden-Loebtau and links for further biographical and professional information:

Before:

After:

Interior:

Further information on Otto Bartning:

http://www.das-neue-dresden.de/friedenskirche_otto-bartning_1949.html

http://www.ev-gescher.de/ueberuns/022ae3961a079ea18/022ae3961b114510b/

WIth regard to Rudolf Schwarz (1897-1961), the following entry in the Kirchenlexikon is interesting for what it has to say about Schwarz’s ideas about the transition from Crowd to People to People of God and the joining of Community and Altar; the relationship of architecture and liturgy; and the articulation of ecclesiastical architecture:

http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/s/s1/schwarz_r.shtml

An example of his work: the Corpus Christi Church in Aachen:

The Corpus Christi interior:

I think that posting # 251 should be seen in conjunction with posting # 255 (interior view of Corpus Christi, Aachen). We begin to see influences and prototypes behind all those spartan white walls.

Another example of Rudolf Sacrwrz’s work: Heilige Familie built in 1960:

Dueren, St. Anna

Essen, St. Antonius

Frankfurt, St Michael

Linz, St Teresia

Some examples of the work of Dominikus Boehm, who is seen as a large influence on the Irish modernist movement:

Dettingen, St. Peter und Paul (1922)

Mainz, Christkoenigkirche (1926)

Interior

@Praxiteles wrote:

Gibney further writes: “His [Richard Hurley’s] work in older monumental churches in the 1990s reveals a sensitivity to historic spaces which has been sadly lacking in the modern liturgical interventions of the past”. As an exemplification of this last assertion, Gibney suggests that “the refurbishment of the Honan Chapel in U.C.C. complements its architectural qualities”. Again he claims: “The complex task of refurbishment of Cork Cathedral (of St. Mary and St. Anne) in 1995 combines a sensitive re-ordering of liturgical functions with a dramatic recovery of the spacial and architectural language of an important monument”.

Regarding Cork Cathedral, one can see the sensitivity of the reordering in the combination of a Gothic Revival style throne for the bishop with something akin to a stage set for “Madame Butterfly” or “The Mikado”. One only awaits the entry of the geisha girls from behind the wooden screens!

The claims of Gibney re Hurley remind one of similar claims about enhancing Pugin in Killarney! :rolleyes:

Liam McCormick (1916-1996) is regarded by many as the father of modern Irish Church architecture. He is perhaps best known for having designed St Aengus’s Church in Burt, Co. Donegal. His stated influences are Le Corbusier, Gropius and Alvar Aalto.

For info on Burt Church, see:

http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/donegal/burt/st_aengus.html

For a brief biographical sketch, see:

http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article.aspx?county=0&articleID=168&cultID=0&townID=0&cultSubID=0&page=0&navID=0

@Praxiteles wrote:

WIth regard to Rudolf Schwarz (1897-1961), the following entry in the Kirchenlexikon is interesting for what it has to say about Schwarz’s ideas about the transition from Crowd to People to People of God and the joining of Community and Altar]http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/s/s1/schwarz_r.shtml[/url]

An example of his work: the Corpus Christi Church in Aachen:

The Corpus Christi interior:

There is no doubt about it – we are living in the ‘Ugly Age’. 😮 :confused:

Influenced by Dominikus Boehm (1880-1955), Rudolf Schwarz (1897-1961) and Emil Steffann (1899-1968), Church architecture in Germany was marked by a radical simplification of form and of space while in post-was Grmany saw the dominance of stark spatial areas characterised by naked materials. Not only Le Corbusier (1857-1965) worked in this tradition but also, in a certain sense, Mario Botta who built the only Cathedral of the period.

In the German post war period, building material was made available in the form of surplus army stock, including huts, which seem to have had a peculiar infuence on post war Church design.

Emil Steffann, Sankt Bonifatius, Luebeck 1952.

ibid. interior

Perhaps visitors might like to know why the diocese of Cloyne chose Prof. O’Neill for the reordering of the sanctuary. View the following link for the official explanation:

http://www.cloyne.irl.com/catharchitect.htm

Makes for interesting reading in the light of the foregoing discussion on this thread!

So, O’Neill was chosen simply because he “did” the Pro-Cathedral. If true, it speaks volumes for the glitteratti lined up to make the big decision.

Re: posting 251: Carlow College, Eucharist Room

Richard Hurley describes the creation of the Eucharist Room in his book Irish Church Architecture in the era of Vatican II as follows: “The nerve centre of the institute [for Pastoral Liturgy] comprised a plan of four spaces – gathering area, the Eucharist Room, the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and the Vesting Room. The gathering room was of great importance in the scheme of things. It would provide a place of welcome, a place of assembly before and after the liturgy and also a place to enjoy the hospitality of the institute. The Eucharist Room is entered directly off the gathering area along a narrow “mall” partially two storeys high and containing an open-string staircase. The Eucharist Room is spacious and light -filled; it was the great room of the house….the layout of the room is orientated towards an informal antiphonal gathering surrounding a central area focused on the altar. This was a development of the idea of the family gathering around the table. WIthin this group the chief celebrant sat at one end of the axis with the altar and the ambo placed at the other side of the altar, on axis facing up the room. The surrounding stools provide an informal seating arrangement for the assembly. Everything in the room is a shade of white – wall, floor, ceiling, light fittings and carpet…The ambience of the room was intended to provide fertile soil for the growth of spiritual freedom. The limitations of the materials used also contained the inner intention, that to radiate the Spirit of Freedom. There was no “sanctuary” in the Eucharist Room in Carlow, only an expression of ritual space and the integration of everyone who participate in it”.

I do like those coyishly suggestive old-fashioned milking stools. I understand that a peculiar Galway version of the milking stool was used in the presbyterium of the Honan Chapel – the last very degenerate outcrop of the once vibrant Celtic Revival.

Continuing in the milking stool vein, I would be inclined to suggest that the sugan chair idiom would be a more authentic rendition of Celticism!
I would have suggested something along those lines for the presidential chair in the Carlow room, but, it would seem from the photo attachment kindly provided by Gianlorenzo, that there is absolutely no distinction between president and assembly. Whatever else it is, this hardly reflects a Catholic understanding of the liturgy! It is more suggestive of a community celebrating nothing other than itself, after a fashion so rightly criticised by the then Card. Joseph Ratzinger in his seminal work The Spirit of the Liturgy.

@Praxiteles wrote:

I do like those coyishly suggestive old-fashioned milking stools. I understand that a peculiar Galway version of the milking stool was used in the presbyterium of the Honan Chapel – the last very degenerate outcrop of the once vibrant Celtic Revival.

I don’t know about the use of the milking stool in the Honan Chapel, as in the attached photos, it seems to have been hidden out of sight, along with the Silk of the Kine. Of course, the rather oddly-shaped presidential chair could easily take its place in the cow-byre. In any case, there is an unmistakeable druidic air about the new arrangement!

References to Galway milking stools as sources of inspiration for modern neo-Celtic Revival handiwork are serioulsy explained in Virginia Teehan and Eilzabeth Wincott-Heckett’s monograph [img]The%20Honan%20Chapel:%20A%20golden%20Vision[/img]. We are told: ” A number of items of furnture by the Dublin sculptor (sic) Imogen Stuart were added following Vatican II. Designed and made in 1986-1987, these include a massive oak altar carved in relief with the Four Evangelists, now placed in the middle of the moasic floor in front of the sanctuary; ….an oak president’s chair adapted from the three-legged cottage chair of Connemara with a high back terminating in a celtic cross. [a number of items] were supplied to cater for the popularity of the chapel as a wedding venue. A bride’s chair and kneeler and a groom’s chair and kneeler, the symobolism of their design being explained on labels under the seats”.

If this is the best or only inspiration that neo-Celtic Revival can come up with, would someone please mercifully put it out of its misery.

The thing of beauty in the flesh:

Why such should be necessary is incomprehensible when one notices a perfectly adequate sedilia, designed to accomodate the usage of the Roman Rite, on the south wall of the sanctuary. It even has cushions to encourage the faint hearted!

Re Richard Hurley’s “job” on St. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth, one can say that the standard milking-stool-inspired tuffets have mercifully been replaced by a more conventional chair redolent of influences ranging from provincial English regency dining chair to the more domestic kitchen chair. As for the “president’s” chair and its accompanying stools, it is not clear to me where the inspiration for this amalgam comes from – though I think I saw something reminiscent of it in an animated version of Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It is very interesting to note in this picture that none of the chairs has a kneeler to accomodate anyone who might wish to kneel down. It was perhaps to this phenomenon that Kieron Wood was referring to in an article published on 4 November 2005 in the Sunday Business Post. Apparently, unlawful disciplinary measures are taken against those in the Maynooth Menge who refuse to be socialized into Volk by resorting to such anti-social and psychotic behaviour as kneeling down. Clearly, it is no accident that the chapel is designed and laid out in a fashiion that is contrary to the current (post Vatican II) liturgical norms for the celebration of the Mass and disturbing because of some of the underlying concepts of liturgy as socialization whose sinister origins are to be found in German writers of the inter-war period – which should immediately counsel caution. How far is it from Volksgeist to corporate or aggragate or communal liturgy – none of which concepts makes even a fleeting appearance in Vatican II’s Sacroscantum Concilium ?

The reason for the enormous organ case in St. Mary’s Oratory, a relatively small space, is beyond me. ALso, placing the organ against the east wall obscures one of the more charming archictectural elements of the original chapel – namely, an enormous, simple, plain wall pierced only once by a tiny squat doorway.

Attachment 1 is a view of the Chapel as originally dcorated.
Attachment 2 is a view of the Chapel following the 1966 reordering (note the size of the organ)

Interesting echoes between Richard Hurley’s Library at Glenstal Abbey and Rudolf Schwarz’s Fronleichnam Church in Aachen – just illustrates the flexible functionality of modern Bauhaus products.

“Architecture has the capability to define through formal language that we come to identify the activities that occur within by the form of the architecture. The activities and the forms become interdependent. To the extent that the architecture incorporates these forms and linguistic elements we feel at home and comfortable. Conversely, to the extent that these elements are missing we may feel less at home, less comfortable. Our sense of well-being is affected by the architecture. The result of a sense of negative affect—or lack of well-being—may be a tendency not to return to the space, i.e. a loss of interest.”
Neo-gothic Architecture Today by Ethan Anthony in Sacred Architecture Journal Vol.5 2001.

It seems to me, as one of the ‘plebs’ mentioned by Praxiteles in a previous post, that the above pictured churches were built by an architect for an architect. They certainly were not built with the ordinary churchgoer in mind, and as for God, well forget it, He doesn’t even get a look in. While the fall off from the Church cannot be put finally at the feet of architects or their misguided liturgical advisors, they must take some responsibility in the alienation of the people. From what I have seen, they are building for Man, while the people enter their buildings looking for God, and finding only Man, leave in confusion.

Please. No more Rudolf Schwarz. The pictures are just too, too distressing. Anyway, such supposedly “functional” buildings tend to be badly built and it is easy to predict that they will be abandoned or demolished well before mid-century. It could, though, be worthwhile preserving a few of them, in the German fashion, as a warning to future generations.

Jawohl !!!!!!!!

@Peter Parler wrote:

Please. No more Rudolf Schwarz. The pictures are just too, too distressing. Anyway, such supposedly “functional” buildings tend to be badly built and it is easy to predict that they will be abandoned or demolished well before mid-century. It could, though, be worthwhile preserving a few of them, in the German fashion, as a warning to future generations.

That is probably their only function. They are out of date now and their future can only be as ‘historical oddities’. Even the furniture is dated and passe. When will the apologists for Moderism and even post-Modernism realise that they are locked into their own time and, unlike what went before, beit Classical, Romanesque,or Gothic/Neo-Gothic, they have no future. Their appeal is to the ‘now ‘and that in itself is self- defeating in that there is no ‘now’. A look at other threads on this site will show how quickly things become outmoded and unfashionable. And that, in the end,is what the re-ordering of St. Colman’s is all about – it is a fashion trend that Bishop Magee, in his abysmal ignorance, feels he has to follow.
Regarding the ‘warning to future generations’, why is it that Ireland is always 10 years behind everywhere else. In the US and UK they are beginning to re-order the previous re-ordering, but here we are, prepared to destroy one of the truly worthy heritage structures in our land in the name of an our-dated and spurious ideology.

Tabernacle in old L.A. Cathedral

New Tabernacle!!!

Looking once again at the reordered St Mary’s chapel in Maynooth, there is another distinctly odd feature about the arrangement. Behind the presidential chair, on which the wizard Gandalf would feel quite at home, there appears to be a semi-circle of chairs positioned facing towards the tabernacle. I am inclined to think that this may have something to do with the decadent stage of Celtic revival characteristic also of the Honan Chapel (the druidic altar and Connemara milking stool) and the Carlow Euch-room (also furnished with milking stools). In this case, the designer seems to have in mind the cosy fireside chat, perhaps with claypipes and tay! A seanchai would not go amiss either.:D

I am compiling a list of the liturgical errors and omissions in the design and layout of St. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth and would be glad to have comments from others before posting the list – just to ensure that I have them ALL..

Well, to-day, folks, it is a pre-Christmas trip to Santa in Lappland taking in a few views of the work of Alvar Aalto -a major influence, we are told, on Richard Hurley and Liam McCormack. Well, we can understand Aalto’s interest in white given that there is a lot of snow in Finland and Sweden. Indeed, one could even forgive him for feeling the need to introduce snow inspired colour into Finnish and Swedish interiors, but what is Richard Hurley up to in Ireland with all the whiteness. After all, we have not had anything like a blizzard for twenty years. I believe, however, that further exploration of this theme will shed some white light on the creations in the Euch. Room in Carlow and in St. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth.

Heilig-geist Kirken, Wolfsburg

Another splendid example of “ecclesiastical” architecture

Kirche des Flachenkreuz in Seinaejoki (Schneeland)

interior

As for the enoblement of the stool:
see the Library, Viipuri (1929), Meeting Room

The Chruch of the Three Crosses,Vouksenniska, Imatra, Finland

Wow, this thread just gets better (or worse) – now it’s ghastly, deathly-pale German Church interiors! No wonder Catholicism is gasping for air in that country! How did Benedict survive unscathed?

It is interesting that with the eclipse of European culture, comes the de-sacralization of architecture and the consequent alienation of the language. Reading Richard Hurley’s apologia for his various soulless productions, one hears a vocabulary that is wholly alien to anyone with an inkling of what the Sacred Liturgy means in the Catholic economy. So we hear the inane patter of the sociologist and the barely disguised superciliousness of the behaviourist. The people are to be control-processed in a non-threatening “gathering place”, before entering the tame and void “Eucharist room” (I ask you!), through a “mall”. How appropriate – “malls”, the new Cathedrals of modern Europe. The family setting – where’s the fireplace and the scrabble board? – emphasises the Eucharist as meal, we are told. And what emphasises its more fundamental aspect – that of sacrifice, or, if you insist, sacrificial meal?

In any case, Liturgy detached from its theological and historical, its symbolic and cultic fundaments becomes a floating free-for-all, the play thing of ideologues, charlatans and the semi-educated; unaware even of their own ignorance of that which they pretend to be masters and teachers. All “kudos” to those trying to save Cobh from the dying gasps of this iconoclastic hiccup in the Church’s history. Like all iconoclasm, it will eventually be overcome by the return of common sense, that is, the return to the sacred.

In relation to the Euch. Room in Carlow with its extensive use of stools, I think we may have to resort to Alvar Aalto’s domestic furniture of the 1930s to discover a prototype. If correct, then we shall have to abandon the artistic apotheosis of the Galway milking stools – though, of course, we cannot exclude the possibility of some indigenous trace elements of the Galway milking stool insinuating themselves into an otherwise anonymous composition.

Cleraly, the Viipuri library conference room, built in 1929, cannot be positively excluded as a prototype for the socalled antiphonal approach to the Euch. Room in Carlow and for its more elaborate version in St. Mary’s Oratory.

Stools chair by Alvar Aalto (1930-1931)

Elegant domestic modern stools and chairs designed by Alvar Aalto

Re #279 St Mary’s Oratory at Maynooth. The big organ looks as if it is the principal object of worship…. And they have overlooked those old stained-glass windows. They seem so sadly out of place….

@Praxiteles wrote:

I am compiling a list of the liturgical errors and omissions in the design and layout of St. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth and would be glad to have comments from others before posting the list – just to ensure that I have them ALL..

Isn’t Patrick Pye’s tapestry between the lancet windows hung a little too high? Nice tapestry shame about the place.:p

Re. liturgical errors and omissions, one that is immediately evident – there are no Stations of the Cross.

