In mid-September we visited the cathedral in Washington. Yes, Washington has its Gothic cathedral, or rather neo-Gothic that ended the last century. But the style did as if it were in the middle ages. Even the building materials were the same as then. There are no steel beams, and cement or concrete. It's all pure stone. And the result is splendid. The stone is from a local quarry. It is a pure white stone, and the cathedral seems to shine.
I'm used to seeing cathedrals worn gray stone. Washington Cathedral is as would the common people of the Middle Ages European cathedrals: a clean white monument.
We arrived at the cathedral with the purpose of visiting the windows, but we stopped before entering middle of the house, admiring the clean lines and uncluttered. What a contrast to the English cathedrals, which are somewhat too much detail. Washington Cathedral is all elegance.
A group of curious tourists. Several have binoculars, one even has a telescope, and everyone seems to consider the details of the high towers. It seems to me to think they are fans of architecture. We are with them, it is the place where you see the best the facade, when the telescope, which happens to be a guide, begin to draw attention to the group, us included. "Ready to start your tour of the gargoyles?" Wonder what's that tour and the guide will answer que es un tour de hora y media que se centra en las gárgolas del exterior del edificio, y que lo hacen una vez por semana. Nos llama la atención este tipo de tour, y el entusiasmo del guía nos anima a apuntarnos. Tenemos tiempo, e incluso tenemos prismáticos que siempre llevamos cuando vamos de viaje.
El guía nos cuenta que las gárgolas tienen su función para proteger el edificio de la lluvia, pero los masones tienen licencia para esculpirlas como quieran, dentro de ciertos temas. Nos dice que, al contrario de los motivos del interior, que son religiosos, las gárgolas y otros adornos del exterior son ateos, reflejo del modo de vivir de la época. Y así, si en la edad media representaban temas de interés of that era, this cathedral, which was completed less than fifty years ago, has more modern themes that reflect modern culture.
and discover images of all kinds. The oldest part has pictures like European gargoyles, mythological monsters of all sorts, and sat with my mouth open. But as we move into newer areas, the Masons began to give free rein to their imagination, and found an octopus, a lobster, a donkey, and people from various professions. Astronomer is watching the sky, the executive running with his suitcase, the tourist taking photos.
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There are characters in stories and tales of the place but I do not know. There are even movie characters. So, if you see one of the towers you see, there on high, the figure of Darth Vader in the Star Wars. And it suits me think, what will the tourists visiting the cathedral in five hundred years? Perhaps you think that is an alien and think we had visitors from other galaxies? Already there are gargoyles on the cathedral where no one knows who the carved, or even what they are. Over time, most of the gargoyles will lose their meaning and strange figures like European cathedrals.
We reached the end of the tour and the guide shows us the last gargoyle. It's kind of monster like traditional gargoyles, but this is special. Tells us to look his mouth ... and then we see that there is a person inside with a camera. It is a tourist being eaten by a gargoyle! The guide, showing a mysterious smile, we left in place. And I wonder, maybe next week there will be a gargoyle and a tourist more less?
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