Tuesday 26 April 2011

Jesus-Special in Brugge

My -presumably- last post for April is all about Jesus. This fits because easter is still in my mind. And easter is all about Jesus, isn't it?

It even fits better because i've revisited the Cemetery in Brugge again. As i mentioned before the last time i was there more than two years ago. It was January and obviously it was quite cold, grey and gloomy.

This year however it was unbelievably sunny and warm; spring was all about and though it was a cemetery it was literally buzzing with life.

This time we strolled around much more intense (we were geocaching there as well) and after 10 minutes on the Cemetery it was plain to see that this Cemetery has a main focus on Jesus. Enough of the words, here are the Pictures:

More or less "standard Jesus on the cross". There were plenty of them....

A detail of an odd iron cross rusting away slowly. There are hundreds of them there.

Bronze. Face. Even with tears.

This Jesus is unique. And it gives me the reason to tag "Angels" as wel...

Many Jesus-Miniatures are just laying on the stone Grave Lid and when they are made out of concrete they decay in a very gloomy way.

This is an example of a porcelain-Jesus. They don't decay, but they are obviously not indistructable. I seriously wonder who did this and what he felt when he did this. 

Another fine example. 

This was actually taken 1 day before good friday, so it was a fairly good timing.

Another example of mass production? 

Another porcelain miniature.

The last Jesus for today. 

Saturday 23 April 2011

Brugge Cemetery 2011

I just came back from Belgium and i'd like to share 2 pictures with you:

Brugge Cemetery, spring 2011

Brugge Cemetery, Spring 2011

We had incredible luck regarding the weather this year, so the light and the shadows were absolutely phantastic. And (at least in my opinion) my ability as a photographer improved significantly if you compare it with the pictures i've made 2 years ago on the same cemetery.

Happy easter to all of you!

Thursday 14 April 2011

Looking back to look forward: Brugge Cemetery 2009

This post a bit of a taster of things to expect over the next few weeks at this blog. Tomorrow we'll visit Belgium again and the revisit of the Brugge Cemetery is approved by the family council. The first visit of the cemetery in Bruxelles ist approved too so this is a week i'm really looking for.

The last months were -regarding cemeteries- quite dull (with the exception of the Stöcken Cemetery, Hannover),  but this will end from tomorrow on.

Here are three pictures from the last visit (January 2009):

Father and son

Jesus, light bondage?

a beginners mistake: Didn't i see the damned tree? It's ruining a -despite the trunk- good picture. Next week i'll make it better! Promised!

Saturday 2 April 2011

The Oneto Tomb in Staglieno and some clones i've found...

This first post for April 2011 is  a special one:

First it's time to thank you all for regulary visiting me. This week the 3.000th visit on this blog happened!

Secondly this post is a bit of a rerun of this post.  But this time i'll show you the Angel of the Oneto Tomb for comparisons sake.

Here's the original:



As i've written before (and i'm not alone) this is a stunning piece of art.

The facial expression alone is driving critics mad around the globe.

Is she grieving? Is she bored? Is she somewhere else? She's so ambigious and  mysterious. But above all she's such a beauty.












Since this sculpture is so famous it is unavoidable that there are copies of her on other cemeteries.

And gues what: I've found two! The first example is like a low-budget-version. I've found it at the Cemetery in La Spezia, Italy which is about 60 miles south of Staglieno.




It is much smaller than the original and since it is made out of cheaper material (concrete i guess) and since it's very exposed to the weather it is falling into decay.














The last example i've found is quite something else. It is  in Germany, Cemetery Hannover Stöcken. And, my word, this one is not famous for it's modesty:





As you can see the artist tried to copy the Oneto Angel very exactly, but he failed miserably when it comes to the face. The Hannover Angel is more or less smiling and does not carry the mysterious aura that goes with the original.

But don't get me wrong: It is still a beautiful copy. And i very much like it. It's just not that outstanding as the original.