An interesting Aalto prototype

Parish Church, Riola (Italy)

The new church was one of the first in which the ‘reformed’ Roman Catholic liturgy would be given expression in architectural terms; the aim was to provide a close relationship between altar, choir and organ, as well as the baptistery. The shape of the church itself is an asymmetrical basilica with asymmetrical vaulting through which light, directed especially towards the altar, enters the building. Galleries were dispensed with, but the choir area was extended to compensate for their absence. The front wall of the church can be opened so that the forecourt serves as an extension to it.”

— Karl Fleig. Alvar Aalto. p171.

Details

The Riola Parish Center was designed in 1966.

The main body of the church was completed in 1978, without the campanile.

— Malcolm Quantrill. Alvar Aalto: A Critical Study. p204; Karl Fleig. Alvar Aalto. p171.

Riola could very easily double for a gymnasium or a community centre – a few climbing ropes up the side and swings for the trapeze artists, and it would be just perfect! 😀
I agree with Gianlorenzo about the Patrick Pye tapestry of the Transfiguration (cf. #284) -here we are dealing with a great modern Irish artist, with a strong spiritual content in his art. Unfortunately, the surroundings are not ideal to bring that out – it might as well hang in a soulless modern museum.
The Maynooth website givs the following info about St Mary’s chapel:

“St. Mary’s Oratory, in the Pugin buildings, had been allotted to the senior students in the1850s, over the protests of Nicholas Callan, who claimed that he had been promised the large hall as a laboratory. The plain space was slightly embellished after it had been gutted in the fire of 1 November 1878, but it remained utilitarian despite the insertion of two genuinely distinguished stained-glass windows in 1939. They survived an unfortunate refurbishing in the name of liturgical renewal, and remain a chief glory in a total and happier reordering carried out to mark the new millennium. This renewal was made possible with a generous grant from the St. Joseph’s Young Priests Society. The Oratory is adorned with works of art by Patrick Pye (Transfiguration), Imogen Stuart (Madonna and Child), Ken Thompson (St. Joseph, Altar, Ambo, Chair), Kim en Joong, O.P. (non-figurative) and Benedict Tutty, O.S.B. (Tabernacle and Cross).”

Incidentally, the same website mentions the vandalism carried out by the erstwhile President, Mgr Miceal Ledwith, in the little St Mary’s Square, originally designed by Pugin:

“Finally, there is the bicentenary garden, located in St. Mary’s Square, designed to symbolise man’s spiritual journey towards God. It really should be taken slowly and reflectively. A detailed leaflet is available.”

When one sees the said square in its present sad condition, one is not surprised to find that the one responsible for same is now working for a New Age community in California, devoted to a 35,000 year old warrior called Ramtha! What would Pugin have said?

@sangallo wrote:

Incidentally, the same website mentions the vandalism carried out by the erstwhile President, Mgr Miceal Ledwith, in the little St Mary’s Square, originally designed by Pugin:

“Finally, there is the bicentenary garden, located in St. Mary’s Square, designed to symbolise man’s spiritual journey towards God. It really should be taken slowly and reflectively. A detailed leaflet is available.”

When one sees the said square in its present sad condition, one is not surprised to find that the one responsible for same is now working for a New Age community in California, devoted to a 35,000 year old warrior called Ramtha! What would Pugin have said?

We can easily imagine what Pugin might feel to see the present state of St Mary’s Square at Maynooth. What we are waiting for is some word of explanation and apology from the present Trustees of the College for that questionable appointment and all its weird consequences – which include the vandalization of the Lady Chapel and the installation, contiguous to St Mary’s Square, of a vulgar American bronze: Notre-Dame a la mousse au chocolat.

Congratulations to the Friends of St Colman’s Cathedral for the simply stunning photos of the cathedral recently added to their website! Follow the link http://www.foscc.com/Gallery.html

What a spectacular building! Unfortunately, it seems that some of the mosaic is rather worn and damaged, with some amateurish repair work done. Surely Pugin and Ashlin deserve better!

Incidentally, it would be nice to have some more photos of the scenes from Irish church history in the capitals and over the arches of the cathedral interior. The are a bit high up for the naked eye to view comfortably.

Does anyone know if there is a similar series elsewhere in Ireland?

Maynooth College Bi-Centenary Gardens

St. Mary’s Square, Maynooth – lower quad in the photograph (Before)

Ibid. loc. After

The Bi-Centenary Gardens were commissioned to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Maynooth College in 1995. The Garden with its lake and fountains are based on the biblical theme ‘from origins to destiny’ and reflects the salvation of humankind in Genesis chapters two and three. All plants in the garden have been mentioned in the Bible.

While described oficially as above, there can be little doubting that the Bi-Centerary Gardens in St. Mary’s Square in Maynooth have little or nothing to do with Christianity or even Judaism as concepts like “destiny” and “origins”, and especially the “salvation of humankind” are nowhere to be found in the Old Testament. It is time to take a good hard look at the BI-Centenary Gardens and see it for what it is: a modern composition brutally imposed on an historical context without the slightest respect for the architectural integrity of St. Mary’s Square. The bit about Biblical plants is sheer hocus pocus as it is highly unlikely that anything grown in the Middle East would survive a winter in the mainly northern facing square. Micheal Ledwith realized in the great outdoors a level of vandalism only surpassed indoors in the contiguous St. Mary’s Oratory.

Reply 286 tells us that Ken Thompson is responsible for the Altar, ambo and president’s chair in St. Mary’s Oratory, Maynooth. Those of use who know him well realize that he has a quirky sense of humour. Are they sure in Maynooth that he is not in some way taking the mick with that awful chairback so evidently modelled on a mitre? Wood is not is his best medium. He is stupendous in stone. The Paschal chamber stick in the Honan Chapel was not KT at his best.

St. Marry’s Square (nocturne)

I came across the following in a google search. It certainly captures the mood of St. Mary’s Square with accuracy:

I stayed at the College in Maynooth – the grounds and the loding was lovely.
Considering the College used to be a Catholic Seminary, the very pagan rock garden with it’s standing stones seemed out of place.
I caught the reflection of one of the college buildings in the pool of the Rock Garden.

I think it best that we do not pursue anything further about the standing stones.

The St Mary’s Square arrangement, now that we see some good photos of it (#289), does look like a cross between the deserted graveyard

To leave Maynooth modernity, and indeed modernity, for a while and return to St. Colman’s Cathedral and its glorious tympanum, I thought it might be interesting to explore its iconographic prototypes in Romanesque France and therefore post a picture of the magnificent tympanum of the Abbatiale de St. Pierre at Moissac constructed between 1120-1135.

If Moissac draws so many visitors these days, it is because of its tympanum and its cloister. The latter with its many famous capitals is rightly considered the most beautiful one left in the world. In the tympanum of the south portal, the sculpture of Moissac is truly monumental. It is placed above the level of the eye and is so large as to dominate the entire entrance. It is a gigantic semicircular relief, over 15 feet in diameter, framed by a slightly pointed archivolt in three orders. Its great mass is supported by a magnificently ornate lintel, a sculptured trumeau, or pillar, representing Paul and a bearded prophet, and two doorposts on which are carved the figures of Peter and the prophet Isaias. The portal is sheltered by a salient barrel-vaulted porch, decorated on its lower walls with reliefs representing incidents of the Infancy of Christ, the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, the Punishment of Avarice and Unchastity. In its grouping and concentration of sculptures, the porch is comparable in enterprise to an arch of triumph. The tympanum itself is a remarkable work of engineering and architecture, for 28 blocks of stone were brought together to form its surface.

The meal of the rich man, Dives (at right),
as dying Lazarus is cared for by the dogs (left).

St. Peter on the left side of the entry door
under the Tympanum.

Arles-sur-Tech, Abbatiale Sainte-Marie-de-Vallespir

Tympanum c. 1046

The graceful portal and tympanum of St Trophime at Arles dating from the mid twelfth century:

More Moissac:

Another exxample, the architrave of the portal of the Church of St. Genis-des-Fontaines, erected in 1019/1020:

Must say all you guys and gals out there have shocked me with your documentation and reflexions. The foreign stuff is terrible. That Schwarz man. But how did they ever go for thus stuff in Ireland and worst of all in the Catholic Church here? If I can bring the discussion back to Cobh. What a MESS. It seems to me that there a number of formal problems. I mean, who says the cathedral has to be messed up? Where does an idea like that come from? Is it the bishop? Some flunkey lurking behind the throne? And who ever got it into their head to choose an archirect who seems to have a career most accurately exemplified by Drogheda railway station, which is just a banal remake without the teeniest hint of GRACE. He seems also to have the odd technological byre to his name. Otherwise? So how does a bishop get a project going with someone with credentials like that? I mean!! What a miserable, sad contrast with the glorious past. The all-in-one design that has been Cobh Cathedral till now replaced by this stuff! Is this serious? Surely even a bishop has some superior under the seventh heaven. I mean, is there no one who checks this stuff out? In this day and age? All I can say is, poor ould Church if this sort of stuff goes through. And there must be a law against it. Aren’t there learned judges in the land? Aren’t we paying through the nose for GOVERMENT? You seem to have some brains, Praxiteles. What’s the score, old son? 😮 Speak!

Cannot say who the eminence grise in Cobh might be. But, there is an earlier posting, from Descamps, I think, explaining some of the uglies behind the scene. At present, I am on tympana but will return to this later on.

The Mi

The western Portail of the Prieuré de Saint Fortunat, Charlieu, built about 1090 is the first example in Burgundy of a tympanum depicting the artistic type of Christ seated in glory, surrounded by an aureole supported by two angels.

This form of depicting Christ antecedes tympana depicting the Last Judgment and is historically associated with the Cluniac reform (see attached image at the end).

The priory, although founded around 875, became dependant on the abbey of Cluny around 930 and was assigned the rank of priory in 1040. In the mid eleventh century, a new priory church was built by the Abbot, St. Odilion.

The Northern Portal dates from the mid twelfth century, but repeats and elsborates the earlier, simpler type. At a time of political crisis centred on the question of investiture, pitting the Papacy and the Empire against each other, the message of the reformist portal was perfectly clear: This is the throne of the true Lord, the heavenly Lord.

[Images from [url]http://en.structurae.de][/url]

The northern tympanum here depicts Christ seated in glory, blessing and holding the Book of the Gospels, and surrounded by an aureole supported by two angels, and circumscribed by the tetramorphic representations of the four Evangelists

The architrave depicts the twelve Aposles enthroned in glory.

The tympanum of the window depicts the biblical type of sacrifice: the Last Supper prefigured in the sacrifice of the Temple.

The link below shows the Cluniac prototype for the tympanum depicting Christ enthroned in Glory, in the Priory of Charlieu dating from 1099:

The image below shows C.W. Harrison’s variation of it on the Wstern tympanum in Cobh, executed in 1898:

Beautiful images posted.

Can I ask are the various people’s objections to the striking modernist churches featured their (apparent?) lack of conformity with strict liturgical requirements, or the fact they’re not frilly gothic wedding cakes?

Is that an “apparent” dislike of Gothic Graham?

🙂 Quite the opposite in fact – just that many of the ‘alternative’ churches featured are fine pieces of architecture.
Hence is it the dislike of the modern that is putting people here off, or is it these buildings’ ”apparent’ (in that I do not know) disregard for liturgical convention?

The problem with some of the modern schools is not so much that they do not give us nice gothic frills or that they are not liturgically correct, but because they are unable to articulate realities which for them, by definition, do not exist, or are too inhumane to be able to empathise with man or his condition. Rudolf Schwarz, while producing technically perfect peices, exhibits nothing of the “humanitas” of the portal of Charlieu and, as such, cannot be considered as a congruent mise-en-scene for the liturgical “commemoration” of Christ’s greatest act of “humanitas”.

Is that not up to the individual to decide?
The much derided breeze block Firhouse church in south Dublin is much loved by its parishioners.

The following pictures show a number of portals with red doors. This is a clue to the ancient use of church portals throughout western Europe and provides the wider context in which portals such as Moissac, Charlieu, and those of the great Cathedrals should be seen. While the portal obviously provides access and egress from the church, its more important social function was that of a locus for the administration of both ecclesiastical and civil justice. Basically, these great portals were the courts of justice and were designated as such by the painiting of their doors in red. The colour was especially connected with royal justice. Also, the portals of the churches served as places in which oaths were administered, contracts perfected and all sorts of other legal acts, such as the swearing of fealty, took place. Marriage was formally contracted in the portico of the church before the bride and groom were lead into the church. Weights and measures were publicly promulgated and exhibited in the church porticos. This function had an influence on the plastic decoration of the portals and on the choice of theme to be depicted. Usually, the dominant tympan will depict Christ in his Divine Majesty, source of all justice. The Last Judgment is a later theme focusing on the rewads of good and evil. In the porico itself, it was not unusual to find figures such as Solomon, the Old Testament exemplification of Justice or St. John the Baptist. In the north Italian Romanesque, as at Piacenza, lions are characteristically found supporting the columns of the portico. Here again is a reference to Solomon -whose throne was held up by lions. Indeed, in many medieval contracts and legal documents it is not infrequent to find that such were done “ad portas”, “ante portam”, “in gallilea”, “in atrio”. In northern Italy the expression “inter duos leones” frequently occurs. As at Moissac, the prophet Isaiah features in medieval church porticos alluding to his prophacy of the eschatological kingdom of peace, justice and righteousness. In the case of Cobh, the tympan is directly influenced by the Royal Portal at Chartres while the figures in the portico depict St. John the Baptist, another precursor of the eschatological kingdom of peace and justice but the iconographic composition fails somewhat by the introduction of the figure of St. Joseph, unless he is seen as the biblical faithful stewart placed over the household. In conservation terms, even elements such as the colours of paint on doors can have an important significance. Unfortunately, at Moissac the door colour has vanished since the time of the French Revolution and has not been recovered.

The Abbatiale de St. Gilles-du-Gard dating from the second quarter of the twelfth century which, after almost a thousand years conservs its tradition of painting the abbey doors red :

Paroissiale de St Armel in Ploermel, Brittany, depicting the the triumph of virtue over vice.

Chapelle de Notre Dame de Kernascléden, Brittany: portail:

Le Faouet, Brittany, Chapelle de St. Fiacre (an Irish man) west portail:

Le Faouet, Brittany, Chapelle de Sainte Barbre, west portail:

Le Guerno, Brittany, Paroissiale de Notre Dame:

The Portico of the Cathedral of Piacenza, built last half of the twelfth cenntury and in the first half of the thirteenth, supported by the pair of lions so characteristic of the Lombard Romanesque:

Re. #308: in what amounts to an ecclesial statement, the answer to that question must be no.

St Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan
Arguably McCarthy’s masterwork….

Ruined, the only trace of original stonework is a small stretch of railing at the old baptistry. The bishop rode roughshod over the people, and indeed a few years ago, I received an email from his secretary about a throw-away comment on the predesscor of these boards. I think Bishop Joseph Duffy is a tad touchy about it, and he has written several small booklets on the re-ordering to get his view across. None of these booklets have “before” pictiures – I have but I need to scan them first. As a kid I was entranced by the mass of victorian ironwork dividing the four side altars from the high altar, the massive ornate canopy over the Cathedra and the fabulous pulpit a third the way down the nave. All gone. Even the wooden confessionals which were ten-a-penny victorian were sadly removed. There was also some fabulous cast iron radiator covers to the rear of the church. Everything ruined.

By bringing the altar out into the crossing, they actually reduced the capacity of the church considerably – I must scan a plan and show the old versus the new.

The reordering completely detracts from the verticiality of the space and the forest of columns in the area of the crossing. It does not draw the eye to the fabulous hammerbeam roof nor to the apse when standing at the western entrances. It is non-descript. And it seems that since I was last there, they have added to the carpet collection in the apse. Originally it was one, which was acceptable because it attracted the eye to the end, now it looks like a rural hotel lobby. Are tapestrys the new stained glass?

The only thing they did right, was restore the organ, a magnificently overbearing and pompous instrument

Re. above comments of P. Clerkin on Monaghan Cathedral. I remember my first visit to that noble building – from outside it has a French look, I would have thought. Indeed, its external appearence greatly impressed me – not heavy, not brooding as some gothic buidlings can be. This structure has a lightness of composition.

On entering the building I was (as it has been) gutted. What a hatchet job! I can imagine the Lord Bishop of Clogher is touchy on the issue. He realises now that his only enduring legacy to the diocese is a tasteless attack on its central gem. And he must realise that any pretentions he had to a favourable commentary in the history books (he is himself an historian, I think) for his “imaginative and senitive adaption of the Cathedral to the demands of the post-conciliar Liturgy”, as the jargon goes, is in tatters on both counts. First, it ain’t imaginative and it certainly ain’t sensitive; and second, the whole “demands of the post-Conciliar Liturgy” line is utter bunkum – and demonstrably so, if one has ever read Sacrosanctum concilium and later documents. [Bishop Magee take note].

