This essay channeling Percy Bysshe Shelley in Milan is included in my book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature similar literary…
View More Percy Bysshe Shelley in MilanTag: cathedrals to explore
Some of the most magnificent pieces of architecture in the world are cathedrals to explore. I’ve had some remarkable experiences in them, as have other writers who’ve recorded their reactions.
One of the surprising writers who has waxed poetic about a famous cathedral is Henry James. If you didn’t realize he wasn’t just a novelist, that he was also a journalist and a travel writer, it’s true. He spent an afternoon at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, its first stone laid by Pope Gregory IX on July 17, 1228, the day after the canonization of the saint after which the Basilica is named. About the Basilica, he notes, “This twofold temple of St. Francis is one of the very sacred places of Italy, and it would be hard to breathe anywhere an air more heavy with holiness.”
He applauds the thirteenth-century architects for piling “temple upon temple,” adding, “One may imagine them to have intended perhaps an architectural image of the relation between heart and head. Entering the lower church at the bottom of the great flight of steps which leads from the upper door, you seem to push at least into the very heart of Catholicism.” This is but one of my posts that feature cathedrals to explore so if you like the subjects, I hope you’ll stop by my blog and enjoy the reading.
Traveling Italy with Henry James
This essay following Henry James through Italy is included in my most recent book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature…
View More Traveling Italy with Henry JamesShadowing Petrarch in Parma
This essay is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature similar literary adventures and traveling with intention. …
View More Shadowing Petrarch in ParmaThe Architecture of Chivalry
This essay about the built legacy of Henry VIII is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More The Architecture of ChivalryThe New Face of Religious Zeal
As I circle the domed space, I approach the front of the pulpit for the third time. I can’t believe how perfect it is that…
View More The New Face of Religious ZealExploring Frankfurt with Goethe
I am returning to Frankfurt am Main next week to attend Heimtextil for the second time, an experience I truly enjoyed last year for the…
View More Exploring Frankfurt with GoetheIt Is Time to Experience More
Experience more. It sounds like a simple directive but how many of us really take the time to savor what is happening right in front…
View More It Is Time to Experience MoreGod’s Articulate Finger
Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel In this last entry of the year, I wanted to share a piece of my own creative writing to say…
View More God’s Articulate FingerA Room with a View x 2
When I saw the expressive twin spaces Justin Shaulis created as one of American Standard’s 2015 DXV Design Panel participants, I knew I had to…
View More A Room with a View x 2Judith Paul’s Cover Story
Before I made a definitive decision to carve out as close to a writer’s existence as I could, I exhibited as a stained glassed artist…
View More Judith Paul’s Cover Story