a quiet spot

I love all the bright colors in Santa Croce
 in Florence, but I also think that this
light-filled corridor outside the sacristy is one 
of the most beautiful parts of this church.

[Linking back to inSPIREd Sunday
and Shadow Shot Sunday.]

Where is everyone?

Here's a (surprisingly) empty shot
of the cloister at the church of
Santa Croce, in Florence.

[Linking back to The Weekend in Black and White
and to Shadow Shot Sunday.]

inSPIREd Sunday

Santa Croce in Florence—
you can't talk about this basilica without
doing some serious name-dropping:
Founded by St. Francis himself,  it's the
largest Franciscan church in the world;
builders included di Cambio,
Vasari, and Brunelleschi; frescoes by Giotto;
tombs (or funerary monuments) for
Dante, Galileo, Gentile, Ghiberti, Machiavelli,
Michelangelo, Rossini, Marconi, and Fermi.
See what I mean?

[To see more churches from around the world, go here.]

In Santa Croce

There's a lot to see in the 15th-century Basilica of Santa Croce,
in Florence—including the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo, art by
Canova, Cimabue, and Donatello, and frescoes by Giotto.
My favorite spot in this vast church is the sacristy, where the frescoed
chapel and gilded altar are seen through an ornate iron gate. 

To see more churches from
around the world, visit
inSPIREd Sunday.

Photo Hunt—"flat"

In the church of Santa Croce, in Florence,
gravestones are set flat in the floor.  In
some parts of the church, they're
cheek by jowl (so to speak), and hard to
avoid—but I still can't bring myself to walk
over them.  Not because it's creepy; it just
doesn't seem fittin' somehow.


[To see more of the Saturday 
Photo Hunt, visit Sandi's meme.]

Thursday Challenge — "brown"

This, so they claim, is part of the robe and belt
worn by Saint Francis of Assisi.  It's now displayed
in the Santa Croce church in Florence.
(Who hung onto this garment?  How did they know?)

[See more "brown—or add your own— here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

This is in the Castellani Chapel in the Santa Croce 

church in Florence, where so much art

was damaged in the 1966 flood.  Believe this 

crucifix was spared though. It's attributed to the school 

of Giotto—and casts a pretty dramatic shadow.

[You can see more Shadow Shots here.]