Now, one must say immediately – partly too in response to G. Hickey’s earlier observations – that a thing does not have to be gothic to be beautiful. Indeed the quality of some of the individual pieces in Monaghan Cathedral is evident to see. But the idea that these utterly incongruous elements, alien to the setting and in some cases to the economy of Christian worship, can simply be hurled into an already very carefully and beautifully elaborated unity of art and archetecture is folly. Not to mention the necessary destruction of the already present – and vastly more appropriate, vastly more beautiful – elements, the condescending contempt for the wishes of the people (who are paying for it all, by the way), the irresponsible squandering of a precious spiritual and cultural heritage etc. This is the power of a mania; and the reckless iconoclasm that convulsed Ireland in those years can only be regarded as a mania. Was it Chesterton who said a mania is irresistable when it holds force and inexplicable afterwards?

Now -PHOTOS, PHOTOS – let’s have them P. Clerkin! From that first moment I entered Monaghan Cathedral I have wanted to see images of it in its pristine condition. But “Sensitive Joe” seems to have purged every evidence of the former charms of the buidling he bullied into his own image and likeness. Get scanning at once!

Everytime I see the altar area, now I think of a 1980s Eurovision stage – just remove the altar and lecture and you have a perfect place for bad euro-pop…

Yes, it is just too too awful. Duffy has pretentions to sophistication and flaunts a puddle deep knowledge of European, especially French, culture. His influence on the Art and Architecture Committee of the Irish Episcopal Conference over the years has been baleful and motivated by a totally uncritical acceptance of the modern without any reflection on the philosophical difficulties underlying its theory. Unfortunately, much of the iconoclasm that has gone on in the Catholic Church for the past twenty five years fetch from Duffy its first head and spring. He is a true scion of the Isaurian dynasty. I am not at all surprised that you should have been contacted by the mind police in the Clogher diocesan offices. The Cloyne counterparts are currently busily trying to stifle any opposition to O’Neill’s proposed vandalism in Cobh and make no apologies for gagging anyone who might have a valid point to make.

Re #311 is this the original colour scheme for the organ pipes or is a recent innovation?

Can one of the Cobh contingent contact me – I’d like to run a piece in the news section – using their pictures and text. pclerkin@irish-architecture.com

Looking anew at the external picture of Monaghan Cathedral (in #311 above) – the only beautiful aspect that remains – it is unmistakably McCarthy, isn’t it? Indeed take away the two side aisles and one has almost a carbon copy of Maynooth College Chapel, the inside of which was mercifully spared the ignominious stripping that Monaghan was forced to endured.

In earlier mentions of Ledwith’s tinkering with St Mary’s Square, no-one mentioned his belated and deeply regrettable conversion of the Lady Chapel. If I am not mistaken, during his tenure the altar (of very fine marble) was detached from its surroundings and ludicrously propped up on a cheap dais in the middle of that exquisite little chapel, destroying in one sweep the simple harmony of the piece and obscuring the mosaic floor with cheap carpet. To add insult to injury the remaining space was filled with unspeakably vulgar pews, thus losing that quite delicate illusion of space and replacing it with claustrophobic fussiness. Ruined.

I quite agree with P. Clerkin – the recent addition of two or three further tapestries behind the altar in Monaghan is a retrograde step. It is probably to compensate for the coldness of the new sanctuary – no doubt sponsored by Roadstone. Or perhaps the Lord Bishop just felt a little isolated up there on his horse-shoe throne (fine if you’re in San Clemente in Rome, but just silly in Monaghan) and hoped the walls might compensate for the lack of colour elsewhere. The old sanctuary, I’m sure, would have provided the “warmth” so lacking in the cold adaptation. We await those pictures…

BTW, returning to the principal theme – will Cobh end up with some of the lamentable characteristics of Monaghan if this ill-judged project goes ahead? Yes!

Here is an interior photo of St Eugene’s Cathedral Derry in the early 1970s, when a tempoary altar was in use. This was replaced in 1975, by Liam McCormack’s reordering, the huge canopy over the pulpit was removed at that stage. The “permanent” work shown in a previous post, was carried out in 1989, when the remainder of the pulpit went and the reredoses were needlessly mutilated.[ATTACH]1236[/ATTACH]

Continuing on the iconographic sources for the tympanum of the West Portal in Cobh, I am posting a couple of examples of the Last Judgement which was the usual alternative to the raffigurations of Christ’s Divine Majesty:

At. 1. Conques-en-Rouergue, Abbey of Saint Foy, West Portal, Last Judgment, c.1175

At. 2. Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, Abbey of St. Pierre, South Portal, Last Judgment, c. 1130-40

At. 3. Autun, Cathedral of St Lazarus, West Portal, Last Judgment, 1130-1145

A final portal, this time the tympan of the Abbey of St. Mary Magdelan at Vézelay depicting Penntecost and the Mission of the Church, executed 1125-1130.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

🙂 Quite the opposite in fact – just that many of the ‘alternative’ churches featured are fine pieces of architecture.
Hence is it the dislike of the modern that is putting people here off, or is it these buildings’ ”apparent’ (in that I do not know) disregard for liturgical convention?

Many of the ‘alternative’ (interesting choice of word here!) churches featured, may be as you say fine pieces of architecture, but to my eye they are sterile and cold, hardly what one expects of a church and certainly not the message which the churches would have us believe they wish to send out.

A group of figures, in the arcade of the attic of the South Transept of Cobh Cathedral, facing seaward, depicts the Immaculate Conception and is based on the iconography of the subject developed by Bartolomeo Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) and the school of Seville. To understand the iconographic history of this group, one must look tot he prototypes of the Sevuille tradition, especially Giorgio Vasari and his sources.

Giorgio Vasari’s iconographic type of the Immaculate Conception was painted for the Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti in 1540. The upper part was heavily influenced by Raphael’s frescos in the Vatican Loggie while the lower part is strongly evocative of Micahelangelo’s monumental figures in the Sixtine Chapel. A panel copy of the original, also by Vasari, is in the Uffizi in Florence. This is one of the earliest depictions of the topic, if not inded the prototype for all subsequent representations of the theme. Vasari had much difficulty in arriving at a visual image of the subject and tells us in Le Vite : “avutone Messer Bindo et io il parere di molti comuni amici, uomini literati, la feci finalmente in questa maniera: figurato l’albero del peccato originale nel mezzo della tavola, alle radici di esso come primi trasgressori del commandamento di Dio feci ignudi Adamo et Eva, e Aron, Iousè, Davit, e gli altri Re successivamente secondo i tempi, tutti dico legati per ambedue le braccia, eccetto Samuel e S. Giovanni Battista i quali sono legati per un solo braccio, per esere santificati nel ventre. Al tronco dell’albero feci avvolto con la coda l’antico serpente, il quale, avendo dal mezzo in su forma umana, ha le mani legate di dietro; sopra il capo gli ha un piede, calcandogli la corna, la gloriosa Vergine, che l’altro tiene sopra una luna, essendo vestita di sole e coronata di dodici stelle. La qual Vergine, dico, è sostenuta in aria dentro a uno splendore da molti Angeletti nudi, illuminati dai raggi che vengono da lei, i quali raggi parimenti, passando fra le foglie dell’albero, rendono leume ai legati e pare che vadano loro scioliendo i legami con la virtu e la grazia che hanno da colei donde procedono. In cielo poi, cioè nel più alto della tavola sono due putti che tengono in mani alcune carte, nelle quali sono scritte queste parole:Quos Evae culpa damnavit, Mariae gratia solvit. Insomma, io non ave a fino allora fatto opera, per quello che mi ricorda, né con più studio, né con più amore e fatica di quasta, ma tuttavia, se bene satisfeci a altri per aventura, non satisfeci già a me stesso, come che io sappia il tempo, lo studio, e l’opera ch’io misi particolarmente negl ‘ignudi, le teste e finalmente in ogni cosa”. While the result of Vasari’s efforts is a masterpiece in the mannierist style, and one of his finest religious compositions, at the same time, he was unsatisified with it. But, he had established the basic elements of this iconographic type of the triumph of good over evil, accomplished in the figure of Our Lady depicted in accordance with the apocalyptic woman of the book of Revelation. These elemnts would become synonomous with the depiction of the subject but would be transformed by the school of Seville.

(2) Michaelangelo’s expulsion from Eden in the Sixtine Chapel, painted in 1509-1510, illustrates the temptation of Adam and Eve and the arrival of sin int the world; and the expulsion from the primaeval paradise of Eden. Vasare borrowed the central image of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and uses it in his composition to depict the omnipresence of evil in the world, indicated by the chaining of all of the sons of Adam to that same tree. The Adam lifeless from sin, is depicted by Vasari in the foreground in a fashion reminiscent of Michaelangelo’s creation of Adam.

The dominant influence on iconography in the 17th entury Seville school was Francisco Pacheo (1564.-1654), the father in law of Velasquez. In 1649, he published a definitive treatise on painting, El Arte de la Pintura. His comments on the painting on the Immaculate Conception are the direct source of the sculpted group in the arcade of the attic of the South Transept of Cobh Cathedral. The following are his comments on the painting of the subject: “Some say that (the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady) should be painted with the image of the Christ Child in her arms because she appears thus on some old images that have been found. The opinion is probably based ( as the learned Jesuit Father Alonso de Flores has pointed out) on the fact that Our Lady enjoyed freedom from Original Sin from the very first moment, since she was the Mother of God, even though she had not yet concieved Jesus Christ. Hence from this moment (as the saints know) she was the Mother of God, nor did she ever cease to be. But without taking issue with those who paint the Child in her arms, we side with the majority who paint her without the Child.

This painting, as scholars know, is derived from the mysterious woman whom St.John saw in the sky wiith all her attributes [Revelations XII,1-4]. Therefore, the version I follow is the one that is closest to the holy revelation of the Evangelist and approved by the Catholic Church on the authority of the sacred and holy interpreters. In Revelation she is not only found without the Child in her arms, but even before she ever bore him….We paint her with the Child only in those scenes that occur afer she conceived…

In this loveliest of mysteries Our Lady should be painted as a beautiful young girl, twelve or thirteen years old, in the flower of her youth. She should have pretty but serious eyes with perfect features and rosy cheeks, and the most beautiful long golden locks. In short, she should be as beautiful as a painter’s brush can make her. There are two kinds of human beauty, beauty of the body and beauty of the soul, and the Virgin had both of them in the extreme because her body was a miracolous creation. She resembled her Son, the model of all perfection, more than any other human being. ,,and thus she is praised by her Spouse: tota pulchra es amica mea, a text that is always written in this painting.

She should be painted wearing a white tunic and a blue mantle…She is surrounded by the sun, an oval sun of white and ochre, which sweetly blends into the sky. Rays of light emanate from her head, around which is a ring of twelve stars. An imperial crown adrons her head without, however, hiding the stars. Undr her feet is the moon. Although it is a solid globe, I take the liberty of making it transparent so that the landscape shows through. The upper part is darkened to form a crescent moon with the points turned downward. Unless I am mistaken, I believe I was the first to impart greater majesty to these attributes, and others have followed me.

Especially with the moon I have followed the learned opinion of Father Luis del Alcazar, famous son of Seville, who says: ‘Painters usually show the crescent moon upside down at the feet of this woman. But as is obvious to learned mathematicians, if the moon and sun face each other, both points of the moon have to point downward. Thus the woman will stand on a convex instead of a concave surface…’. This is necessary so that the moon, receiving its light from the sun, will illuminate the woman standing on it….

In the upper part of the painting one usually puts God the Father or the Holy Spirit or both, together with the already mentioned words of her Spouse. The earthly attributes are placed suitably in the landscape; the heavenly attributes can be placed, as you wish, among the clouds. Seraphim or angels can also hold some of the attributes. It slipped my mind completely to mention the dragon, our common enemy, whose head the Virgin broke when she triumphed over original sin. In fact I always forget him, because the truth is that I never willingly paint him, and omit him whenever I can in order not to embarrass my picture with his presence. But painters are free to improve on everything I have said”.

Given what has been laid bare about Irish church architecture in this thread over the past while, I am a astounded by the fact the one of Bartolome Esteban Murillo’s major patrons was an Irish man, from Dublin: Fra Francisco Gough y Fletcher Morgan Cabeza de Vaca! Murillo was one of the greatest devotional painters of all times, especially in his later years when he produced ingratiating compositions that inspire gentle, pious feelings. His pictures are unendumbered by recondite allegorical allusions or references. They are easily accessible and comprehended. ,

Bartolome Esteban Murillo’s versions of 1678, 1665, 1645, del Prado,.

🙂 Where are the Cork lads? I was enjoying their amusing, if slightly inaccurate, pub gossip:D

That was one lad, who thought he was clever…. he has been removed.

I don’t appreciate someone using alteregos to post comments of a personal nature about someone, when they are unnessecary, and then posting again to tell off himself. He was posting as four people.

It doesn’t help the dicussion, merely discredits it.

@Neo Goth wrote:

North Cathedral in Cork

BEFORE

AFTER

@Praxiteles wrote:

Would I be right in saying that Richard Hurley was the architect for both of these particular “reorderings”? It’s just that he is currently undertaking the renovations of the Augustine Church in Galway City Centre and his scheme, according to a recently published illustration, consists of the japanese – style screen as seen in Cork obscuring the (thankfully retained) high altar and exactly the same wooden altar, seat, pulpit and seating arrangement as in Maynooth… Very disturbing considering that many of the congregation will be housed in the aisles with views into the Nave obstructed by columns…

Very sad to see the same mistakes being made over and over again in churches around the country.

Some pictures of the “Augi” as it is known in Galway –

It was obviously quite lovely in it’s time and very ornately decorated. At some point in it’s history – most likely the 60s all of the decoration was removed or covered over, the entire church carpeted and some quite beautiful modern stained glass installed:

It has been in this slightly sad state up until the current renovations. Numerous problems with water penetration, wheelchair accessibility etc. resulted in the nescessity for a complete overhaul of the church. In my opinion however they are going a bit too far, especially in adopting the central altar approach as in Maynooth:

Apparently the church will also be used for recitals, performances etc. which goes some way to accounting for the “flexible” layout. However the chances are that we will be left with yet another sterile and vacuous space where once there was meaning and purpose. The church re-opens on the 18th December.

re #325 Fair enough.

This is yet another example of appaling vandalism and ignorance of an order beyond comprehension. The so called antiphonal lay out that we have here has nothing to do with Catholic worship. In the case of St. Mary’s oratory in Maynooth, Richard Hurley wrongly describes the spacial arrangment as an “antiphonal” arrangment. But this is sheer and utter nonsense. An antiphonal arrangment has been used in Christian Churches, in both Eastern and Western Rites, from time immemorial and is usually associated with abbeys or canonries in which choir stalls, facing each other, were arranged in a space immediately BEFORE the sanctuary. I know of no instance where the choir stalls flanked the altar. The purpose of this arrangment was for the chaunting of the various offices of the Breviary. Indeed, the arrangment of choir stalls in this manner probably dates back to the 4 century and may well have developed from the solea of the early Christian Basilicas (there is an earlier posting with all of this information and drawings). Richard Hurley’s disposition of space, if it ever had an historical progenitor, is merely a modern application of the instructions of the Edwardine Ordinals of November 1547 which, in an effort to ram the Henrician reformation down the throat of a recalcitarnt England, odered the destruction of the altars of every parish church in England and the complete abandonment of the Chancels. In their stead, tressels were ordered to be set up in the naves of the churches and surrounded by furoms. The idea of the move was to break all connection between the new rites of the established Church and the Catholic notion of sacrifice. Traces of the move can be seen in Ireland, e.g. St. Mary’s Collegiate Church in Youghal, Co. Cork, whose Chancel was abandoned at some stage in its history. Describing the Hurley lay-out of St. Mary’s Oratory as “antiphonal” is mendacious and fraudelent. And, for good measure, it has nothing to do with any of the documents coming from the Second Vatican Council on the reform of the liturgy.

Yes, BTH, you are perfectly correct in thinking that Richard Hurley is the architect responsible for destruction of St Mary and St Anne’s in Cork and of ST. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth. The Augustinian church in Galway looks like being the victim of yet anoth application of RH’s clapped out faux “antiphonal” formula. Be thankful, however, that the principle items of furnishing (the High Altar) has escaped the junk heap. In the not too distant future RH’s rubbish can be dumped out the door and some liturgical order restored to the church.

Re. no. 323: I enclose an image of the Purissima by another superb painter of the Sevillian school: Francesco Zurbaran showing very clearly the transparent convex demi-lune mentioned by Francesco Pacheo (cf. 323) and recommended with mathematical precision to all Sevillian painters. This image is a near perfect execution of Pacheo’s canon. At either side of Our Lady are depictions of her attributes as taken from the Litany of Loreto (Gate of Heaven, Mirror of Justice, House of Gold, Tower of Ivory) all of which are referneces to the Old Testament Canticle of Canticles. Like the Cobh figures, this picture also has seafaring associations evident from the ship in lower left hand corner.

