Anyone interested in stained glass who visits Cracow should see the Franciscan church in that city. The curch itself is late Gothic but the windows date from the end of the 19th century and are one of the best examples of art nouveau windows anywhere. They were designed by Stanislaw Wyspianski, the best known art nouveau artist in Poland. His window over the western door representing God the Father in the act of creation is certainly impressive.
One of the main attractions of Cornwall is St. Michaels Mount, a rock on the coast that is supposedly an island, but only at the high tide. It used to be a monastery, from the time of king Henry it has been an aristocratic residence, today it can be visited. Many things are amazing there, one of them are stained glass windows in the dining room. I haven't seen any comment on them so my comment is based entirely on what I see.
One thing I see is that these are not windows that were here when it was the monastery. The monastery was closed during the time of king Henry but some of these windows are clearly baroque, which means they are later. What is more, at least some were not created in England. One of them has an inscription in Dutch, another shows a ship with a Dutch flag (Holland didn't exist at the time of king Henry). Still another shows a pope and a cardinal, which means it wasn't created in the protestant England. One pictures an interior with a window with a stained glass in it but it is a very different window. Some are assembled in a somewhat messy way, for example in one just beneath the main scene one can see a cupid, but aside and without a head, and still lower there are some feet, but upside down.
I am guessing then that it is a collection of an aristocrat put in the present place in the 19th century. At that time it was fashionable among the English aristocrats to bring collections of art from distant countries. Elgin marbles and Benin bronzes are the most famous cases, but they are by no means unique.
Most of the stained glass presented here are not mosaics of coloured glass, as in the mediaeval cathedrals, but scenes painted on a pane with a substance which after baking it became a part of glass. The most common colours are grey and yellow.
Here are pictures that are not typical to the region any more. These are the prairies, nowadays preserved only in a few nature reserves. One of those reserves is in Pipesone, where the Indians quarry the red stone for their peace pipes. A peace pipe is holy, one has to pray while quarrying the stone for it, hence the pieces of cloth which Indians attach to trees when they pray.
Prairies were grasslands, not getting enough rain to grow trees. Only in sheltered and well watered river valleys trees could grow.
Once there were innumerable herds of bison grazing on the prairies. Nowadays those nature reserves keep little herds as well.
Apparently dunes are the features that keep water on deserts like Sahara. This is because it rains very seldom and everywhere else the water dries up soon after, but but water that falls on sand goes down and seeps slowly at the bottom of the dune. This is exactly what happens at Hassi Labied in Moroccan Sahara. This is where these pictures are from.
It is a desert supposedly. I have to say I was surprised to see it so green, having seen before deserts like Sahara, where all you see is stones or sand.
Some more pics from Down Under, this time from the Top End.
It rains a lot there for three months in the year and not at all for nine.
When it does the rivers swell and the crocs wait for the drivers of cars who try to get out of their flooded cars.
When it doesn't the rivers become a string of billabongs where the crock still wait for tourists hiking too close to the water.
They say the land is useless there which is why the population is still mostly Aborigine (which of course means that not everybody thinks it is useless).
I guess not many people visiting Madrid notice the street art there. I did and I took some pics. These are of course street names which in Madrid are accompanied by illustrations. In the past they might have been there for the illiterate. Why nowadays I don't know, maybe just for tourists.
