Friday, October 4, 2013

The Way Things Used to Be

Every so often, in an idle moment, I scan through my digital photo files peering at old photos of Christchurch.
Old being pre-September 2010, before the 7.1 earthquake struck that is.
I'm always amazed by how much I have already forgotten, just three years on.
I took these photographs inside Christchurch Cathedral in the Square.
And as we all know, the Cathedral now sits in ruins - towers broken, steeple gone, roof collapsing, mould growing over the stone exterior, pigeons pooping through the interior.
It's a pale, sad shadow of what it used to be, of what you see here.
I'm not a religious person but I am very fond of church architecture and I often went into this cathedral - and, to my mind, the even more spectacular Catholic Basilica -  just to sit and watch and listen and contemplate.
Some of my favourite views are those minus people, or, as in this case, just a hint, a shadow of others.
(I've noticed that most of my photographs are either of people, or places - seldom both in one shot).
The famous rose window.
In storage somewhere now  (I think).
And with the choristers practising for the annual Christmas performance.
This year I guess they'll give us a tune in Shigeru Ban's Cardboard Cathedral - a very nice temporary replacement.
Same view, different day, different year and fewer people.
And the exterior view that dons a thousand (at least) tourist books.
I used to take this view so much for granted.
I take very little for granted any more.

1 comment:

Peter Metcalfe said...

The rose window was destroyed in the June Aftershock.

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