More liturgical confusion from Richard Hurley at the Mercy International Centre Dublin:confused:

Found these picture of the oratory in Maynooth.
As it was and after the first reordering

Thanks Gianlorenzo for that picture of the Choir in the Chapel of the Convent of Mercy in Baggot Street. I had been looking for that for a while. This is another example of Richard Hurley’s antiphonal absurdity – this time exaggerated by the presence of the original choir stalls along the walls of the gutted remains of the Chapel. I am preparing some material on the question of “antiphonal” spacial arrangements and hope to post it soon. With any luck, it should demonstrate just how nonsensical the Hurley invention is.

I wish to return to a question raised earlier by Graham Hickey, viz that of the compatibility of the Liturgy and modern architecture. This is an interesting question and one often starting on the false premise that the two are incompatible. That is, and need, not always be the case. While an interesting subject, and one worth pursuing, I would have to point out that a distinction has to be made between building a church ex novo in a modern idiom, and approaching a church alread build – especially those of major significance – with a fixated modern idiom mind-set. The disasters deriving from the latter are too endless to count. But the former is an entirely different question and I believe that it is possible to point to a series of modern architects who understand that church building is a sui generis activity and who have the cultural, religious and historical Wissenshaft to know the traditional canon and its elements and the intelligence to articulate these in a sympathetic modern idiom.

I would begin by pointing to Otto Wagner (1841-1918) and his church in St Leopold am Steinhof, near Vienna, built 1905-1907, in collaboration with Marcel Kammerer and Otto Schoental. Elememts of the decoration were executed by Richard Luksch, Othmar, Leopold Foster and Remius Geyling. The church is considered one of the most important expressions of early modernism in ecclesiastical architecture.

The inscriptions, in German, on the Glass are: upper range, Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Top Lower range: The Spiritual Works of Mercy. Bottom Lower Range: the names of the saints depicted.

http://www.irish-architecture.com/

To Paul Clerkin- NICE ONE

Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926)

Re posting # 332: The photograh of the old sanctuary just demonstrates once again the brutality of the oft repeated Hurley re-ordering tecnhnique. Aganist the wall, notice the redundant mensa of the High Altar which seem an interesting piece with a rather finely carved lamantation for the dead Christ. The window, which is disproportionately high, obviously was originally built to take account of the height of the reredos of the High Altar, of which no trace whatsoever now exists. The glass in the window depicts an image of the Immaculate Conception copied from a painting of the subject by Bartolom

Barry Byrne was born on December 19, 1883. His father, Charles Emmett Byrne, a native of Prince Edward Island, worked as a railroad blacksmith. His mother Mary Barry Delaney, was a native of Chicago but had family connections to Co. Wexford, Ireland.

Byrne always saw his father as miscast in his role as blacksmith. At home, Charles Emmett Byrne, read Shakespeare aloud and wrote poetry of his own. At the age of 10, Byrne came across an architectural book in a library and from that point onward, knew that he wanted to be an architect. Having seen his fathers own thwarted ambitions, Barry Byrne became determined to fulfill his dream.

In 1897, his father was killed by a locomotive, leaving behind his wife and six children. Mary Byrne remained determined to rear her family despite the misfortunes that were ahead. This strength of character encouraged Barry Byrne and in later life would help him as he too faced the harsh reality of running an architects office.

At the age of 14, Byrne left St. Columcille Parochial School to work in the mail order rooms of Montgomery Ward. His inner ambition to realise his dream of becoming an architect made these times very difficult for the teenager. His escape was to ride the trolley cars of Chicago all day Sunday, visiting the Art Institute and libraries and to indulge himself in reading, a practice he would continue all his life.

On one Sunday afternoon in 1902, Byrne’s life changed forever when on one of his regular visits to the Chicago Art Institute, he saw an exibition of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The impression the work made on Byrne, was so powerful that he presented himself at Wright’s Oak Park studio and fortunately got a job.

Frank Lloyd Wright had no great love of formal education and the fact that Barry Byrne had not finished his 9th grade, was not of importance. Wright saw in Byrne, the same love and enthusiasm for architecture he too had experienced in his youth.

The early years at Oak Park were prolific and many of the most famous of Wrights buildings were designed, including the Unity Temple and Coonley house. Barry Byrne is known to have worked on the drawings of the Unity Temple, and this is where his thoughts on Roman Catholic church design began. By 1908, an affair between Wright and one of his clients caused the frequent absence of the architect and the office became dis-functional. With an increasingly difficult situation at hand, Byrne felt his post was serving no purpose and left the studio.

Between 1908 and 1913 Byrnes’ main work was in a three year partnership with Andrew Willatzen. During that time, more than twenty buildings were designed by the architects. However differences in opinion led to a mutual agreement to dissolve the partnership. Willatzen continued the practice alone until his retirement.

In 1913, Walter Burley Griffin won a three year contract in Canberra, Australia and asked Byrne to takeover his practice in Chicago while he was away. This was Barry Byrne’s first chance to use his own ideas and autonomy. Projects during this period include the Sam Schneider House and Melson Tomb, Mason City Iowa.

In 1915, Byrne established his own practice in Chicago. Of particular note during this period was the commission for a house for J.F.Clarke in Fairfield Iowa and commission for the J.T. Kenna apartments, Chicago. The design of both buildings shows Byrne clearly breaking from the Prairie School ideas and developing his own distinct style.

Having returned to Chicago from a brief WWI army duty, Byrne continued with his practice in Chicago. It was from this point onward that his ideas and work flourished. The first large building contract was for the Immaculata High School, Chicago, 1921 followed soon afterward by his first ecclesiastical commission, Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, Chicago. By 1924, the Western Architect was publishing articles on his work and praise from renowned critic Lewis Mumford in his writings for Commonweal, brought the architect to the attention of the Catholic clergy as far away as Ireland.

In 1926, Byrne married artist Annette Cremin, who was originally introduced to him by Alfonso Iannelli. They would eventually have three children; Annette Cremin, Cathaleen Mary and Patrick Barry. Annette’s influence on her husbands work is well noted. She regularly drew artists impressions of his designs and in some cases designed the interior colour patterns for some of his buildings and churches. By the end of the 20’s, Barry Byrne had designed four churches, a hospital, several unbuilt projects and some six schools. The business had also expanded with the addition of a construction company. However the stock market crash of 1929 caused a strong lull in the construction industry and the practice and construction company was closed.

Byrne moved to New York in the early thirties and supplemented the limited work as a building inspector and by writing articles for various publications. Work began to revive toward the late thirties and once again things began to look good. However with America’s entry to WWII, Byrne was again forced to scale down his business and work solely as a building inspector.

In 1945, at the age of 62, Byrne returned to Chicago where until semi-retirement in 1953, he continued work and designed four more churches among other smaller projects. The work during these years was again second to none, with such masterpieces as Church of St. Francis Xavier, Kansas City and St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison. From 1952 to 1959, he continued to work occasionally until his final project at the age of 79, where he designed a library for St. Procopius College, Illinois. He died in 1967.

Artists are often remembered for their work and talents. The many churches and buildings that Byrne designed will no doubt prove to be a lasting testimony to a gifted architect. However too often, do we lose grasp of the person himself. In our searches, we came across the web site of Stafford James, a Jazz bassist. At the age of 14, Stafford had the pleasure of working as a tracer for Barry Byrne and today, he regards Barry Byrne as one of the most important influences in his life.

With kind permission from Stafford James himself, the following is his personal account and testimony to Barry Byrne:

Dear sirs,

thank you for your e-mail pertaining to Mr. Barry Byrne. To answer your question, Mr. Byrne for me was one of those great inspirations in my life that to this day his ability to share with his fellow human beings has left an indelible mark in my life. When Mr. Byrne took me into his small atelier I was a young boy of 14 years. Each summer I would trace for him and during the year he would give me special projects to work on. He instilled in me the relationship of man and nature, as one can see in his work. At age 17, I won the Rotary International Award for Architecture that was inspired by my years of working for Mr. Byrne.

As I had come from a single parent upbringing, Mr. Byrne gave me so much that has helped me in life. Above all he taught me to always keep my vision on the objective idea even though there will always be those who will not have the vision to pursue the idea to its completion. Although today, as for the past 30+ years, I compose and perform music, it is still with the lessons that I have learned from another artist that have kept the creative flame lit. Barry Byrne’s humanity is something that very few people will know when describing his genius but I am very honored to have in my lifetime known a person such as him.

Sincerely,

Stafford JAMES
(http://www.staffordjames.com)

>> Chicago Illinois (1922)

G]http://www.turnerscross.com/[/IMG]

Another example of Barry Byrne’s work: St Thomas the Apostle, Hyde Park, Chicago, built in 1924. The terracotta portal was designed by Byrne and executed by Alfonso Ianelli. I presume that Byrne was aware of the significance of having red doors on the church.

St Patrick’s, Racine, Wesconsin (1924). Unfortunately, Byrne’s original desgin for the sanctuary was subjected to a “reordering”.

Christ the King, Tulsa (1926). Again the original sanctuary design has suffered from an ill advise reordering.

Back to tympana and the decorative theme of Crist enthroned, surrounded by the tetramorphoi and the twelve Apostles. We have seen that the vesrion in the tympanum of the West Portal in Cobh (posting # ) is directly related to the tympanum of the Royal Portal at Chartres, which in turn, has its immediate iconographic prototypes in the Romanesque tympana, especially those associated with Burgundy and the Cluniac reform, depicting Christ enthroned, surrounded with the tetramorphoi, the Apostles and the Prophets. The earliest extant embyonic example is that of the West Portal of the Priory of St. Fortunat at Charlieu dating from about 1090. It depicts the enthroned Christ, in aureole supported by Angels. Although the type is associated wih Cluny and the investiture crisis, it too has a long art-typical history bringing us to Rome and the Basilica of Santa Pudenziana where we find the earliest extant example of Christ seated in glory, surrounded by the Apostles, the tetramorphoi, and surmounted by his victorious Cross. The mosaic dates from about 390 A.D..

A drawing of the mosaic reconstructing its original state.

The mosaic as preserved to-day.

“This mosaic is important for its iconography. It is the earliest surviving decorated Christian apse which takes us back to the period of classical revival in Rome. This mosaic was heavily restored during the Renaissance and the nineteenth c., but the Christ in the center is not changed, thus, in terms of style we have to look at Christ for analysis.

There is a high degree of classicism in the proportions, modeling, ease and movement, linearity has not yet quite taken hold. Thus we see a union of the old naturalism and the symbolism taking hold in the fifth century.

The subject is Christ teaching the apostles in front of heavenly Jerusalem.

The landscape behind him may be directly related to a reproduction of the Holy Sepulchre – Church built over Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem. The cross is symbolic of the true cross erected on Golgatha (hill on which Christ was crucified).

The four evangelists (gospel writers) are in their animal symbolic form. The iconography can be traced back to the Old Testament when Ezekial saw a vision in heaven of the four beasts spreading the word of the Gospel. It is also found in the book of Revelations. Matthew is the winged angel, Mark is the Lion, Luke is the Ox or bull, and John is the Eagle. Until the fourth c. the relationship between animal symbols and those whom they represented was not fixed.

Peter and Paul are being crowned by female figures who symbolize the church of the Jews behind Peter on the right, and the church of the Gentiles, behind Paul, originally there were 12 apostles, only ten can now be seen, due to restorations.

Again we see naturalism mixing with great symbolism of the Early Christian period. This naturalism will fade, the emphasis will become purely spiritual, other worldly, purposely making no or little reference to our natural world”.

The positioning of the mosaic in the apsis of Santa Pudenziana has both architectural and theological significance. The Apse is the focal point of the basilica and immediately draws the eye’s attention. There, Christ is enthroned, his right hand extended in blessing, a book in his left. He is bearded, with long loose flowing hair. He is seated on a high backed throne. Above him is a halo. All of these details attest his divinity. They are all taken from the standard trpes of Roman and Greek art for depicting the gods of the Roman and Greek pantheon. The representation of Christ in Santa Pudenziana is an example of what is nowadays called “inculturation” – Christianity’s assumption of elements from a given culture to convey its message. The results of this early process are still to be seen in some of the prayers of the Roman Missal which can be shown to have been borrowed directly from the pagan temples of Rome and christianized. In the case of the Santa Pudenziana, the beard and halo, borrowed from depictions of Jupiter, signify Christ’s divinity. The enormous high backed throne is borrowed from the high-backed seats used in depictions of the Capitoline triad – Jupiter, Juno and Athena – and again signify his divinity. Similarly, loose long hair was also a standard sign of divinity in Roman and Greek art. Here, applied to Christ, it again asserts his divinity. The positioning of the moasic in the apsis of the basilica also has its significance: beneath it is located the Cathedra of the bishop affirming that the bishop’s authority comes from Christ. The positioning of the Christ figure in the apse also had liturgical significance: it was a physical articulation that Christian life is a procession through time to Christ. Commanding the focal point of the Basilica, all things literally lead to Christ. All things that happen within the Basilica draws meaning from Christ. The liturgical life of the Church unfolds in a series of processions: the entrance in which the clergy come to him; the offertory, in which the elements for the eucharist are brought to him, and the procession to Holy Communion when the faithful share at the Lord’s table. Seven hundred later, the same iconography would be used in the tympana of the Romanesque Churches to inidcate the authority for the justice administered in their portals.

The image of Christ in the mosaic of Santa Pudenziana, showing beard, long hair and halo.

The council of the gods 5th. century (Vatican Library)

Christ handing the law to his Apostles

Santa Pudenziana: the lion symbolizing St. Mark; the ox symbolizing St. Matthew;

Drawing of old St. Peter’s Basilica, built in 333 replacement by new St. Peter’s begun by Julius II in 1505 and completed in 1649 (Jacopo Grimaldi, 1619, Brabarini Lat. 2733 fol 104v – 105r)

Below are two images of internal facade of Old St. Peter’s Basilica which was built in 333 and demolished in 1608. The first is taken from G.B. Falda’s (Descrizione fatta della chiesa antica e moderna di San Pietro pubklished in 1673. It shows the internal facade of the Basilica which was covered by a mosaic, What is interesting, from our poit of view, is the seated figure of Christ over the central window on the top range. He is seated, right hand extended in blessing with a book in the left hand. He is flanked by St. Peter and St. Paul and by the tetramorphai -or four beasts- representing the four Evangelists. Underneath, appear to be the figures of the Four Evangelists. Benewth them, in the centre, two figures offering bowls of insense -representing prayer- to Christ. The whole scene is surmounted by the Cross. As with Santa Pudenziana, the theme of the mosaic on the facade of Old St. peter’s was the divinity of Christ and that worship (prayer) was due to him as God.

The second image of the facade is taken from Martino Ferrabroso’s, Il libro dell’architettura di San Pietro, Roma, published in 1620. It gives an idea of the impression this great mosaic would have made on pilgrims entering the Basilica through its cortile.

I have given some attention to this mosaic beacuse it represents the same basic themse as the mosaic in Santa Pudentiana. However, it was far more influential than that of Santa Pidenziana because it was seen by every Christian who made the pilgrimage to Rome. Hence, it can be regarded as one of the reasons for the propagation of this image of Christ throughout Europe in late classical period. Unfortunately, it is no longer extant and drawings of it are difficult to find – but I am hoping to come up with something better than these.

The tomb of Galla Placida in Ravenna, 425-450, depicting Christ as Good Shepherd but depicting him with the halo, on a thone, wearing the imperial purple, and bearing the labrum of the Roman emperor. Christ is formally seated, legs depicted in the poise of the Roman emperor. in formal session.

http://jfbradu.free.fr/mosaiques/ravenne/galla-placida/galla.htm

http://intranet.arc.miami.edu/rjohn/ARC%20267/Byzantine_2002.htm

While some of the comments on this site are not quite au point, it has a good selection of recent photographs of moasics of Ravenna. Comments in relation to the brown worn by the Emperor Justinian and the Empress Theodora are mistaken. They are not wearing brown but the purple of their imperial state:

http://paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Venice%20&%20N%20Italy/Ravenna/Ravenna%202004.htm

@BTH wrote:

Would I be right in saying that Richard Hurley was the architect for both of these particular “reorderings”? It’s just that he is currently undertaking the renovations of the Augustine Church in Galway City Centre and his scheme, according to a recently published illustration, consists of the japanese – style screen as seen in Cork obscuring the (thankfully retained) high altar and exactly the same wooden altar, seat, pulpit and seating arrangement as in Maynooth… Very disturbing considering that many of the congregation will be housed in the aisles with views into the Nave obstructed by columns…

Very sad to see the same mistakes being made over and over again in churches around the country.

