Kirche

While in Germany I was overwhelmed by the number of old and beautiful churches. They were everywhere! Most of them I only saw from the outside, but we went into a few. I am embarrassed to say that sometimes inside those majestic buildings I thought about Nightcrawler from the second X-men movie. Hey, I was in a church at night and people were speaking German. It was perfectly logical, just nerdy. Anyway, I wanted to share some of my favorite Kirche pictures.

This is the first church I saw in downtown Stuttgart. I loved the cool tower, but I also wanted to share this picture because of the crane in the background. Yeah, see that yellow crane to the right of the church? Apparently cranes are "thing" in Germany. Every single construction site had a crane on it. I mean, they could be digging a ditch, and there would be a crane on site. It was insane. I have never seen so many cranes in my life. I even brought home a toy crane for my boys, it was that much a part of my experience. I think someone needs to check into the lobbyist groups for the German government. I'm betting that the crane industry is wielding a little too much power. You can't even get a permit to paint your house without one of those babies.

These next two pictures of church details are from another church in Stuttgart. I loved all of the carvings and statuary.

In Munich we passed by an old church with markers for those who were buried in the foundation. They ranged from very simple to extravagant. The marker with the skull was especially cool.

So, we ended up in Munich on a Sunday which was not our original plan but, as I mentioned before, Germany was determined to foil any plans we made. Anyway, we had spent most of the day doing things that were not necessarily very "churchy" like eating at the Hard Rock Cafe. So, I was so happy when we stumbled upon the most amazing religious artistic installation.

It was in a 14th century church known as the Holy Ghost Church or Heiliggeistkirche.

The church alone was stunning, but add 2000 origami doves suspended from the ceiling and it became something magical.

In addition to the doves, the installation had fog, lighting and sound effects which gave the church and otherworldly feel.

Sounds of flapping wings, church bells, people praying and gentle music floated in the background.

It was very peaceful there, everyone who entered was reverent.

The changing lighting made the doves alternately beings of light or shadow.

As we walked around the church, we noticed that on every painting in the church the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove was spotlighted.

It felt right to reflect on spiritual things on a Sunday evening in such a beautiful atmosphere and I really enjoyed the symbolic nature of the installation.

While not as flashy as the previous churches, this one was the oldest church we visited. It was in a small town near the Bodensee and boasts some of the oldest preserved wall murals. The church dates back to the 10th century. Obviously, it has been restored a bit. We were crushed that we missed the last tour of the day thanks to the very old man driving in front of us for miles and miles. At least there was a visitor's center with beautiful photographs of the murals and also ultra violet exposures of the murals which reveal additional details that have faded from the visible spectrum.

Finally, this is the last church I saw on my trip in the town of Constance on the Bodensee. I snapped a picture of this gem as we were walking back to the car for the long drive home. Good night, Kirche.