St Louis Bible in Toledo

In Toledo most tourists want to see pictures of El Greco, so they crowd in Sacristy in the cathedral, but other things often ignore. These other things are not written about in papers, so they are not famous. If they are not famous, then perhaps they are not important.
This is the case with the Bible of Saint Louis, which is exhibited in the Toledo Cathedral. It is an exquisite book of 13th century, but most of the crowd, who have to pass in front of it when they leave the sacristy, don't even stop to have a look.  

Plafond in Toledo

       Most tourists in Toledo go to the cathedral to see pictures by El Greco in the sacristy. Few people, however, look at the ceiling there. There is a painting on the ceiling, and quite an impressive one, too. El Greco, however, is famous, whereas the author of the painting on the ceiling is little known and most guide books never mention it. Who would look at the ceiling when standing in front of an original El Greco?

       I, however, think that the ceiling is very interesting. It shows the heavens open with God (shown there as a bright disc with Hebrew letters IHWH written on it) and a crowd of angels and saints singing probably hymns of praise. At the edge of the painting there are also some people unpleasantly surprised by the vision. This is an illusionist painting that is supposed to give an impression that there is no ceiling but the open heaven instead. During the baroque era in Catholic Europe this was quite popular theme, the best known example being probably the plafond of St Ignacio in Rome, but the Toledo example is certainly very good. Its author (as some guide books mention) is a Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano.

  

Naked women in the cathedral of Toledo

This is medieval stained glass in the higher windows. Possibly the reason why there is so much nudity there, is that the windows are so high that one can hardly see what is pictured there. Unless, of course, one has binoculars or a telephoto lens (neither of which were in existence at the time the window was made).

It is interesting that in Gothic cathedrals the meticulously made stained glass windows were so high that practically nobody could see them. Perhaps they were made not for the glory of men but for the glory of God, who could see them. 

Of course the cathedral in Toledo is a place where tourists go to see paintings of El Greco, not naked women in some stained glass windows.

Roofs of taoist temples

On roofs of Taoist temples in China one can see sculptures of some personalities. I have no idea how old these sculptures are or who do they represent. They do represent soldiers and officials in very ancient attire but I have no idea how ancient. It seems to be a standard decoration of a Taoist temple. These pictures are from City God Temple in Shanghai.

Roofs in Beijing

The main attraction of the Forbidden City in Peking is a maze of yellow roofs. Not much more to ogle at there really, but the roofs are impressive. Only imperial buildings could have a roof in that colour. Interestingly the Temple of Heaven has a blue roof, no less impressive although a bit less of it.

La Mezquita in Cordoba

It used to be a heart of Andalusia, the capital of its Muslim Caliphs, who built the place of prayer. The building so extraordinary that even the Catholic conquerors decided not to destroy it but make it their own cathedral. So it was again a place of prayer for a few more centuries. It is changing only now, these days to enter you need to but a ticket and you can ogle as long as you like. As all other famous buildings in the world this one also is becoming a centre of ogling. It nevertheless is breathtaking.

Chinese bonsai in Suzhou

The main tourist attraction of Suzhou are its gardens, the most famous and by far the most visited is the Humble Administrator Garden. The garden was supposed to provide a quiet refuge for its owner but today it is as crowded as Hyde Park. You can see many things there, not just the garden. There is for example a collection of bonsai, which is very different from Japanese bonsai. I haven't seen any comment on them in any language I could understand nor have I ever seen any literature on the subject (at least in a language intelligible to me). So I am presenting the pictures without any comment.