Apocalypse

The red horse of the apocalypse as pictured in a stained glass window in St Jean de Montmartre, Paris.  According to the Book of Revelations, there were four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding white, red, black and pale horses respectively.

Revelations, chapter 6 verses 3-4 in the St James Bible:
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

The red horse was taken to signify war and slaughter.

This is one of two windows at the rear of St Jean de Montmartre, a church built around 1900 in reinforced concrete in the art nouveau style.  It is now listed as one of the historic monuments of France.

Stained glass windows by Tiffany

I love all stained glass, I think, ancient, modern and in between.  The window shown on this postcard dates from 1909 and was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and American artist well known for his stained glass.  This is one of four pairs of windows in the Union Church of Proctor, Vermont.  It is a memorial to Redfield Proctor and is titled "Summer".  The other three are Spring, Autumn and Winter and are dedicated to Minnie Proctor, Fletcher proctor and Mr & Mrs Redfield Proctor, Jr.

Louis Tiffany started out as a painter and then went into interior design before concentrating on glass making.  In 1902 he became design director for his father's company, Tiffany & Co.  A large and comprehensive collection of his work can be seen in Florida, at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art.  Outside the USA, the largest public collection of his work can be seen in the Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington, Lancashire, in the UK.  The collection was presented to the town by Joseph Briggs who had once worked for Tiffany's.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Moscow metro and other forms of transport

I've seen various postcards and pictures of the metro stations in Moscow and they all seem so beautiful.  According to the person who sent this one to me, though, they don't make them like this any more.  It's the Novoslobodskaya metro station, dating from 1952 and decorated with stained glass panels.  The panels are lit from inside and surrounded with brass edging.  At the far end is the "Peace throughout the World" mosaic, also shown in the left inset.

The card came with a stamp of another form of transport, a golden carriage.

The scan doesn't do it justice because the carriage is actually shiny and golden.  It shows the carriage made in Berlin that Friedrich II of Prussia presented to Empress Elizabeth.  The stamp was produced as part of a road transportation series.  Most splendid transportation!

As I was looking out this postcard and stamp, I came across two other carriages on stamps.

This from Japan was issued in 1976 to commemorate the Emperor's golden jubilee and shows the Coronation Coach.

Finally from the USA, a stamp commemorating 200 years of the postal service.  It would have originally been one of a block of 4, the others showing rail, air, and what I think represents space.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Stained glass

The beautiful rich colours of a stained glass window in the Bales Organ Recital Hall of the University of Kansas.  The hall was built specifically for organ recitals.

Three from Prague

Views of the old city of Prague in the Czech Republic.

The wonderful cathedral within the castle grounds, perched on top of a hill.  The present day cathedral was founded in 1344, and finished 600 years later.  Alfons Mucha designed the stained glass windows in the north of the nave.

Golden Lane is an ancient street very near the cathedral and again part of the castle grounds, in fact built on the castle walls.  At one time Franz Kafka lived there.

Metropolitan Cathedral Brasilia

The interior of Brasilia's cathedral, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Aparecida (Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida).  As UnoPocoLoco commented on an earlier post, there are three sculptures of angels suspended in the nave though only two are visible in this postcard.  The smallest is over 2 metres (over 7 feet)  long and weighs 100 kg (22 lbs).  The largest is more than double those measurements.

The stained glass is made of 16 triangular pieces of fibreglass, 10 metres at the base and 30 metres high.

Another Wikipedia anomaly: the page states that the architecture was "arguably" inspired by the design of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.  Well, I know they may have inaccuracies too, but by visiting the official sites of these two cathedrals, you find the cornerstone for Brasilia's cathedral was laid in 1958, while the design for Liverpool's went out to competition in 1960.

Izaac Walton revisited

This card, almost certainly dating from the same time as the previous one, "Study to be Quiet", shows the full window dedicated to Izaak Walton.  It's in Prior Silkstede's chapel in the south transept of Winchester Cathedral, just above the simple black marble slab marking the tomb of Izaak Walton. 

Tomb inscription

Here resteth the body of Mr Isaac Walton who dyed the 15th of December 1683
Alas hee's gone before, Gone to returne noe more
Our panting breaths aspire, After their aged sire
Whose wellspent life did last, Full ninety years and past
But now he hath begun, That which will nere be done
Crownd with eternal bliss, We wish our souls with his.

Study to be quiet

The much quoted motto "Study to be quiet" appears in Izaak Walton's book "The Compleat Angler", published in 1653.  On the surface this is a book all about fish and fishing but closer reading reveals philosophy and politics amongst the songs, stories and anecdotes.  He revised and added to the book several times and the original 13 chapters expanded to 21 in the final version. Who knew there was so much to be said about fishing?!

He lived in Winchester, in the Cathedral Close, died there and is buried in the Fisherman's Chapel in the south transept.  This stained glass window shown on this postcard, bought during the 1980s, is above his tomb.

The motto will have recalled not only the quotation from the Bible but also a book by George Webbe:

"The practice of quietnes. Or A direction how to live quietly at all times, in all places, upon all occasions, and how to avoid or put off, all occasions of unquietnesse.  Delivered in six sermons at Steeple Ashton in Wiltshire by George Webbe, preacher of the word and pastor there."

I can only be grateful not to have had to listen to six sermons on how to be quiet.

This is a post for Postcard Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.