Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Photography
Architecture
Post your church shots
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 829232" data-attributes="member: 53455"><p><strong>Working on commission from the French State (2023)</strong></p><p></p><p>In France, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (“CMN”) is a State-run organization that manages many of the most important historic monuments. As such, it is composed mostly of civil servants, some truly knowledgeable and in love with the monument they’re administering, others with a decidedly and predominantly “administrative” (read: fussy and regulations-loving) mindset. Luckily, I had to work with the former kind when I was commissioned by the CMN (which is the armed wing of the French Ministry of Culture) to take photographs of the Romanesque cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay in Auvergne (central France). Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating and it rained most of the day.</p><p></p><p>During the Middle Ages, the cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay was a major Marian pilgrimage site, thanks to the devotion of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims for a small statue of the Virgin Mary, one of those “Black Marys” of Auvergne that made miracles. That one was supposedly brought back from the Holy Land Crusade by Saint Louis himself (i.e., French King Louis IX), and it may have come originally from Coptic Egypt, or even Ethiopia. There’s no way to tell now, as the wooden statue was burned by vandal revolutionaries in 1794. The Black Virgin one can still see in the cathedral today was made in the 19th century to replicate the genuine one, using descriptions and sketches by visitors who had the opportunity to see it before the French Revolution.</p><p></p><p>Because of this pilgrimage, it was easy for Le Puy to also become a starting point of a path to Compostela when <em>that</em> pilgrimage took off, and because people consequently thronged the cathedral, it had to be enlarged several times. A cloister was also built next to the nave, on the northern side, for the canons. They were secular canons, a number of them from the highest nobility, and their chapter both carried out the Opus Dei in the cathedral and served as an advisory body to the bishop. “Secular” canons means that most of them lived in the city in very comfortable, sometimes even luxurious, accommodations, and I personally believe that, given those circumstances, the construction of a cloister and other “monastery-like” buildings was more for show than anything else. A cloister is meant for solitary meditation, and I’m not sure that <em>that</em> cloister ever got a lot of that...</p><p></p><p>It remains a magnificent monument well worthy of a visit.</p><p></p><p>This photo was used on a magazine cover and as a large advertising poster. It was also featured on the homepage of the CMN (<a href="https://www.monuments-nationaux.fr/" target="_blank">see here</a>) for a couple of months.</p><p></p><p>Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]415451[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue439, post: 829232, member: 53455"] [B]Working on commission from the French State (2023)[/B] In France, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (“CMN”) is a State-run organization that manages many of the most important historic monuments. As such, it is composed mostly of civil servants, some truly knowledgeable and in love with the monument they’re administering, others with a decidedly and predominantly “administrative” (read: fussy and regulations-loving) mindset. Luckily, I had to work with the former kind when I was commissioned by the CMN (which is the armed wing of the French Ministry of Culture) to take photographs of the Romanesque cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay in Auvergne (central France). Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating and it rained most of the day. During the Middle Ages, the cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay was a major Marian pilgrimage site, thanks to the devotion of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims for a small statue of the Virgin Mary, one of those “Black Marys” of Auvergne that made miracles. That one was supposedly brought back from the Holy Land Crusade by Saint Louis himself (i.e., French King Louis IX), and it may have come originally from Coptic Egypt, or even Ethiopia. There’s no way to tell now, as the wooden statue was burned by vandal revolutionaries in 1794. The Black Virgin one can still see in the cathedral today was made in the 19th century to replicate the genuine one, using descriptions and sketches by visitors who had the opportunity to see it before the French Revolution. Because of this pilgrimage, it was easy for Le Puy to also become a starting point of a path to Compostela when [I]that[/I] pilgrimage took off, and because people consequently thronged the cathedral, it had to be enlarged several times. A cloister was also built next to the nave, on the northern side, for the canons. They were secular canons, a number of them from the highest nobility, and their chapter both carried out the Opus Dei in the cathedral and served as an advisory body to the bishop. “Secular” canons means that most of them lived in the city in very comfortable, sometimes even luxurious, accommodations, and I personally believe that, given those circumstances, the construction of a cloister and other “monastery-like” buildings was more for show than anything else. A cloister is meant for solitary meditation, and I’m not sure that [I]that[/I] cloister ever got a lot of that... It remains a magnificent monument well worthy of a visit. This photo was used on a magazine cover and as a large advertising poster. It was also featured on the homepage of the CMN ([URL='https://www.monuments-nationaux.fr/']see here[/URL]) for a couple of months. Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light. [ATTACH type="full"]415451[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Photography
Architecture
Post your church shots
Top
