Praxiteles

Charleville Church

Here is an illustration of the extensive mosaic on the chancel walls

An another interesting picture of Charleville Church: the interior before the decoration of the sanctuary and the installation of the great art-deco-byzantine mosaic on the chancel walls dating from c. 1915.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception,. Kanturk, Co. Cork

Earlier on this thread we looked at some of the stuff going on in the parish church in Kanturk, Co. Cork and noted the facility with which certain things were done without any reference to a planning decision. Well, now it is official. The Cloyne diocesan website tells us that the refurbishment of Kanturk church cost 2 million Euros and everything was donme by DECLARATION – a mechanism intended in law to accomodate minor works!

Here is what the Cloyne website says: “Since the Jubilee Year major refurbishment of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Kanturk, has been implemented. The completion of the work was marked by a liturgical celebration at 12.00 noon on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th 2007. The celebration on December 8th included the consecration by Bishop Magee of a new Fixed Altar, designed and crafted by Ken Thompson in Portugese Limestone. An Ambo and Chair in the same material have also been introduced.
The church has quite an extensive volume of Stained Glass Windows, all of which were completely refurbished prior to the implementation of the requirements of Planning Act 2000.
The church was placed on the Register of Protected Structures, consequently, through Cloyne HCAC we had to engage with the Heritage Unit of the Planning Department of Cork County Council since the implementation of the Planning Act 2000, and I am happy to say that all works carried out have been done by ‘Declaration’.
Besides the introduction of a new Altar, Ambo and Chair, the works include:
· New Electrical Installation.
· New Heating Installation, incorporating extensive insulation of the roof for energy conservation.
· Redecoration throughout.
· Refurbishment of Church Grounds, incorporating extra car parking spaces.
This is the second major makeover of the church since it was established in 1867. The previous one took place in 1912. The cost of the present programme is almost 2m.”

We also add a photograph showing the new installations. We need not point out the liturgical aberrations and anomalies of the arrangement.

Significant, however, is the complete absence of the gates to the sanctuary. No planning permission was given to remove them and no declaration made any mention of removing them – yet they are gone! What is Cork COunty Coun cil doing about this – NOTHING.

Here is a recent picture of the works going on at St. Paul’s Church in Paul’s Street in Cork.

The church has now been incorporated into a shopping complex having served as a factory since it was deconmissioned by the Church of Ireland. It is a most interesting example of Cork’s 18th century neo-Palladian architecture. Fortunately, the original windows survived here up to now. WHat is happening to them is difficult to tell from the photographs – I am not sure that we are not dealing with a plastocated replica here of the original windows.

More interestingly: there has been no effort to restore the tracery of what used to be the chancel window. As you can seee, this was viciously gouged out when the church was converted to a factory and only a few traces of the original window sash remain.

We are still awaiting dvelopments in Cobh.

@ake wrote:

Here’s a nice little surprise; Ferrybank parish church, on the north side of the river Suir in Waterford City;
You can read an excellent, detailed history of it here;http://www.ferrybankparish.com/history/index.htm

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A couple more pictures here; http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/sets/72157603540601172/

Very nice and still elatively intact.

The Tramore ceiling is quite spectacular but the colour scheme is awful in the extreme. Just who does this sort of work?

Are there not health and safety regulations to be complied with here?

The Portinari Altar Piece:

“…streams of energy seem to converge towards the Nativity scene; but in the centre of this whirlwind there is calm. Amidst the jubilation of the heavenly host, the quiet reverence of the angels and St. Joseph, the touching, dumb devotion of the ox (the ass, by contrast, remaining impassive), and the wild piety of the shepherds, the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child are alone, encompassed by a circle of solitude. It is to accentuate this sense of lonliness that the scale of the figures varies, not according to the laws of perspective -though these are scrupuously observed in the architecture – but so as to create the illusion of distances “measureless to man”; that the piece of ground on which the Infant is placed is so large and so bare; and the circle of figures surrounding Him is completed in front by what looks like a mere still life, but is in fact the key to an exceptionally intricate system of symbolism” [E. Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, p. 333] .

The scarlet lilt and the iris: the one indicating Christ’s passion, the other Our Lady’s heart also sorrows; both placed together in the vase indicating her sharing in Christ’s passion and her role of co-redemptrix.

The columbine placed together with three red carnatioons in the glass:the one referring to Our Lady’s fidelity to Christ staying with Him under the cross.

The first flowers are placed in a jar used for wine; the second, in a glass used for water; behind them the barley shaef – all references to the Eucharistic Body of Christ.

Quis ascendet montem Domini aut quid stabit in loco sancto eius?
Innocens manibus et qui rect sunt corde!

[Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord or stand in his holy place?
Those of innocent hands and who are right of heart]

Look again at the hands of St. Joseph, those of the angels and those of the shepherds!

A detail of the border of the Cope: