Tag Archives: churches

The Stones of Lecce

Posted on 12/01/2023 by carolinemmurray

I think it is safe to say that 2022 was not a good year for the vast majority of people worldwide. My own issues will definitely sound pathetic by comparison with those of most people, not least the entire population … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, History, Italy | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

The Bells, the Bells …

Posted on 10/05/2018 by carolinemmurray

As the website of Save Venice, Inc. tells us: ‘Venetian noble Pietro Gradenigo (1695–1776) commissioned Giovanni Grevembroch, a Venetian artist of German descent, to record Venetian clothing, artworks, occupations, collections, buidlings and daily life through a series of watercolor drawings … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Preferences

Posted on 01/04/2018 by carolinemmurray

Or are they prejudices? Did I not warm to Bologna because of the oppressive feel of the red stone buildings and the gloomy arcades, or because I don’t much like the paintings of the Bolognese school, or because I lost … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, Italy, Natural history | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Lucca

Posted on 14/04/2017 by carolinemmurray

I never quite understood what was so great about St Martin slicing his cloak in two and giving half to a beggar: why didn’t he just hand over the whole cloak and be done with it? He was a soldier … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Exploration, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

A Ceramic Bestiary

Posted on 06/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

Lisbon claims to be the oldest city in the world, on the basis that it was thriving long before Athens, Rome etc. It also claims to have been founded by Odysseus on his way back from Troy: the name used … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Feast of St John

Posted on 24/06/2015 by carolinemmurray

The feast of the nativity of St John the Baptist, which falls on 24 June, coincides, in the northern hemisphere, with the summer solstice, and combines, like its chronological antithesis 25 December, Christian and pre-Christian imagery and activity in its … Continue reading →

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St Botolph’s Day

Posted on 17/06/2015 by carolinemmurray

Today, 17 June, is the feast of St Botolph: a fact which prompted me to visit his church in Cambridge, inside which, in the 45 years I have lived in the city, I have never previously ventured. Pausing only at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 6 Comments