BTH, I found this in today’s Irish Catholic – the picture speaks for itself, and your predictions are correct:(

To return to the subject of the mosaic of Santa Pudenziana with its depiction of Christ seated in glory, surrounded by the tetramorphai, we pointed out in posting # 342 the various elements of the mosaic borrowed from pagan Greek and Roman art to depict Christ in such a way as to attribute divinity to him. Seeing these, the average Roman or indeed Greek pagan of the year 390 would automatically assume from the figure of Christ in the ,mosaic that he was a divine person – since his depiction repeats all of the usual elements of Roman and Greek art to underline the quality of divinity (the halo, the beard, the long loose hair, his session on a type throne reserved to Jupiter). The question is: why the emphasis on Christ’s divinity and the insistence on it? The answer probably lies in the theological culture of the time which was heavily dominated by the Arian heresy, specifically denying the divinity of Chirst, which was condemned at the Council of Nicea in 325. Clearly, the Basilica of Santa Pudenziana in 390 was in the hands of orthodox Catholic worship which may explain the rather pointed script on book held by the Christ figure:Dominus Conservator Ecclesiae Pudentianae (The Lord is the protector of Pudentiana’s Church). The broad outline of the controversy can be seen by following this link:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01707c.htm

However, while pagan artistic prototypes were used to create a depiction of Christ that would assert his divinity, the scene which is being depicted is taken directly from the last book of the Bible, the Revelation (or Apocalypse) of St. John chapter 4: 1-11. The Text reads:

” 1After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings[a] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

9And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11′ Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created’ “.

The text of Revelations is not an isolated text in Biblical literature and must be situated in the tradition of the Jewish apocalyptic liteature of the Old Testament on which it draws heavily. In the case of the heavenly court the borrowing comes specifically from the Prophet Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=1&version=47 and http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=10&version=47) where we find the the four beasts, the ealders and the Deity seated on the throne.

The novum of Revelations, however, is that Christ is placed on the heavenly throne thereby asserting, in Jewish terms, that he is God, thereby making the basic profession of Christian faith, namely, that Jesus is Lord.

The beasts described by Ezekiel reappear in Revelations and surround the throne. At this point, they are not associated, at least explicitly, with the four Evangelists. That association would first be made by Irenaeus of Lyons (died 202) in his Adversus Haereses, Book III, chapter 3, paragraph 8 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-60.htm#P7409_1981656) written c.175-185 A.D.. This text gives us the historical terminus a quo for the artistic tradition of the depiction of Christ to be found in the tympanum of the West door in Cobh Cathedral. It supplies the original historico-cultural context for that depiction, which is the Arian heresy and the measures taken to counter it. It also supplies us with the interpretative key for reading and understanding both the theological and artistic concerns lying behind the artistic type: Christ’s divinity.

Back to RH and the Galway Augustinians.
This is what they feel should be hidden/obscured behind the screen:mad:

And here is what some of the locals felt about the renovations

Also a picture of the organ

Sorry to go off the subject, but I was wondering about the re-ordering in St. Mel’s Cathedral in Longford. I saw a photo of it the other day and was thinking about what they must have done to the interior.

Dear Boyler,

See posting # 96 and you can see exactly what happened to Longford Cathedral.

From 4th/5th century Rome, the artistic type of Christ seated in Majesty, holding a book, surrounded by the Four Evangelists, surmounted by the Cross, spread thoughout Europe. Examples are conserved from the 6th. century on in manuscript miniature, ivory work, and in wrouhgt gold.

The first eample here is from The Book of Kells, folio 32v. Christ, seated in glory, the Cross above his head, at either side a peacock, symbol of eternal life, at either side of his throne, the tetramorphic symbols. The illuminators of the Book of Kells, working probably in Iona, faithfully reproduce the type of Christ’s face to be seen in the moasic of Santa Pudentiana: bearded, with long loose hair (this time blond).

The Gundohinus Gospel of 754

folio 12v
Comparable with Lombard work, especially the altar of Pemmo, Cividale of 731-734

In 754, the Carolingian dynasty began. It was the third year of the reign of King Pepin III. Carolingian art was always connected to the court and the royal household. A scribe would be requested to make a copy of a book by a patron. In that same year, at the court of Pepin, a lady, Faustus and a monk, Fuculphus, ordered a scribe named Gundohinus to produce a Gospel Book and oversee its illustration. With this book, the first phase of Carolingian manuscript painting began. His work appears to have been strongly influenced by the art of Lombardy, a part of Northern Italy that had maintained contact with the Byzantine world. However, the work does not appear to reflect a thorough understanding of the classical modeling techniques. Although hatch marks were used by this early Carolingian artist in an attempt to describe the volumetric quality of the human and animal forms, they are not convincing. They indicate that the artist copied classical models, but without conviction. In his hands the repetition of curvilinear marks do little to describe the three-dimensional shape of the form and relieve the flatness of the picture plane. In Christ in Majesty, there are five figures organized in five circles. Christ seated on a throne, flanked by two angels, occupies the center while the four symbols of the Evangelists in four smaller circles surround the image of Christ. The decorative borders of each circle consist of simple schematic foliage or white dots. As we will see, Carolingian painting style develops quickly from here.

Here Christ is clean shaven, long hair, and the Cross has been absorbed into the halo:

http://imgdb.arts.ubc.ca/app/includes/image.php?catalogue_id=HIST+-+Medieval+Manuscript+Collection+-+hist_WB_manus029&format=full

The Gosescalc Gospel

f. 3r.

Christ in Glory influenced by the Book of Kells and by an image in Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome

In the year 781, Pepin’s son Charles (i.e. Charlemagne) met Pope Adrian I in Rome. Upon his return Charles ordered Godescalc, a friend and a Frank, to make a Gospel Book to commemorate his meeting with the Pope. This was the beginning of the true style of Carolingian art. Godescalc modeled his work after Late Antique or Classical sources, as did Gundohinus. However, the illustrations in the Godescalc Gospels are clearly the work of a painter who has mastered the techniques of naturalistic illusionism to the extent that the linear outlines of the folds of fabric convey volume. In addition, shading in light and dark and the use of highlights on the garments and flesh of the Evangelists are quite sophisticated and subtle. The colors are cool and somber. The labeling of the evangelist in the image was a common device in Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts. The rectangular frame here, with simplified vegetation flatly drawn in a rhythmic pattern, is reminiscent of the style of Late Antique manuscript illustrations. The overall effect demonstrates that a great deal has been learned since the Gundohinus illustrations of twenty seven years before. Regrettably, much of this particular style ends with Godescalc, thereby closing the first phase of Carolingian illustration.

The Ada Gospels

folio 85v, St Luke

Texts continued to be produced for some years after the Gospel Book of Godescalc, but without illustrations. However, in time, manuscript illustration reappeared. Sometime close to the year 785, a manuscript called the Ada Gospels was produced. The first part was not illustrated, but the second part, made later, was illustrated.

The Ada Gospels are a fine example of the Carolingian artist’s grasp of Classical style. The architectural elements that are included are executed in a highly confident manner. Where the environment of the evangelist in the Godescalc paintings is ambiguous, the evangelists in the Ada gospels are clearly located in a well constructed architectural setting. They are portrayed seated on a throne decorated with panels imitating architectural elevations with rows of windows, repeating the design of the walls surrounding the evangelists. The scene is framed with a traditional classical device of Corinthian columns topped by an arch. Inside the arch, filling the space above the architecture and the evangelist’s head, is a large representation of the symbol of the evangelist. In the case of St. Matthew (see Hubert, Carolingian Art, bibliography, p. 79), it is an angel whose wing span reaches to the border of the arch on either side. The angel seems to be reading from a scroll spread wide in his outstretched arms. St. Matthew’s head is tilted as if he is listening carefully to the angel’s words. His hand is held poised above the page ready to transcribe the inspired Word. These two features–the monumental architecture and powerful image of the angel–give the image a majestic quality. The feeling one gets from this well-ordered composition, beautifully rendered in peaceful pastels, is a sense of quiet grandeur.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/b/bf/AdaGospelsFol85vLuke.jpg

Evangeliary of Metz

Sacramentary of Soisson 800-820

The Lorsch Gospel c. 800

folio 18v

In this example of Christ in majesty, the right hand is raised in blessing with the fingers in the Greek manner of imparting blessings.

http://www.faksimile.ch/cgi-bin/upload/images/LOR_AJ_gr_RGB.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7023/Lorsch.html?200512

http://www.faksimile.ch/werk01_e.html

Sacramentary of Metz 870

folio 3r
St. Gregory the Great

http://www.library.nd.edu/medieval_library/facsimiles/litfacs/metz/3r-1L.jpg

For an overview of the Western manuscript tradition see the following link:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09614b.htm

Below:

1. A manuscript from c. 800
2. The Gundonius Gospel of 754
3. An early ivory (Bodlian, Oxford)

@Praxiteles wrote:

Longford Cathedral was widely regarded as Ireland’s finest example of a neo-Classical cathedral. The original architect was John Benjamine Keane with subsequent contributions from John Bourke (campanile of 1860) and the near ubiquitous G.C. Ashlin who is responsible for the impeccably proportioned portico (1883-1913) commissioned by Bishop Bartholomew Woodlock of Catholic University fame. The internal plaster work is Italian as were the (demolished) lateral altars. It was opened for public worship in 1856. In the 1970s a major re-styling of the sanctuary was undertaken by Bishop Cathal Daly who employed the services of Wilfred Cantwell and Ray Carroll. J. Bourke’s elaborate high altar altar and choir stalls were demolished and replaced by an austere arrangement focused on a disproportionately scaled altar. The results, which have not drawn the kind of universal criticism reserved for Armagh and Killarney, nevertheless leave the interior of the building without a natural focus. The insertion of tapesteries between the columns of the central apse was an attempt to fill the void and would be used again to solve a similar problem in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. The absence of choir stalls is to be noted as is the relative obscurity of the Cathedra – the very raison d’etre for the building.

Richard Hurley was also involved here. I found this picure of St. Mels prior to the disasterous reordering in 1976.

Thanks. Such a nice building….

With reference in particular to posting #338 regarding scratching posts, and after a general examination of Mr Hurley’s church interiors, one wonders whether the major inspiration for these might not be the modern lactation centre? They come in a variety of models, catering for all needs. 🙂

@sangallo wrote:

With reference in particular to posting #338 regarding scratching posts, and after a general examination of Mr Hurley’s church interiors, one wonders whether the major inspiration for these might not be the modern lactation centre? They come in a variety of models, catering for all needs. 🙂

😀 😀 😀 😀

On a more serious note, it is interesting that elements from the great Gothic cathedrals of Chartres, Amiens and Rheims provided much of the inspiration for the exterior of Cobh Cathedral. Adolphe-Napoléon Didron (1806-1867), the great theorist of the Gothic revival in early 19th century France, drew precisely on these three cathedrals to produce a plan for what he regarded as the model cathedral in the Gothic style. The plan was published in the first number of Annales archéologiques, published in 1844.
Didron was friendly with A.W.N. Pugin, so much so that he was present at the consecration in 1846 of Pugin’s little masterpiece, St Giles Church in Cheadle.
Didron’s interest in the Gothic Revival was sparked by the publication of Victor Hugo’s “Notre-Dame de Paris” in 1830. Coincidentally, Bishop William Keane, the first bishop of Cloyne associated with the building of Cobh Cathedral was ordained in Paris in 1828 and remained on the staff of the Irish College there until 1839. He must surely have come into contact with the ideas of Didron, Viollet-le-Duc and others associated with the French Gothic Revival movement.
This opens a very interesting avenue of research for influences on the planning of Cobh Cathedral.

For info on Didron, see the link:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04783a.htm

For pictures of St Giles in Cheadle, follow the link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/360/stgiles/index.shtml

To whet the appetite, here are some photographs of the interior of St Giles. Note the new altar, situated behind the chancel screen, which blends in perfectly with the overall setting.

Interesting developments took place in Lutheran circles in 19th century Germany in relation to church-building. While German Catholics were eagerly embracing the Gothic revival, most notably in the great project of completing Cologne Cathedral, Lutherans had a tradition of centrally-planned churches with concentric circular galleries arranged around the central all-important pulpit. However, through the influence of the Catholic revivalist architect August Reichensperger, Lutherans too engaged in a phase of Gothic-inspired church-building from the 1850s onwards. This was largely due to Reichensperger’s friendship with Conrad Wilhelm Hase (1818-1902), professor of architecture in Hannover. Hase sat on the commission set up in 1861 to draw up the regulations for Lutheran church-building, the Eisenach Regulativ. According to the provisions of the Regulativ, churches were to be built according to the traditional orientation to the east and there was to be a clear distinction between nave and chancel. In this way, new Lutheran churches came to be built in accordance with the older pre-Reformation tradition.
This, however, did not last long. Towards the end of the century, Lutherans again wished to distinguish themselves more radically from Catholics and they wished to express this distinction in their churches. The model for the new way of thinking was the Ringkirche in Wiesbaden, designed by Johannes Otzen, builder of several churches in northern Germany, especially in Hamburg, Kiel and Berlin. On the Wiesbaden church, art historian Prof. Michael J. Lewis has this to say: “This church was intended to serve as a model for protestant church building, and to differentiate this as much as possible from Catholic churches. The competition programme instructed architects not to treat the church as the house of God ‘in the Catholic sense’; instead it should be treated as a communal assembly-room, whose ‘unified, unpartitioned space emphasises the unity of the congregation and the universality of priestliness’. Pulpit and altar were to be given equal architectural importance while spatial unity was to replace the customary division into aisles, nave and chancel” (The Gothic Revival, p. 184).
The suppression of the distinction of specific spaces within the church, i.e., nave and chancel, is characteristic of much modern church-building, as can be seen in the work of Rudolph Schwarz and the Lutheran Otto Bartning, both of whom are acknowledged influences on Richard Hurley. Examples of the suppression of distinction of spaces in favour of flexible arrangements to promote communal or corporate worship are clear in Hurley’s reordering of St Mary’s oratory in Maynooth and in his proposals for the Augustinian church in Galway. The underlying theological understanding of the liturgy and consequently of the Church is clearly not a Catholic one, but owes much more to the kind of thinking exemplified by the Lutheran authorities in Wiesbaden when they laid down the criteria for their 1891 competition for the building of the Ringkirche.
Prof. Cathal O’Neill’s proposals for Cobh, aimed at facilitating communal worship, either consciously or unconsciously, draw on similar ideas.
Attached are some photos of the Ringkirche.

There is no doubt that A.W. N. Pugin was in contact with his French counterpart A. N. Didron. Indeed, the latter seems to have been influenced in many ways by Pugin and transposed his ideas into the context of the Gothic Revival in France. That Didron was present at the consecration of St. Giles in Cheadle is no surprise. The event probably sets the high water mark of the European Neo Gothic movement with August von Reichensperger, the architect for the completion of Cologne Cathedral, also in attendance. Attached is a letter of Pugin’s to Didron, published in Margaret Belcher’s The Collected Letters of A.W. N. Pugin, OUP, Vol. 2, p. 8.

Re posting 357; In the application for planning permisison submitted to CObh town council by the Trustees of St. Colman’s Cathedral, a “theological” justification for the proposed alterations to the sanctuary was also included. While this item is by no means the theological piece of the year in Ireland (or elsewhere for that matter) I wonder just how different it is from the theological position of the Lutheran authorities who stipulated the conditions for the building of the Ringkirche? I find it extraodrinary that no Catholic bishop in the country, especially the Bishop of Cloyne, seems to have enoough theological training to notice taht the wool is being pulled over their eyes by the kind things built by the “leading” modernist architects. Perhaps the bishops would be better employed attending to what is their own business a little more diligently and leave things concerning the Common Agricultural Policy to those who know best about that. See attached link for what I am talking about:

http://www.foscc.com/downloads/other/Liturgical%20Requirements2.pdf

Thanks Sangallo for the picture of St. Giles. It is amazing that it has managed to survive – by pure chance, I suspect. Fortunately, in Britain it should be possible to preserve this magnificent building in its integrity thanks to the more competent people who administer the heritage law there. I cannot imagine the Cheadle town council granting planning permission for the wholesale wreckage of this gem. Neither is likely that the law of England would permit an ignoramus to pontificate on plans to dismantle its interior before allowing such to happen. Obviously, we have a little catching up to do in Ireland.

Spot the Difference!!!!!

