20 December 2009

Now THAT'S an Altar!

Dr. Strickert linked to this on a post below. It's the Cathedral in Roskilde in Denmark. It is where the Gabrieli Consort and Players recorded the Praetorius Mass for Christmas Day. This stunning altar piece was placed in the Cathedral AFTER the Reformation of Denmark had taken place.
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11 comments:

  1. Sean6:08 PM

    Which reminds me, I've got a facsimile of the Niels Jesperssøn 1573 Graduale, which features a lot of Lutheran chorales put into Danish (they call them "danish introits") along with the gregorian propers. pretty cool. let me know if you're ever curious, though I can't help you much with the danish. :P

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  2. Rev. Paul T. McCain6:47 PM

    Fascinating. Reminds me of, by far, of one of the more ornate things in the Cathedral of Magdeburg...the huge alabaster altar... with Bible scenes all over it, put in AFTER the Reformation by the Lutherans.

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  3. Fr John W Fenton6:15 AM

    Gorgeous! Looks almost like a Western adaptation of an iconostas. Any chance of seeing the detail of each panel?

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  4. Rev. Paul T. McCain6:48 AM

    In my last comment, I meant to say "pulpit" not an altar.

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  5. Rev. Paul T. McCain6:49 AM

    For an even more spectacular altar check this out:

    http://cyberbrethren.com/2009/12/21/talking-about-lutheran-church-art-you-have-got-to-see-this/

    Do note the name of this Lutheran church: Blessed Virgin Mary

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  6. Unknown10:15 AM

    Es ist sehr schön. Thanks for sharing, Fr. Weedon.

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  7. William Weedon10:19 AM

    Fr. John,

    From the page that Dr. Strickert link, this was the "close up" of the altar. There may be others out there. Google is your friend!

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  8. Carl Vehse10:50 AM

    Here's a impressive (1 Mb) photo of the altar, pulpit, and interior of the Berlin Cathedral, which was repaired after damage from WWII. (Sadly, it is a Prussian Union church, with statues of Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, and Zwingli in the dome.)

    Here's a (1.7 Mb) photo of the organ at the Berlin Cathedral.

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  9. Bishop Robert Lyons11:50 AM

    So I am curious, oddly enough, about the little stool at the left foot of the altar. I have seen lots of pictures of Lutheran and Reformed altars from the region, and in a lot of them I see these. I assume they are kneeling cushions, but they always seem to be placed in such odd positions.

    If they are, in fact, for kneeling, when are they used? Most photos I have seen show pastors kneeling at the communion rail for the confession of sins, so I can't quite make sense of the usage here.

    Rob+

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  10. William Weedon2:54 PM

    Father Robert,

    My assumption is the same as yours: for kneeling. I don't know why it is in that position, though.

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  11. William Weedon2:55 PM

    Sean,

    Thanks for the offer, but the Danish will do me no good...

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