Back With Booty - Churches and Cathedrals

I'm back and after sifting though some 2,000 photos, I got the usual overview for you. Since I concentrated on towns this time, I visited quite a few churches, though not every one on the way; only the important ones and those without Baroque 'improvements' inside which is, alas, rather common in southern Germany.

Bamberg Cathedral, view to the west choir
Bamberg Cathedral is a fine example of a double-quired Romanesque church.

I had some bad luck since my camera, trusted compagnon for 8 years, decided to threw a fit right inside the cathedral. Fortunately, I found a store that had one fulfilling my requirements and which is even better, albeit thrice the size of my late one. The above photo is one of the last I shot with the old camera while it still worked.

Nuremberg, St. Laurence Church, westwork
Outside views of churches are often tricky since the houses tend to sit too close, but there's a market place in front of the westwork of St.Laurence in Nuremberg which gives a good view of the fine Gothic tracework.

Nuremberg, St.Sebald Church, high quire
Both St.Laurence and St.Sebald have high quires in the Gothic style. There was a bit of a competition going on between the churches. St.Sebald first erected its soaring choir to enshrine the shrine of Saint Sebald; St.Laurence followed suit.

Nuremberg, chapel in the castle
This one is the upper storey of the double chapel in the castle, in the older Romanesque style. Unfortunately, there is no access to the lower floor which has a different set of pillars.

Regensburg Cathedral
The cathedral in Regensburg, Germany's finest example of the flamboyant late Gothic style, is a nightmare to photograph. Even the new camera couldn't catch all of it in one pic since it's so huge. And the traffic in front of it didn't help. The town has Unesco World Heritage status and should really do something about the cars racing along its most famous building.

Regensburg Cathedral, soaring spires
A closeup of some of the many details of the facades. Gargoyles, flying buttresses, decorative tracework and figures - you get everything. There's always some scaffolding somewhere, because the old stones need constant care and restoration.

Regensburg, St.Emmeram, crypt
St.Emmeram is the oldest church in Regensburg, but the Asam brethren went crazy on gilded, chubby angel-ed Baroque makeover in the main church in 1732, so the crypt is the only part retaining its Romanesque look.

Regensburg. St.Jacob, main entrance
This one is interesting because it was built in the 11th century by monks from Ireland - Scotia Maior - who brought their Celtic style of decorations and created a church unique for Bavaria. It is usually called the Schottenkirche.

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