reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

I should have said that any ‘screening’ of the sanctuary shopuld ensure that it is clearly seen from the back of the church; that would suggest glass, but the thought of a contemporary ‘iconostasis’ or of a solid screen only up to the height of the arcade would offer endless possibilities for creativity and good taste. (Sorry, did I utter a profanity?) The nave space could also be capable of opening up for a larger congregation or audience. I think we need some multi-task thinking here.
Here is what I think is a brilliant modern iconostasis from a Latin-rite church adapted for Greek-catholic use in Gdansk:

And this oicture gives some idea of the quality of the workmanship on the Choir Stalls in Notre Dame de Paris.

@nebuly wrote:

@Praxiteles wrote:

The Pietà on the High Altar of Notre Dame de Paris.

This composition was placed in Notre Dame as a than offering by Louis XIII. the influence of Van Dyck on the composition is obvious and much resembles two of his painting of the same subject.

I am not certain if this is teh original composition or a copy placed there after the Revolution. Anyone any information on the subject?
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SORRY This one shows it

But I wonder about the King offering his crown on the epistle side,,,,,,

Thta is an interesting view of the High Altar and indeed the composition appears to be there. However, I am not all togeher sure of all those very classical looming arches enclosing the Choir of NDP:

And the other from about 1635 which was done as a predella for an Altar in the Church of the Conversi in Antwerp on commission from the Abbé Scaglia.

While fumbling around for information on the Pieta in Choir of NDP, Praxiteles came acorss this rather interesting little pice on hinges – and specifically those of portals of Notre Dame. From the text,. it would seem that much of it is drwan either from Didron Annales, or from Viollet-le-Duc’s Dictionary. However, it makes one very important point: strapwork such as we find on the doors of NDP is an extremely COMPLICATED piece of work and require the utmost skill both to forge and assemble.

I post this because, if you compare them, you wiol find that the strap work on the West door of Cobh Cathedral very closely resembles that on the Portail de Sainte Anne in NDP. Hence, any tampering with the poorly conserved strapwork in Cobh would want to keep the original point in mind: strap work of this kind (and quality) is extremely COMPLICATED to forge and assemble.

Praxiteles wonders just how well Mr Southgate is going to do dans les forges de l’enfer.

Now, I mention this specific piece of detail because we understand that a conservationist architect called Chris Southgate has, it appears, received a commission from the highly enlightened Restoration Committee at Cobh Cathedral to “restore” the doors and poarch of the West facade. I wonder….. I ask: if Mr Southgate were to take the strapwork off the West door in Cobh and to disassemble it; would he know how to fit all the bits back together again? Or, and we fear we might be facing this scenario, are we about to have an existential experience of Humpty Dumty and find ourselves UNABLE to reassemble the strap work? This, Praxiteles, is certain is an example fot he type of question the easily impressionable Cobh Town Council will be wanting to ask itself – or have it asked for it by the FOSCC!!

Anyway, here is the bit:

Une penture est un morceau de fer plat replié en rond à une extrémité de manière à y former un œil destiné à recevoir le mamelon d’un gond, et qui attaché sur la surface d’une porte, est destiné à la suspendre et à la faire mouvoir, tout en la maintenant bien stable. Les pentures sont clouées et boulonnées aux vantaux des portes (ref : [25] ).

Les portes de Notre-Dame de Paris sont décorées de pentures en fer forgé d’une exceptionnelle beauté. Les vantaux de la porte Sainte-Anne par exemple sont garnis d’admirables pentures, qui les recouvrent presque entièrement et sont de petits chefs-d’œuvre de ferronnerie. Elles forment d’amples arabesques fines et légères, des dessins de fleurs et de feuillages, et même des formes animales. Ce sont des témoins de premier plan de l’art consommé de la serrurerie aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles. De plus, elles ressortent magnifiquement sur l’enduit dont on a recouvert les vantaux.
De tout temps les parisiens furent fascinés par ces petites merveilles en fer forgé. Et bientôt des légende se formèrent. L’une d’entre elles affirmait qu’elles étaient si belles qu’il n’était pas croyable qu’elles aient été exécutées par un simple forgeron. Celui-ci aurait vendu son âme au diable en échange de l’incomparable talent de transformer le fer en feuillages et brindilles, ce qui valut au forgeron le surnom de Biscornette. Suivant une autre légende, les pentures des portails auraient été forgées par le diable lui-même dans les forges de l’enfer ([26] [27] ).

Les pentures des deux portes (nord et sud) du transept qui dataient du Moyen Âge ont été remplacées au XVIIIe siècle par des pentures de style gothique tel qu’on l’imaginait à l’époque. Quant au portail du Jugement, suite à l’intervention de Soufflot fin du XVIIIe siècle, les portes en furent remplacées par deux vantaux de bois adaptés aux nouvelles dimensions données à la porte à cette époque, et sculptés de deux effigies grandeur nature du Christ et de la Vierge. Viollet-le-Duc déposa les portes de Soufflot et reconstitua le portail tel qu’il était au Moyen Âge, ainsi que les anciennes pentures qui datent donc du XIXe siècle.

figure 1 – L’artiste forgeron de l’époque a commencé par forger séparément chacune des brindilles, pour les rassembler par après
figure 2 РLes cinq pi̬ces principales de la penture inf̩rieure de la porte Sainte-Anne
figure 3 – Penture de la porte Sainte-Anne – Un exemple de l’extrême complexité de la réunion des petites branches

Les bandes de ces pentures ont une largeur de 16 à 18 centimètres, sur une épaisseur de 2 centimètres environ. Elles sont composées de plusieurs bandes réunies et soudées de distance en distance au moyen d’embrasses (voir figure 2 ci-dessus). Celles-ci non seulement ajoutent une grande résistance à l’ensemble, mais permettent de recouvrir les soudures des branches recourbées.

Why is it that a classical altar often looks stunning in a gothic church but gothic furnishings look frightful in classical buildings? Can it simply ones outraged sense of it being an anachronism?

@johnglas wrote:

Many continental churches built in the middle ages have been ‘baroqued’, but I think this is rarely a happy marriage.

I wonder? What, for example, of Stift Zwettl in Lower Austria?

It is very good news to hear that the Cathedral of teh Sacred Heart in Canton has been restored to its former glory.

Here’s some shots of Kilmallock parish church, by McCarthy;

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Exceptional stenciling and mosaic! Pity about the missing central railings.

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As often with McCarthy, he refers to the nearby medieval church, in this case the Dominican Priory across the river. Like the old priory the church has multipile lancets at the east end and to the south a large traceried window, though in the church it’s not actually in a transept, but on the south side of side chapel.

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here’s the priory;

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there’s large versions of the glass and some other pics here; http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/sets/72157605785936024/

oh and lastly a view of the exterior from the interior;
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