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From my meeting room in the hotel, I look out on the SPIRE of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. I’m so glad they have left the curtains open. This magnificent church is a pleasant diversion from a boring speaker. Sometimes any large and impressive church is called a cathedral, but actually, what makes a church a cathedral is the presence of a bishop.
Have you ever read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. That’s where I learned that. The book is historical fiction about the building of a cathedral in England in the mid-12th century. Superbly written, I learned a lot about cathedrals from reading it. A cathedral such as this one might have a foundation that is 25-30 feet deep. Imagine digging that out. The awe I derive from seeing a cathedral has a lot to do with my astonishment at how such a structure could be built with only the most basic of tools and with few safety precautions. Look around at any modern skyscraper construction site – all the scaffolding and lifts and cranes – things that allow a tall structure to go up in a matter of months. The Antwerp cathedral took 178 years to be completed (it was completed in 1520). That means there were early laborers who worked a lifetime to build the cathedral, but never saw it completed.
The cathedral was gutted by fire 12 years after being consecrated and it was damaged severely more than once by various conflicts. Yet it always managed to recover; there were always people who cared enough to preserve the structure. Today the church houses three priceless masterpieces by Rubens and many other important religious pieces. I’m not really into religious art, but it’s still nice to see them and appreciate those who made sure people can still appreciate them in 2016. They say that it takes 1.5 million Euro/year to maintain the church today. I’m happy to contribute a 6 Euro entrance fee to that cause.
The Lady is the heart of Antwerp…the town built right up against it over the millennia. I only have to look for the spire to know the direction to head for my hotel when I am confused by the winding, cobblestone streets. The cathedral’s spire reaches 404 feet into the sky – the tallest in Northern Europe. The point of a spire on a church is to make people look heavenward. I have done a lot of that this week.
Have you ever read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. That’s where I learned that. The book is historical fiction about the building of a cathedral in England in the mid-12th century. Superbly written, I learned a lot about cathedrals from reading it. A cathedral such as this one might have a foundation that is 25-30 feet deep. Imagine digging that out. The awe I derive from seeing a cathedral has a lot to do with my astonishment at how such a structure could be built with only the most basic of tools and with few safety precautions. Look around at any modern skyscraper construction site – all the scaffolding and lifts and cranes – things that allow a tall structure to go up in a matter of months. The Antwerp cathedral took 178 years to be completed (it was completed in 1520). That means there were early laborers who worked a lifetime to build the cathedral, but never saw it completed.
The cathedral was gutted by fire 12 years after being consecrated and it was damaged severely more than once by various conflicts. Yet it always managed to recover; there were always people who cared enough to preserve the structure. Today the church houses three priceless masterpieces by Rubens and many other important religious pieces. I’m not really into religious art, but it’s still nice to see them and appreciate those who made sure people can still appreciate them in 2016. They say that it takes 1.5 million Euro/year to maintain the church today. I’m happy to contribute a 6 Euro entrance fee to that cause.
The Lady is the heart of Antwerp…the town built right up against it over the millennia. I only have to look for the spire to know the direction to head for my hotel when I am confused by the winding, cobblestone streets. The cathedral’s spire reaches 404 feet into the sky – the tallest in Northern Europe. The point of a spire on a church is to make people look heavenward. I have done a lot of that this week.