Ringkirche

Ennis Cathedral and Monaghan Cathedral

The Lombard Kingdom

To return, once again, to the question of the artistic representation of the Majestas Domini, we have followed its development from the mosaic of 390 in Santa Pudentiana in Rome, to the Bizantine Imperial Exarchate in Ravenna and, thence, to the schools of manuscript illumination at Charlemagne’s imperial court at Aachen. In all these cultural contexts, the architpye of Christ enthroned in glory recurrs. The main elements of the Santa Pudentiana mosaic are reproduced in them: Christ seated with imperial poise (though not always sourrounded by the mandorla), the book in his hand, the long hair (though not always bearded), the Cross, the four evangelists and the tetramorphai. This representation of Chirst always emphasises his divinity and the power of the Cross. However, some attention has to be paid to the other great cultural topos of the early middle ages – the Lombard kingdom which had been established in the Po valley and Liguria, as well as in the duchies of Benevento and Spoleto, from the middle of the 6th century when these Longobard tribes came over the eastern Alps from Pannonia and defeated the Bizantine rulers of northern Italy. Their dominance was to continue until their defeat at the hands of Charlemagne. The art of the Lombards was a crucible for various influences: classical Roman, Celt, and Bizantine (evident in the figure of Christ in the Altar of Ratchis as he holds his hand in blessing in the eastern fashion).

http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/ujg/ujgm.html

The Altar of Ratchis c. 740

The altar of Ratchis is the most important monument of the Luitprand renaissance in Cividale. It demonstrates the hight degree of asimilation of Latin civilization by the Lombards. The linear sculpting of the figures is reminiscent of Longobard goldsmithing. The entire altar is the work of a goldsmith done in stone. The composition retains the major elements of the Santa Pudentiana mosaic: the Christ seated in majesty, halo, with the incorporated Cross, the book (this time a rotulus). It also has its own pecularities: Christ wears a stole indicating his priesthood, the hand of God at the top of the manorla, the hand held in the eastern style of blessing, four angels instead of the tetramorphai.

The golden Altar, Sant’Ambrogio in Milan

The Altare d’oro in Sant’Ambrogio was placed over the tomb of St. Ambrose and of Sts. Protasius and Gevasius by the will of Charlemange when Angilbertus was Bishop of Milan (824-859). The treatment of the figures is dynamic and lively. The composition strongly emphasizes the Cross which occupies the central panel of the altar frontal. The Majestas Domini is placed at the centre of the Cross. Instead of blessing, Christ holds the Cross or labrum (reminiscent of ancient Rome and of Moses). The extremities of the Cross contain the tetramorphai representing the Four Evangelists. In each corner is a group of three Apostles.

The victroy of Carlemagne over the Lombards in 774 signalled the end of the Lombard kingdom and the displacement of its artistic accomplishments north of the Alps, eventually to Aachen and the new imperial court.

The Golden Antependium of Basel Cathedral

The Golden Antependium was given to the Cathedral of Balsel by the Emperor Henry III to mark its consecration in 1019. It is one of the greates masterpieces of the goldsmith’s art of all times and is a complete synthesis of Ottonian esthetics. The frontal is divided by an arcade, the central arcade ocupied by Christ (standing) with tiny figures of the Emperor Henry II and Empress Cunigunde prostrate at his feet. He is flanked by the archangales Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, and by ST. benedict. The figures are elongated and abstract and suggest forms of splendid transcendence.

re posting 361

The Ringkirche is a fine building and a good example of the neo Gothic in post-Bismarkian Germany. The arrangement of the interior corresponds and gives expression to Lutheran ideas about the Church, worship and the priesthood and is therefore accomodated to Lutheran needs.

There is a difficulty however. The Church being neo-Gothic depends on types, models, and spacial disposition going back to the middle-ages and beyond. As a neo-Gothic building it refers to ideas about the Church, worship and the priesthood that are much older than those formulated by Martin Luther in the 16 th. century. WHile liturgically the interior of the church is adapted to Lutheran worship, architecturaly it has to be said that the interior suffers from the conjunction of two (at times radically) differing if concepts of Church, worship and priesthood. We have a midevially inspuired shell with a 16th. century inspired interior spacial disposition. the result is that some elements of the building are made redundant. This is most noticeable in the Chancel which is played down to the extent of being almost superfluous.

@Praxiteles wrote:

re posting 361

The Ringkirche is a fine building and a good example of the neo Gothic in post-Bismarkian Germany. The arrangement of the interior corresponds and gives expression to Lutheran ideas about the Church, worship and the priesthood and is therefore accomodated to Lutheran needs.

There is a difficulty however. The Church being neo-Gothic depends on types, models, and spacial disposition going back to the middle-ages and beyond. As a neo-Gothic building it refers to ideas about the Church, worship and the priesthood that are much older than those formulated by Martin Luther in the 16 th. century. WHile liturgically the interior of the church is adapted to Lutheran worship, architecturaly it has to be said that the interior suffers from the conjunction of two (at times radically) differing if concepts of Church, worship and priesthood. We have a midevially inspuired shell with a 16th. century inspired interior spacial disposition. the result is that some elements of the building are made redundant. This is most noticeable in the Chancel which is played down to the extent of being almost superfluous.

Aha, so that explains Ennis and Clogher.

A.W. N. Pugin’s St. Giles, Cheadle (1841-1846), built for John Sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, and consecreted in 1846,

The final stop in tracing the history of the image of Christ in Majecty brings us to the Abbey of Cluny, founded in 909, which for the next 250 years would become a major religious, cultural and political centre in Western Europe. A short history of the movement can be had herehttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04073a.htm.

Linked to the reform movement had been the Ottonian dynasty and subsequently the Salian dynast which had established itself in Spire in 1027:http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/k/Konrad_II.shtml. Its political and religious interests lead to the investiture ccrisis and eventually to Canossa: http://www.ulrikejohnson.gmxhome.de/uli/Geschichte/Salier/Salier1.html. It was within both of these two major Western European religious, cultural and political movements that the figure of Christ in Majesty appears on a tympanum for the first time in Western art at the Priory of St. Fortunat in Charlieu in Burgundy

It draws directly on the tradition of iconic depiction that traces its origin to mosaic of 390 in Santa Pudentiana in Rome. While the tympanum of Charlieu represents the full transition of this image from metalwork and illuminated manuscript examples to stonework tympanum around the year 1090, this transition had alrady been underway since about 1020 when the image of Christ in Glory appears on the archatrave of the portal of the abbey of Saint-Genis-des-Fontaines in the Roussillon c. 1020:.

From here, to Charlieu and hence to the Royal Portal at Chartres and from there the image of Christ enthroned in his Majesty arrived to the tympanum of Cobh Cathedral in 1898:

Back to St. Colman’s for a moment. The Trustees of St. Colman’s have received a number of grants from the Heritage Council on the understanding that they would maintain it. How then can they explain their total neglect of this building for example their treatment of the wonderful Baptismal font.:mad:
Below if 1st how it should be and 2nd how it is right now.

How long can the cover of the font hang in mid air before something catastophic happens????:eek:

One can’t help wondering if they want it to collapse competely necessitating a ‘new reordered baptismal’ ie glorified swimming pool????

I can confirm that present state of baisc maintanance of the Cathedral in Cobh leaves a good deal to be desired. Following a visit there earlier in the year, I was horrified to find it it in such a delapidated state and generally unkempt. The Baptistry in particular is a cause for concern. The large brass cover, which should be on top of the font, has been for quite some time left suspended from a bracket on the wall. It is only a matter of time before it comes loose from the wall. It was also noticeable (and it can be seen in the pictures that have been posted) that a section of the marble dado has been hacked off exposing the underlying layer of slate. It was also depressing to see the very beautiful Lady Chapel reduced to a store room for benches that have been displaced from their original positions because an unintelligent attempt to create an antiphonal seating arrangement in both transepts. It is only a matter of time before the particularly fine Oppenheimer mosic in the floor of the Lady Chapel will be wrecked by the abuse to which it is being subjected. I could continue the list but I doubt that Cork County Council is in the least interested in enforcing the law to ensure that this incredibly complex and culturally sophisticated building is treated with the respect that it deserves. As for the clerical guardians of the building, I am afraid to say that the level of education, to say nothing of culture, among them has reached such a nadir that the building would be in more appreciative hands were Radageisus in charge. Cobh Cathedral, and what has been allowed to happen to it, is yet another example of why Ireland is undeserving of anything more than mud and wattle. Unfortunately, it exhibits, in more than cultural terms, the very worst symptoms of the kind of post colonial social malaise that we have come habitually to associate with the furthest reaches of the Limpopo. Clearly, the lack of maintanance of Cobh Cathedral cannot be unintentional and is many ways similar to treatment meated out to preserved structures until they reach a condition that they must be demolished.

@Praxiteles wrote:

I can confirm that present state of baisc maintanance of the Cathedral in Cobh leaves a good deal to be desired. Following a visit there earlier in the year, I was horrified to find it it in such a delapidated state and generally unkempt. The Baptistry in particular is a cause for concern. The large brass cover, which should be on top of the font, has been for quite some time left suspended from a bracket on the wall. It is only a matter of time before it comes loose from the wall. It was also noticeable (and it can be seen in the pictures that have been posted) that a section of the marble dado has been hacked off exposing the underlying layer of slate. It was also depressing to see the very beautiful Lady Chapel reduced to a store room for benches that have been displaced from their original positions because an unintelligent attempt to create an antiphonal seating arrangement in both transepts. It is only a matter of time before the particularly fine Oppenheimer mosic in the floor of the Lady Chapel will be wrecked by the abuse to which it is being subjected. I could continue the list but I doubt that Cork County Council is in the least interested in enforcing the law to ensure that this incredibly complex and culturally sophisticated building is treated with the respect that it deserves. As for the clerical guardians of the building, I am afraid to say that the level of education, to say nothing of culture, among them has reached such a nadir that the building would be in more appreciative hands were Raidegesus in charge. Cobh Cathedral, and what has been allowed to happen to it, is yet another example of why Ireland is undeserving of anything more than mud and wattle. Unfortunately, it exhibits, in more than cultural terms, the very worst symptoms of the kind of post colonial social malaise that we have come habitually to associate with the furthest reaches of the Limpopo. Clearly, the lack of maintanance of Cobh Cathedral cannot be unintentional and is many ways similar to treatment meated out to preserved structures until they reach a condition that they must be demolished.

Evidence of above.:(

Given that we are dealing in Cobh with the great iconoclast Cathal O’Neill, one shudders at the thought of what he will do. If he is capable of consigning Turnerelli’s masterpiece in the Pro-Cathedral to the scrapheep, there is no telling of what he is capable of in St. Colman’s. 🙁

Re 370:

The dumping of all these benches in the Lady Chapel is an example of the conservation Act gone wrong. They have been moved from where they are supposed to be. They cannot be taken out of the building. The building was not designed to have them anywhere else except where they originally were. So, a dumping ground has to be found within the building. In this case, the Lady Chapel was made the dump. INterestingly, Cathal O’Neill’s drawings for the proposed alterations in Cobh show the Lady Chapel as having benches – an absurdity of which he seems unconcious. It also strikes me that two kneelers and chairs that have appeared in the neighbouring Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy Chapel might have more to do with taking the bare look off of the Lady Chapel in it cluttered condition than with the promotion of an intense piety to Blessed Thaddeus. If memory serves me correctly, the Sacred Heart Chapel has also been used for the dumping of a few more benches, his time parked along the dividing screens. What I would like to know is why the Cork County Manager, the Cobh Town Manager, and the Heritage Officer for the County of Cork have allowed this to happen without the slightest murmur?

The laugh is of course that all this goes on while the City of Cork celebrates, with the seriousness of the unknowing, the 2005 European City of Culture!!! Culture, I ask…..

Maybe you should write to them Prax?

Anyway what’s your opinion on the restoration of some Medieval churches in recent times. I’m thinking in particular of Holycross Abbey in Tipperary, Graiguenamanagh in Co. Kilkenny and the RC church in Adare.

They’re all quite unusual in that they are pre reformation structures and are Catholic churches today. Just curious as to your opinion on them Prax?

Thanks.

I am glad that you raised this question, Anto. I shall come back to it as it is useful to indicate different approaches to theinterior dispositions the churches you mention, which more or less have had continuous Catholic worship since their construction. Holy Cross is an example of a modern approach. Greiguenamanagh, which I must confess I have not seen, is a modern make over of 19th century restoration and Holy Trinity in Adare which is (more or less) as restored by Harwich for the third Earl of Dunraven in 1855. Ballintubber Abbey in Co. Mayo is, I think, about the only other example of a church in continuous Catholic worship but I have not seen the inside of it.

Re writing to the people responsible for the enforcement of the planning Act in Co. Cork: do you relly think that it would be worth the serious financial committment represented by a postage stamp wrining to them?

Ballintobber Abbey

The Trinitarian Abbey, Adare c. 1230

http://www.coppit.org/gallery2/d/918-3/bunrattycastle.jpg?g2_GALLERYSID=578e0d2276af3803a470bab9b8b7385d

Duiske Abbey, Graiguenamanagh 1207

Holy Cross Abbey,1186

As seen by Bartlett in mid 19th century

re 376:

In reply to Anto:

1. Graiguenamanagh seem to me rather disastrous. From what I can see the altar has been placed on a landing pad under the crossing. Its circular base takes no notice of the rectangular lines of the building, nor indeed of the rather harsh limestone block that serves as an altar.

Graiguenamanagh is a Cistercian monastic church. It would originally have had a monastic choir in antiphonal arrangement (a true one this time) in the space immediately in front of the altar area. Both areas would have been closed off by a screen. Clearly, the present arrangement takes no account of this historical spacial arrangement and consequently, like the Ringkirche in Wiesbaden and many of the so-called re-ordered cchurches and Cathedrals of Ireland, suffers the imposition on it of something it was never intened to contain.

The 1974 restoration was carried out by Percy leClerc. The roof of Irish oak is certainly praiseworthy and authentic. I am not sure that lifting the plaster from the walls can be described as a “restoration”. It is much more likely that they had plastering which was either white washed or frescoed. The removal of the plaster in 1974 smacks of the horrible fashion set by the sack and pillage of Killarney Cathedral. I think that we can take it that if A.W. N. Pugin believed that the Salisbury interior should inspire Killarney, then it should have been white washed and stencilled.

We are told that the new altar was raised on four steps. This is a solecism as principal Altars always had three steps representing the ascent to Calvery or indeed the Old Testament ascent to Jerusalem which we find in the Hallel psalms. Mr. le Clerc offers no explaination for his choice of four (an even number which tended to be avoided). Placing the Altar outside of the East end of the church is of course at complete variance with the whole design of the church and especially insensitive to its line. Placing the Altar in the East end and facing East both have theological significane and meaning – which is shared with the Jews – and is a direct theological reference to the Temple in Jerusalem which has been re-interpreted by the Gospel to mean Jesus Christ, the place in which, as St. John’s Gospel puts it, worship in spirit and in truth is given. There is no theological significance to exposing one’s sefl to the four winds – or worse. Indeed, I am thinking of doing something on the history of Altars in Christian worship, but I may leave it until after Christmas. As far as I can see, leading re-orders such as R. Hurley and Cathal O’Neill know absolutely nothing about the subject if we are to judge from their efforts. From the photographs of Duiske Abbey, the benches leave much to be desired and are not of the quality of their midevial surrpondings. The central heating radiators along the walls are fairly brutal and I am not sure whether the floors have been covered in carpet. The chair at the altar is a mess and looks more like a commode. The ambo is likewise somewhat out of place.

Re. # 376

In reply to Anto.

2. Holy Cross Abbey 1180. This is certainly a very fine example of Irish Cistercian architecture and, typical for the order, situated close to a river. This is a true restoration in that the abbey church had been abandoned for over two hundred years. It must be said that the technical aspects of the restoration were carried out to a very high standard and are worthy of praise. The architect for this entire process is Percy le Clerc -to whom great credit must be given for the work done for there was no eperience or other example of an undertaking of this kind in Ireland when he started in 1975. What is rather amazing is that the cloister -at least up to very recently- remains unfinished and gives the impression that the original enthusiasm for the project has dried up. It would be worth completing the job to the same high standards. As at Duiske, the wood work was done to medieval standard and adapted practice. It is authentic and genuine and certainly has none of the faux air about it that is so conspicuous in the work of Richard Hurely and others. I am not sure about the gradiant of the floor. My recollection is that the gradiant increases as one goes towards the west door, thereby leaving the chancel and altar in a depression. My recollection of French medieval churches would have the gradiant reversed, leaving the chancel and the altar on a higer level with the nave of the church. There is a symbolic reason for this: namely, the ascent to Calvary and its association with the sacrifice of the Mass. The liturgical lay out of the Abbey church is, however, another question and a sad one. Again, something has been intruded into a magnificent true medieval setting never intended to take it and which brutally runs rough shod over the entire logic of the medieval building and the reasoning behind its spacial disposition. The main problem, is of course, the cataclasmic abandonment of the Chancel, the “sacred” space of the buiding in which the “actio sacra” takes place. Placing the altar at the crossing effectively renders the most important element of the original composition of space utterly redundant. Michael Bigg’s limestone altar is a monolithic embarrassment and should never have been allowed into such a beautiful and delicate space as Holy Cross Abbey. The same is true of the dreadful lectern and seat (ridiculously placed at a small remove from the magnificent original sedilia) . The liturgical arrangement, as it stands, also has a functional knock on effect on the redundant chancel where we can see the beautiful sedilia (arranged in accordance with the usage of the Roman Rite) shamlessly abused by a clutter of surplus benches and chairs. Even more ironic is the fate of the piscina next to the sedilia. Having survived the ravages of two centuries of war and persecution, it has had what looks like an organ planked in front of it. Would it not have been better, perhaps, had Ireton ripped it out in the same brutal fashion as he had his horsemen drag the high altar out of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Limerick? Who knows. However, one thing is consoling – the late twentieth century dross currently defacing the interior of Holy Cross Abbey can (and I suspect will) eventually be dragged out and dumped. I am not altogether convinced either by the modern shrine containing the relic of the true Cross which is supposed to be the raison d’etre of the Abbey.

