reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

The pulpit in the Cathedral of Ravello dating from c. 1270:

The pulpit in the Holy Name of Jesus in Manchester:

The pulpit in Santa Croce in Florence by Benedetto da Maiano dating from about 1472 and depicting scenes from Franciscan life:

The ambo in the Cathedral of Ravello dating from the 11th. century.

Here we see the classical ambo with two flights of steps: one facing east by which teh deeacon reading the Gospel ascends when bringing the Book of Gospels from the altar; the other facing west by which he leaves having chanted the Gospel.

The inlay figures depict (on the right hand side) the sea monster swollowing Jonnah; and on the left, the same monster spitting him out of his mouth – a classical reference to teh resurrection and often found in the catacombs. Two peacocks are also to be seen just underneath the ambo proper. These symbolize eternal life and are often found in very early Christian iconography.

Some further images of the Bitonto ambo of 1229:

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co Cork, Ireland

The pulpit, dating from 1895, designed by G.C. Ashlin and executed by Bull of Dublin. Ashlin specified that the material to be used was to be Riga or Austrian oak, “which must be clean, thoroughly seasoned and free from all defects”.

The pulpit in the Stephansdom in Vienna dating from 1515:

Here we see two panels of the pulpit with effigies of two of the Latin doctors of the Church: St Jermome and St Augustine. the lower image shows another of the Latin doctors, Pope St. Gregory the Great and the fourth, not visible, is St Ambrose:

A detail:

The pulpit in the Abbey Church of Melk in Lower Austria by Peter Widerin, son in law of Jakob Prandhauer.

A detail

And an overview of the church and abbey on the Danube:

The pulpit in the Peterskirche in Vienna also by Mattias Steindl and dating from 1726:

The pulpit in the nave of the Niklauskirche in Prague by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer (1689-1751)

A detail of the ceiling of the pulpit.