Yesterday I braved some fairly dreary weather and tagged along on a photowalk sponsored by a local photography forum (that I don't participate in, my photographer-neighbor invited me along) to Abu Ghosh, an Israeli-Arab town up in the Jerusalem hills. In addition to being locally famous for humus Abu Ghosh is also home to two well-known churches which were our destination on that gloomy rainy day.
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Our first stop was Notre-Dame de L'Arche d'Alliance (Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant), built in 1924 on the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church. Surrounding the church are gardens with wonderfully ancient and twisted olive trees and flowers of many types, including the rose you saw in yesterday's post. The church itself is well known for the large statue of the Virgin Mary on the roof (which may appear in a later post) but I was particularly taken with the mosaic work on the church's facade.
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Click to enlarge
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11 comments:
Gorgeous Byzantine art, Robin! Love the details!
Did you mean the pun: Virgin Mary on the roof (which may appear...) Ha! :) enjoy your weekend!
You just totally cracked me up Mary. I didn't even realize I'd made that pun :).
In all seriousness, there is a lovely statue on the opposite side of the roof, not visible from where I was standing. I did get a shot of it that I will share at some point.
The color in those images is spectacular. I imagine them hanging in a very stark room with minimalist decor OR in a eclectically deocrated room with lots of litte objets and artifacts (can you tell I've been perusing the design sites?)
Ooo, shiny bright tesserae on the wall! Nice.
Good onya for foregoing the humus and getting church pictures. I still haven't been up to that church on the hill.
I suggest you go to the Benedictine monastery church on Christmas Eve. They turn on the lights then, a bit. I even took pictures last time. But arrive early or it's standing room only. Tons of curious Israeli Jews will be there.
Lovely details in the picture of the church! I have been to Abu Gosh only for the hummus,long time ago....
This is lovely. What painstaking detail it takes to create these!
Aren't you in the land of spectacular mosiac art?
How beautiful...
How beautiful - colorful and earthy at the same time.
Beautiful photos... lovely architecture!
Oh WOW! I love mosaics (as Daryl will tell you)... probably because I would never ever have the patience (or coordination) for the work. And the sky backdrop in the first shot? that's a SWF waiting to happen. Bravi, Signora! Bravissimi!
These are lovely photos of church!
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