Re. # 376

In reply to Anto

3. Holy Trinity Abbey Adare, Co. Limerick, 1226.

The abbey was dissolved in 1537 and reduced to ruins until Edwin third Earl of Dunraven, a noted antiquarian, restored the abbey Church for Catholic worship in 1852. The architect was Philip Hardwick. The restoration was conducted along the lines of neo Gothic revivalist school and remains a rare example in Ireland of the kind of restoration common in France. Harwick lengthened the nave, built the porch, and the Lady Chapel. The Chancel was fitted out with an arrangement sensitive to the medieval Gestalt of the building. Mercifully, most of the fittings survive in tact. In 1884 Windham Thomas fourth earl of Dunraven installed an interesting gilt bronze screen to searate the Lady Chapel from the nave. The esat window is by Willement. George Alfred conducted a restoration of the building 1977-1980. Following the mode set by Killarney, the plaster was stripped from the walls to leave the buiding bare and lacking its original aspect. It still retains much of the 19the century tile work. Some of the recent artistic additions are at best dubious.

Re: # 367

In reply to Antho

4. Ballintubber Abbey, Co. Mayo, 1216

The Abbey was built for Cathal O’Connor for the Canons Regular of St. Augustine in 1216. A fire caused a partial rebuilding c. 1270. The abbey was again burned by Cromwell in 1650 leaving the conventual buikldings destroyed and the nave roofless. The vault of the Chancel survived. Restoraltion began in 1846 but work was suspended because of the Famine. Work resumed in 1887 but the nave was not reroofed until 1966. The Chapter House was restored in 1997 and it is hoped to have the ruins of the east wing of the cloister completed by 2016. The altar shown in the chancel may well be the original altar of the abbey. No drastic intrusions have been made and the church is more or less as one would expect to find a 13th. century conventual church. I am afraid that I have been unable to locate an architect for the 1846 or 1886 restorations or indeed for the present restoration. It seems that the indomitable Archbishop John McHale of Tuam began the 19th century restoration and that the Office of Public WOrks is supervising the present restoration. Unfortunately, the Altar which was at the east end of the Chancel has been moved from its position and placed near the west end of the chancel.

Attending Mass in the unroofed nave of Ballintubber in 1865:

The west door and elevation:

Re # 376:

Well Antho, I have provided whatever information I could find re. the important small group of medieval churches in Ireland in continuous Catholic use. Reflecting on them, it strikes me that you have the outlines of a history of approaches to restoration in Ireland. Clearly, A.W.N. Pugin was most influential in Adare with resultant sympathetic results. Ballintobber, seems to have had a complicated restoration history and finally suffered an albeit minor re-ordering that is reversible. Holy Cross and Graiguenamanagh (while architecturally excellently carried out) came on stream late enough to suffer an insensitive liturgical adaptation that takes little or no account of the buildings. Do you think that a fair comment?

The magnificent sedilia in the south wall of the Chancel of A.W.N. Pugin’s masterpiece, St. Giles, Cheadle. The sedilia is arranged in accordance with the usage of the Cathedral of Salisbury: the priest closest the Altar, on his left, and at a lower level, the deacon, and on his left, at a lower level, the subdeacon. To right of the sedilia is a piscina with symbols of water and wine underneath it. the functions of all three orders are alluded tow in the symbols in the pierced quardafoils: the chalice for the priest, the gospel for the deacon, and the cruets for the subdeacon. In case anybody missed the message, benewth the seats, Pugin inscribed “Sacerdos”, “Diaconus” and “Subdiaconus”. The tiles on the floor are by Minton and have miraculously survived. Each step leading to the Altar has an inscription appropriate to its position.

For the purposes of comparison, this is the medieval sedilia in Holy Cross Abbey. The compostion is the same: piscina followed by sedilia in the south wall of the Chancel. This time, however, the sedilia is arranged in accordance with the usage of the Roman Missal: the priest sits in the centre, the deacon on his right and the subdeacon on his left all on the same level.

The sedilia in the south wall of the Honan Chapel in Cork is also in accordance with the usage of the Roman Missal. The piscina is removed from the sedilia.

In an earlier posting, Graham Hickey showed a picture of the Chancel of St. Patrick’s in Dundalk which also has a magnificent sedilia by E.W. Pugin.

Thanks Gianlorenzo for the juxtaposition of the Ringkirche and Ennis/Monaghan Cathedrals in posting #361. It is most illuminating and explains the rather bland and ugly sanctuary of Ennis. Not indeed that Ennis was any great thing before the hammer fell upon it. The altar, if I’m not mistaken, was not of marble, nor even of cane stone. And the Cathedral was never embellished with any particular beauty. Now however, it looks frightfully empty and the similarity to the Ringkirche explains a lot.

As for Monaghan; it, I am sure, was something, once upon a time. I hope Paul Clerkin can load some images of the sanctuary in its former glory – I think he said he had them in posting #311.

I must say, I think the transformation of St Augustine’s (Galway) into an antiphonal Chinese restaurant (Gianlorenzo again in posting #345) just plain silly. Clearly the architect and the cleric who approved it have no sense of the ridiculous. :p :p

@Praxiteles wrote:

Re # 376:

Well Antho, I have provided whatever information I could find re. the important small group of medieval churches in Ireland in continuous Catholic use. Reflecting on them, it strikes me that you have the outlines of a history of approaches to restoration in Ireland. Clearly, A.W.N. Pugin was most influential in Adare with resultant sympathetic results. Ballintobber, seems to have had a complicated restoration history and finally suffered an albeit minor re-ordering that is reversible. Holy Cross and Graiguenamanagh (while architecturally excellently carried out) came on stream late enough to suffer an insensitive liturgical adaptation that takes little or no account of the buildings. Do you think that a fair comment?

Thanks Prax. Most informative as always!

Now that Praxiteles has advanced to the Sedilia, I thought it might be interesting to look at some examples of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’.

New, – or would you have guessed?

Old

And so on..

And there’s more.
😮


😮 😮

That one looks like a recycled bus seat.

I dread to think what the iconoclast Cathal O’Neill would put in Cobh if he is given the chance.
As we saw in #50 the current caretakers in Cobh have already started the dismantling of the Sedilia by detaching two of the seats from the screen at the back and replacing one with a dining chair. Though the dining chair is preferable the dross Gianlorenzo has posted above.

Here is the Cathedra in Cobh, which is also marked for replacement.

McLenin, do you have a photograph of the Sedilia in Cobh? It is at the other side of the sancturay facing the Cathedra. Cobh, as you would expect, is designed to accomodate the usage of the Roman Missal, with all three seats on the same level, the priest on a bigger seat in the centre with the deacon adn subdeacon at either side. If I recall correctly, on the oak screen above each seat is inscribed in Latin the words “sacerdos”, d”diaconus” and “subdiaconus”, making it perfectly clear that the seats are an integral part of the screens. If I remember correctly, the Cathedral authorities in c. 1995 signed a covenant with the Heritage Council not to remove or interfere with the screens in order to qualify for a grant of

Notre Dame de Chartres, the Royal Portal (1145-1155), the archivolt describing Apocalypse 5:8

@Gianlorenzo wrote:

:confused: At present the Sedelia has been removed from right hand Sanctuary screen and is now free standing in Sanctuary and a dining chair put in its place.

Can anyone explain who this can happen since the building was listed as a protected structure and is the subject of a Covenant with the Heritage Council

These are the only photos I have as originally posted by Gianlorenzo. You can see in the lower image that all the seats have been detached from the screen and the central one (top pic) has been moved out on to the Sanctuary floor and replaced by the infamous ‘dining chair’.

Is not that a disgrace? WHere else would it happen?

The archivolt of the West Portal, Cobh Cathedral showing the Old Testament Patriarchs and Prophets:

The archivolt of the West Portal, Cobh Cathedral depicting Patriarchs and Prophets:

The West Portal of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, showing the archivolt with series of figures of the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament, which has been combined with the twelve Apostles depicted on the architrave of the portal. Thus, following the iconography of the Royal Portal at Chartres, the West Portal of Cobh Cathedral combines the Old and New Testaments, thereby indicating the continuity of the worship given to God in both Testaments and its culmination in Christ. Unlike Chartres, Cobh has one row of Patriarchs and Prophets rather than three and does not incorporate any of the angelic hosts so evident in Chartres Portal.

In Cobh, the sequence runs as follows:

R
1.Malachiah
2. Ezechiel * associated with the verse Porta clausa et non aperiet, a reference to Our Lady
3. Isaiah* associated with the verse Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium, a reference to Birth of Christ, depicted with the saw by which he died.
4. David
5. Aaron associated with the flowering Rod of Num 17:1-11 a prefiguiring of Our Lady
6. Melchisadeck king and priest of Salem who met Abraham with bread and wine prefiguining the Eucharist (Gen 14:18-24)
7. Noah the flood: Gen 6:14-22; Gen 7,8:1-19; Gen 8: 20-22; Gen 9: 1-19

L
1. Abraham depicted with a knife referring to the sacrifice of Isaac in gn 22:1-19- a propotype for the sacrifice of Christ.
2. Moses
3. Job the pype of the suffering Christ.
4. Jonah
5. Jeremiah* the Prophet of the Passion of Christ.
6. Daniel* the lions in background referring to the Book of Daniel Chapter 6.
7. Zachariah

* denotes the major Prophets

Below the figures of Patriarch Noah with the ark; and the Priest-King of Salem (Jerusalem) Melchisadeck.

Here is an even better picture to illustrate the balefuls state of the Baptistry in Cobh Cathedral and the evident neglect to which it has been subjected. Since I saw it last summer, one of the marble pillar on the rail has diasappeared. And this is supposed to be listed building and a protected structure. Cork County Council and the Cobh Town Clerk persistently hold that there are no problems about the maintanance of the building.

Re: 376

Dear Anto:

I have just realized that there is another church to add to your list of medieval churches in Catholic use: The Black Abbey in Kilkenny.

5. The Black Abbey, Kilkenny 1225

Built for the Dominicans in 1225 by WIlliam Marshall, Strongbow’s son, the Black Abbey was suppressed in 1543 and converted into a court house. It was partially restored in 1778 and certainly functioned as a church from 1814. Further reatoration was effected c. 1850. The stone work is good and the wood work of the ceiling excellent. In the 1970s it underwent a typical “restoration” which saw the stripping of the walls alla Killarney, the demolition of the liturgical furnishings ofthe 19th. century, the abandonment of the Chancel and the placing of the Altar in the nave. Much of this work liturgical work pays little attention to the lines or original spacial disposition of the building. Some highly dubious galss has been installed in the Chancel and a scratching post tabernacle installed.

The Black Abbey as engraved by S. Hooper in 1793 followed by a photograph of 1905:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jemil/Images/Irlande/irlande15.jpg

The Franciscan Abbey at Multyfarnham, Co. Westmeath 1268

Another example of a medieval church in Catholic use is Multyfarnham Abbey. It was roofless from 1650 to 1827.

Multyfarnham Franciscan Friary
Multyfarnham
Westmeath.
Description

Irish history.

In the present friary church parts of a 15th century church survive, including the nave, south transept and tower, as well as the south window (though not its glass). Nothing remains of the chancel or of the original domestic buildings. The church was given its present form in 1827 when the Franciscans returned to their old monastery. The church was refurbished in 1976.

This last sentence sounds ominous.

6. The Cahpel of Gormanstown Castle, Co. Meath, 1687

To round off the tour of churches in continuous Catholic use, mention should be made of the Chapel on the Preston estate at Gormanstown Castle which was built by the Viscount Goranstown in 1687 for Catholic use. It remained in such use until 1947 when the estate was bought by the Franciscans who promptly demolished what was probably the only pre-18th. Catholic estate chapel in the country!

Does anybody know anything of the influence this gentleman may or may not have had on E.W. Pugin’s preference for French Gothic?

DIDRON, ADOLPHE NAPOLEON (1806-1867), French archaeologist, was born at Hautvillers, in the department of Marne, on the i3th of March 1806. At first a student of law, he began in 1830, by the advice of Victor Hugo, a study of the Christian archaeology of the middle ages. After visiting and examining the principal churches, first of Normandy, then of central and southern France, he was on his return appointed by Guizot secretary to the Historical Committee of Arts and Monuments (1835); and in the following years he delivered several courses of lectures on Christian iconography at the Bibliotheque Royale. In 1839 he visited Greece for the purpose of examining the art of the Eastern Church, both in its buildings and its manuscripts. In 1844 he originated the Annales archeologiques, a periodical devoted to his favorite subject, which he edited until his death. In 1845 he established at Paris a special archaeological library, and at the same time a manufactory of painted glass. In the same year he was admitted to the Legion of Honor. His most important work is the Iconographie chretienne, of which, however, the first portion only, Histoirede Dieu (1843), was published. It was translated into English by E. J. Millington. Among his other works may be mentioned the Manuel d’icono-graphie chrelienne grecque et latine (1845), the Iconographie des chapiteaux du palais ducal de Venise (1857), and the Manuel des objets de bronze et d’orfevrerie (1859). He died on the i3th of November 1867.

Didron’s Iconographie Chrétienne

Glass attributed to Adolphe-Napoleon Didron

Rentrée de la procession de la châsse de sainte Geneviève
Chapelle Sainte-Geneviève
Artist : Adolphe-Napoléon Didron

Lieu : Notre-Dame de Paris, Chapelle Saint-Georges
Artiste original : Louis Charles Auguste Steinheil
Artistes : Eugène Oudinot, Adolphe-Napoléon Didron

Praxileles

A Rege saeculorum immortali et invisibili qui redempturus mundum hominum historiam intravit pro festis venturis ac novi anni principio divinae gratiae ubertatem Vobis omnibus exoptat.

🙂 And so say all of us.

A blessed Christmas to all. Some seasonal images.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Given what has previously been said about Richard Hurley’s reordering of the North Cathedral, it was perhaps easy to understand how the carols concert, broadcast by RTE 1 on Christmas Eve, went off so well. It clearly indicated just how much RH has managed to de-sacralize the building reducing it to a gaudy vaudeville music hall!!!!!!!!!!! If anything, those giant candles used for the stage props were an improvement on the place. I suppose the scattering of the benedictional candelabra around the mise en scene was indtnded to add a slightly religious flavour to the gig. The (canned ?) applause added an air of authenticity. The black tie seemed a little off for the occasion. The presence of the pro-Vicerene and the Mayor of Cork belied a separation of Church and State. The whole affair was well summed up at the end by the appearance of My Lord of Cork, Nazerene like, in a very fetching blue ganasi. This was everything that should not not be. Thank God, Tom Colton had more sense.

bit harsh there, hardly vaudeville! I take it you don’t approve of concerts/recitals in churches/cathedrals?

btw have you heard the Jesuitchurch in Limerick is closing the one on the Cresent?

http://www.jesuit.ie/layjay/Apr%20II%20’05.htm

Had to grin while watching that – just knew Praxiteles would be sitting at home fuming, shredding the sofa with his fingernails 🙂

Anto. Not harsh, just reality. A church is what it is; it is not a concert hall, it was never meant to be one.
Why is it so hard for people to understand that for those who believe a church, any church, has a meaning beyond the secural understanding of what a building is.

To be continued at a later date.

For now I would like to wish everyone a very happy,prosperous and stimulating New Year.
PS. Thank you all for a great 2005

Re posting 411: Praxiteles has no difficulty with the idea of the “Concerto di Natale” of “di Mezzonotte” and very much appreciates Albinone, Allegri, Bach and, indeed, Handel. The problem is when the idea is confounded with something else and we find a heap of codswollop called a “Concerto di Natale”. Will be back to this subject later on. Have a prosperous New Year, Anto.

