Saturday, July 24, 2010

Bordeaux or York?


York Minster, England at the top, St. André's cathedral, Bordeaux, France at the bottom. The only English  cathedral to have a spire is Salisbury, so Bordeaux is doing one better on that score. Lincoln cathedral, at 103 metres the tallest building in the world from 1311, lost hers in 1549. It collapsed, reminding me of these lines from All my hope on God is founded:


Pride of man and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray his trust,
what with care and toil we fashion,
tower and temple fall to dust;
but God's power, hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.


There are more verses, and the hymn is Robert Bridges' (1844-1930) translation from German of Joachim Neander's (1650-1680) much earlier work. Neander's tune Meine Hoffnung can be heard here in midi.



3 comments:

  1. They both look magnificent. Nice verses!

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  2. The architecture is just incredible. It must be wonderful to see in person.

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  3. The spires have me. My vote is with St. André for now. Until the day I get to see them both. (Oh, how I wish!)

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