Event Type: General Blogging
Start Date: Tuesdays, recurring weekly
Description: Every Tuesday I offer the “A to Z challenge”, walking step by step through the alphabet.
If you would like to join in then please click here.
The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. It was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Wikipedia
Founded June 24 1797, San Juan Bautista is the fifteenth mission in the chain stretching from San Diego to San Francisco along the coastal strip. The missionaries had hoped to establish missions only a day’s ride apart, but there were still long stretches between them making travel difficult and dangerous. A site in the San Juan Valley, some 90 miles southeast of San Francisco, was selected for the Mission of San Juan Bautista – St John the Baptist.
(click on an image to enlarge and for more information)
Continue reading Californian Mission: San Juan Bautista (15)
Event Type: General Blogging
Start Date: Tuesdays, recurring weekly
Description: Every Tuesday I offer the “A to Z challenge”, walking step by step through the alphabet.
If you would like to join in then please click here.
On the lower walls of the tomb there are white marble dados that have been sculpted with realistic bas relief depictions of flowers and vines.
The marble has been polished to emphasise the exquisite detailing of the carvings and the dado frames and archway spandrels have been decorated with pietra dura inlays of highly stylised, almost geometric, vines, flowers and fruits. The inlay stones are of yellow marble, jasper and jade, polished and leveled to the surface of the walls
Given that Islamic Art forbids the use of the human image, the work of Mother Nature is the obvious spotlight. That, and transcripts of The Koran that run around all the doorways, makes the delicacy and the detail of all the decoration of this lovely place a true joy to behold.
In line with the Islamic prohibition against the use of anthropomorphic forms, the decorative elements can be grouped into either calligraphy, abstract forms (geometric and herringbone patterns) or vegetative motifs.
My third Mission is Santa Clara de Asís, founded on January 12 1777. It is the eighth Californian Mission and located in the grounds of the University of Santa Clara. Whilst staying in the city of Santa Clara, some 40 miles south of San Francisco, I decided to investigate a few more Californian Missions, this one being the closest.
Named after Saint Claire of Assisi, a thirteenth century Italian nun, this mission was the first to be named after a female saint. It has been destroyed and rebuilt no fewer than six times and the current church is a modern interpretation of the fifth church which was built in 1825 and later destroyed by fire. Its layout is the traditional quadrangle. Continue reading Californian Mission: Santa Clara de Asís (8)
Continuing on from my previous post about my obsession with California’s Missions (read about the first one for background information) the next mission to be founded was on the outskirts of Carmel, 5 miles south of Monterey. I first saw this mission on my PCH trip, but unfortunately arrived there too late to go inside the grounds. On my next visit to California we were staying in Santa Clara and I took the opportunity to drive back to Carmel and visit this lovely Mission. It is considered to be the loveliest mission in the chain of nine missions that stretches along California’s Central Coast. Continue reading Californian Mission: San Carlos Borroméo (2)
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