@Praxiteles wrote:

The Pro-Cathedral Church of the Conception of the Virgin Mary was built on the site of Lord Annsley’s town house at Marlborough Street and Elephant Lane, which had been acquired by Archbishop Thomas Troy in 1803 for £5,100. The building commenced in 1814 and was completed in November 1825. Plans for a church in the revivalist Greek Doric style, submitted by an architect who signed himself “P”, won the commission. It is accepted that the architect was George Papworth (1781-1855). Born in London, he moved to Ireland in 1806, and won commissions for Grattan Bridge, King’s (Heuston) Bridge (1828), Camolin Park, Wexford (1815), the Dublin Library in D’Olier Street (1818-1820) and Sir Patrick Dunn’s Hospital and was eventually Professor of Architecture in the Royal Hibernian Academy. The Pro-Cathedral contains monuments to Cardinal Paul Cullen and his immediate predecessor Archbishop Daniel Murray by Thomas Farrell. The apse is decorated by an alto-relief of the Ascension by John Smyth. Thomas Kirk (1781-1845) supplied a monument for the Reverend Thomas Clarke: two figures of Religion and Charity bewteen an urn which was his first exhibited work at the Society of Artists (as Piety and Chastity) in 1813. A relief of the Good Shepherd and a monument to William and Anne Byly are also attributed to Kirk. The organ is by the Dublin organbuilder John White. Its present architectural case was build by WIlliam Hill c. 1900. The great artistic treasure of the Pro-Cathedral, however, was the High Altar by Peter Turnerelli (1774-1839). Born in Belfast, Turnerelli had been deeply influenced by Canova (who much admired Turnerelli’s bust of Grattan (1812). From 1798-1803 drawing master to the princesses of George III, he was appointed Sculptor in ordinary in 1801. While his busts of George III, Washington and Wellington (1815), Louis XVIII (1816), Henry Grattan (1812 and Daniel O’Connell (1829) are well known, his master piece was the High Altar of the Pro-Cathedral with its splendidly proportioned mensa, reredos and ciborium. In 1886, rather incongrously, three stained-glass windows were installed behind the High Altar. Archbishop Dermot Ryan introduced a reordering to the Pro-Cathedral in the late 1970s. The architect for the re-ordering was Professor Cathal O’Neill . In an act beggering civilized belief, he demolished Turnerelli’s High Altar and reredos. The praedella of the altar mensa was salvaged and re-used to form a new altar erected on a lower plain in a hum drum extended sanctuary covered with carpet. The neo-classical altar rails were removed. The canopied and dignified neo-classical Throne was dismantled. The pulpit was reduced to the redundancy of a side aisle and a few surviving vestiges of the High Altar scattered about the interior. The Ciborium of Turnerelli’s High Altar was conserved and placed on a squat disproportioned plinth on a lower plain. The result has been the complete loss of the graceful, proportioned, symetrically articulated dimensions of the Apse and of the building itself which now lacks a central focus and suffers from the same focal void as Longford and Thurles. It seem strange that nobody seems to have realized that the High Altar was custom built to a location it occupied for 150 years. Attempts to relieve the focal void by drapery have not been convincing. It is suggested that at the time of the reordering, the significance of the High Altar and its provenance may not have been known to the architect responsible for its demolition. In Irish circumstances, the destruction of such a major work of art may possibly have cultural significance not too dissimilar to the bombing of Monte Cassino or the feuerblitzing of the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

Hi Praxiteles,
Just registered. Wonderful information on the Cathedrals. Many thanks. I wondered whether the image of the sculptor was Turnerelli? For one exciting moment I thought it might be John Smyth (c1773-1840) on whom I am doing M.A. research. As you mentioned he executed the Ascension in the Pro. Have you come across any image of him? I feel that this Ascension is somewhat unsatisfying when viewed from the door. Do you think that the reordering of the sanctuary might have accentuated this impression? Anything on John Smyth from anyone would be most welcome.
R.Larkin

Maybe you could answer R.Larkin – did John Smyth ever live up to his father’s skill and reputation? Often thought he must have been a hard act to follow 🙂

Who was the finer sculptor of the two do you think? What other work in Ireland is his, as you never hear much about him aside from the GPO and Pro, unlike Edward who crops up everywhere! Thanks.

If Mosaic 1 is viewing, please note that he should look at Charleville and possibly Killmallock churches as both contain moaisc work most probably by Ludwig Oppenheimer. I have some photogrtaphs and will post same soon,

Dear POM,
I believe that a Church is the House of God and a place for Worship, and these functions are what differentiates a Church from any other communal meeting place. Without the element of the Sacred it would not be a Church therefore to regard churches as mere buildings is to effectively de-consecrate them. I know that some Modernist Liturgists would disagree with this as they think a Church should have multiple functions, but this is a very new idea and does not, I believe, have the support of the vast majority of Churchgoers.
Most buildings are constructed with a particular function in mind, for example, a hospital, a bank, a theatre, a community centre and they are expected to fulfil their particular functions, but one does not expect a hospital to function as a bank or theatre, or conversely one does not expect a bank to function as a hospital or community centre. Why then should a building constructed for the very specific purpose of worship be expected to fulfil the function of a theatre or community centre?

@Praxiteles wrote:

If Mosaic 1 is viewing, please note that he should look at Charleville and possibly Killmallock churches as both contain moaisc work most probably by Ludwig Oppenheimer. I have some photogrtaphs and will post same soon,

Happy new year to you too, Praxiteles. Would love to hear something about the churches in Kilmallock and Charleville as I’m from the area. I was in Kilmallock last Sunday and it’s a beautiful church. Good choir there too.

Kilmallock church is by JJ McCarthy and an important one which is relatively well preserved and which, mercifully, has been spared most of the usual petty vandalisms practised on Irish churches. I have a picture of the foundation stone and will post it. Charleville, by M. A Hennessey, while interesting is not externally of the same quality as Kilmallock but the mosaic work in the chancel far surpasses Kilmallock’s. You can see the spire of Kilmallock from the terrace of Charleville. Will post all soon.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

Maybe you could answer R.Larkin – did John Smyth ever live up to his father’s skill and reputation? Often thought he must have been a hard act to follow 🙂

Who was the finer sculptor of the two do you think? What other work in Ireland is his, as you never hear much about him aside from the GPO and Pro, unlike Edward who crops up everywhere! Thanks.

H.Potterton thinks the son is a better sculptor of church monuments than the father. There are monuments by Smyth in St Patrick’s Cathedral (several),St Werburgh’s, St Ann’s,Dawson St.,St George’s,Hardwick Place (2),Lisburn Cath.,Goresbridge,Co.Kilkenny,Ferns Cath.,Armagh Cath.,Newry (several), andSt Peter’s,Drogheda (2) all C.of I.Some of these monuments are quite accomplished for example the monument to John Ball in St Patrick’s.He had a talent for portraiture evidenced in some of his classical medallion style low reliefs on monuments. The Ascension in the Pro seems to be the most unsatisfying of all his work; I think one would have to see it from above. From the door it seems to get lost.
The freestanding statue of George Ogle M.P. in St Patrick’s Cathedral,though unsigned, is attributed to him. I think this is his most interesting work. He seems to have captured the character of this rather controversial man who also features in Francis Wheatleys painting of the Irish House of Commons.
There is also a signed monument by Smyth in Holy Trinity Church,Newport, Rhode Island.
J.Smyth carved the figures and the tympanum over the College of Surgeons and several busts still in the possession of the college. St Andrew over the church in Westland Row is also attributed to him, the first statue outside a Catholic church since penal times. An uncharacteristic crucifixion at the back of St Michan’s R.C. church is by him. His father had carved a wooden crucifixion for the then chapel in Navan in the 1770’s. This still exists.
The G.P.O. figures have now been replaced by casts. The originals are in the O.P.W. store. One authority has attributed these to Thomas Kirk but most think they were by J.Smyth. The Royal Arms at the entrance to the Kings Inns have been credited to both himself and his father. Since his father died in 1812 it seems more likely that this was the work of the son.
Smyth worked with his father on the carvings of the Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle and completed the work since his father died two years before it was finished. The heads on the rear garden wall of Francis Johnston’s house at 64 Eccles St bear a strong likeness to the heads at the Chapel Royal. One of these heads is George III. John Smyth’s first exhibited work was a bust of George III, A joint work with his father. This house has been discussed on another thread.The low reliefs on the front of the house may be by Smyth. He was master of the R.D.S. modelling school for 24 years. These are fairly weathered at this stage but they strongly resemblre the style of a charming low relief of Venus and Cupid by Smyth in marble, now hanging in the members’ bar of the R.D.S. It forms a pair with a low relief by Thomas Kirk called ‘The Drunken Banditti’!
It happens that where you find Francis Johnston you will also find one of the Smyths. The little church in Goresbridge was also by Johnston. Edward Smyth did a bust of Johnston. Some people believe that the companion bust of Johnston’s wife was by John. These are now in the possession of the Ulster Museum.
J.Smyth did the keystone heads at the bridge et the Four Courts, (Richmond,now O’Donovan Rossa Bridge).These have also suffered from weathering.
John Smyth was commissioned by the Apprentice boys of Derry to carve a statue of Rev. George Walker,hero of the siege. This was mounted on a massive pillar resembling Nelson’s Pillar. It was possible to climb steps within it to the top. It looked out threateningly over the Bogside until it was finally blown up in 1973. The Walker Memorial was the biggest landmark in Derry until that date.
In the past few days I have discovered that Smyth worked on the carving of the Gothic dining room in the neo-Gothic Gosford Castle,Co Armagh. I am trying to establish its condition. It was derelict for some time but I believe some attempts were made to restore it. Anyone know anything about this place? The same architect (Thomas Hopper) did work at Slane Castle and also designed the gothic conservatory at Carlton house. could Smyth have done some stucco at Slane?
Smyth’s descendants continued to work as monumental sculptors based in North Brunswick St. ,later Pearse St, down to the 1930’s. The last member of the family I see mentioned repaired the statue of Liberty over the Bank of Ireland (portico at Westmoreland St. side) in 1946. He restored her rod and cap which had disappeared in 1803. Look for Liberty’s cat at her feet when next you pass. This man was George Edward Smyth, great-great grandson of our Custom house man Edward Smyth. I think he may have lived in Sandymount,off St John’s Rd. towards the end of his life. There must be members of this family still around. It would be very exciting to track them down.

How fascinating, thanks very much for your extensive reply. Very interesting about the decendants of the Smyths!
It’s funny that the manner in which Edward followed Gandon round like a sheep was replicated with John and Johnston!

The early 19th century often comes across as so much more interesting a time to be working in architecture and sculpting – projects are much more varied in style and scale than the late 18th century – often ‘refinement’ commissions rather than grand set pieces as before; adding a new wing on here, an extension there, improving streetscapes with carved ornament and new bridges, statuary commissioned to fill empty spaces in public and private buildings, garden follies built, and of course a vast ‘building programme’ of Catholic churches and country houses post-1830.
Sounds a much more interesting time to be working as a prominant architect or artisan, and also why Johnston’s career/portfolio is so fascinating, esp as architect to the Board of Works – he crops up everywhere making well-considered changes to state buildings.

Anto,

I also have some [hotographs of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Kanturk, built in 1860 (just four years after the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception) by J. Hyrly and J.J. Callaghan. As I discovered to my horror, not even remote NW Cork is safe from Richard Hurley. The Nuns’ Choir has been converted into a day chapel. It is a scaled down version of the North Cathedral in Cork and of the Augustinian Church in Galway and of St. Mary’s Oratory in Maynooth (minus the Japanese Screen). Does RH have only ONE model in his copy book? It is trotted out with such terrible regularity that one begins to think that it must be getting thin from the photocopying! It was a thrill to discover that the gates on the altar rail (which survived because of a mass rebellion in Kanturk at the suggestion of their demolition) are by J.G. McGloughlin, Dublin who also provided for the Honan Chapel; and Cobh Cathedral. The Church is poorly maintained and in need of attention. This is somewhat strange as the Parish Priest, Canon John Terry, is chairman of the Historic Church Commission of the Diocese of Cloyne. If the state in which he maintains the church in Kanturk is anything to go by, then we can understand just why he recommended Cathal O’Neill’ outragous proposal for St. Colman’s Cathedral. Will post pictures soon.

Re. #442
Re Gosfort Castle. I found this interesting piece today.

The cost of building Gosford Castle
The cost incurred in the building of Gosford Castle was an alleged £80,000 (not a surprising figure, in view of the size and quality of the building). Lord Gosford had married Mary, daughter and heiress of Robert Sparrow of Worlingham Hall, Beccles, Suffolk, and the Norman style – of which there are a number of genuine East Anglian examples – may have been her idea. It was also probably her money which in large part financed the venture.
In spite of this, money and other difficulties beset the commission and Lord Gosford did not hesitate to express his dissatisfaction. In response to his recriminations about workmanship and bills, and his insensitive reference to a rival architect, William Playfair (who had been working at Drumbanagher, near Newry, Co. Armagh), Hopper replied sadly, in January 1834: ‘… I suspect it did not cost him one hundredth part the thought, and but a small portion of the trouble, which I took to try to make Gosford Castle as convenient and as good as I wished it to be. … I have always felt a sorrow that I ever went to Ireland. I now consider it a misfortune …’. After Hopper’s death in 1856, the work was continued by George Adam Burn (who had been employed under Hopper since 1853).

Lord Gosford’s relations with his wife, as well as with Hopper, may have been affected by the strains of castle-building. The couple separated, and Lady Gosford went back to live at Worlingham, where she died some years before her husband in 1841. The story is told that, on its return journey to Co. Armagh for burial in the family vault at Mullaghbrack, her coffin was mislaid by the drunken servants whom Lord Gosford had sent to fetch it, and was conveyed by train to somewhere in the Midlands. At some time after her death, the Worlingham estate was sold.

The following was posted by Jason Diamond on 8/12/01 at this site
http://www.castles.org/qa/messages/1104.html

Is anyone interested in helping save one of the most important and biggest castles in Ireland? The first example of the Norman Revival in the British Isles and once housing one of the greatest book collections in Ireland (many of the books now in the Pierpont Morgan Library NY)the castle is now derelict and in a perilous state. We have formed a Building Preservation Trust to save Gosford but need all the support we can get. Anyone interested can contact me, Secretary of the Gosford Castle Trust, at the above e-mail address.

You also hear him speak a little about the Castle at http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/community/thisplace/regions/armagh.shtml

Mosaics from the chancel of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Charleville, Co. Cork

Charleville church is not aligned because of its location. The chancel is at the west end of the church. The entire west wall is covered with an incredibly elaborate mosaic of the Coronation of Our Lady divided into three main sections:

1. Ground level to the string course below the west window showing: subdivided into two sections: a. an arcade in mosaic work rising to about four feet (now unfortunately submerged since tons of concrete were poured into the chancel floor to raise the level); b. above the arcade, three panels; one to the left of the alter dipecting the tree of knowledge, supported by two of the tetramorphe; a panel behind the altar which is of geometric sections; and a thrid panel to the right of the altar depicting the Rosa Mystica held up by the other two tetramorphe.

2. The second section occupies the entire area above the lower window string course up to the attic which is not occupied by the west window. It consists of two monumental figures. On the left, Christ seated in majesty (with all of the attributes that we have spoken about in relation to medieval tympana); and on the right Our Lady, similarly seated in majesty, depicted in pose of humility.

3. The attic above the west window is occupied by three roundels; on the left, the monogram for Christos; the middle depicting God the Father and the Holy Ghost; the left depicting the monogram of Maria.

The High Altar is of the best quality Carrara marble and, mercifully, has managed to avoid demolition (so far). The antependium has a very finely worked panel depicting Leonardo’s Last Supper. Unlike nearby Kilmallock, nobody thought of knocking off the finials of the fleurions on the reredos.

The preservation of the interior of Charleville Church through all of the iconoclasm of the 1970s and 1980s is due to the enlightened and cultivated Parish Priest, Canon Dan Murphy, who gallantly resisted the huns at the door and all pressure from the “liturgical establishment” until overtaken by old age. His successor, Seamus Corkery, wrecked the interior of this fine church by extending the sanctuary towards the nave and increasing the floor level which was then paved, incredibly, with black limestone flags. Worst of all, the Sacred Heart Chapel to the right of the main sanctuary was gutted, its altar stripped out, its magnificent floor in red mosaic (reminiscent of the floor of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Cobh Cathedral) partially concreted and totally obscured by a carpet. It was converted to a baptistry which has since seen its font moved elsewhere in the church, rendering the entire exercise a mindless act of vandalism. In recent times, the statue of the Sacred Heart that originally stood on the praedella of the altar in the chapel has found his way back from obscurity but has been planked on a floor of the chapel. The whole thing looks stupid. The pulpit is believed to be in a local barn. The ornamental brass gates of the mortuary chapel (probably by McGloughlin) now adorn the shop frontage of a public house on the main street of Charleville. Again, it is easy to understand why the Historic Church Commission of the diocese of Cloyne could have recommended Cathal O’Neill’s savagery for Cobh Cathedral when the wrecker of Charleville Church, Seamus Corkery, was a member of that committee and made the recommendation to vandalize the interior of St. Colman’s Cathedral. Probably the most devastating thing to happen in Charleville was the destruction of the mosaic floor of the chancel which was of the same standard and an intergral part of the overall decorative scheme of the sancturary of the church.