Paris1972-Versailles2003

So here I am  in lovely Koblenz, Germany on my road warrior trips in Europe! Coming all the way by car from the Morbihan breton of my belle France! I love to update this older post for you and me of the St Castor Basilica of Koblenz! Hope you enjoy the tour as I!

So let me moved on in my travels east to the neighboring Germany and to a wonderful town call Koblenz. I have written on it before in my blog , however, I need to do justice to a wonderful basilica there.  Do not know why more is not written on it but this is an impressive Basilica on an equally impressive corner of two rivers, Rhine and Moselle. The Basilica is intact and a wonderful place to visit for its history and architecture alone. Again, more should be written about it and visits too, I am on the list to go back.  Let me tell you a bit more on the St Castor’s Basilica of Koblenz.

The Saint Castor Basilica is the oldest church in Koblenz. It is located behind the Deutsches Eck, the name of a headland in Koblenz, where the Moselle joins the Rhine rivers. On the forecourt of the Basilica is the Beaver Fountain of the Napoleonic era. The Church stems from the sanctuary where the conclusion of the Treaty of Verdun was celebrated, establishing the sharing of the Empire of Charlemagne. On July 30, 1991, Pope John Paul II raised the basilica to the rank of minor Basilica. This Church is a rather rare Romanesque church because it is completely preserved, and it should be visited, it is awesome!

Saint Castor of Karden 5C, evangelist of the Moselle Valley, patron of Koblenz, celebrated on 13 February. Born probably from Aquitaine (France), Castor became disciple of Maximinus of Trier who ordained him a priest. He was buried in Karden and built on his tomb one of the first churches of the countryside of the region. On November 12, 837, his relics were transferred to Koblenz, where he became the patron Saint.

The St Castor’s Church was built between 817 and 836 by Hetto, the Archbishop of Trier with the support of Emperor Louis the Pious, just outside the city of Koblenz and dedicated on 12 November 836. In the 12C the Church was significantly enlarged, with the addition of the 2 spires, a choir and a miniature gallery, flanked by 2 smaller spires, all in the Romanesque style.

The St Castor’s Basilica is a three-aisled vaulted basilica with two towers , transept , choir and apse , flanked by two smaller towers. The free-standing Church of pale tuff is surrounded by greenery. The steep gables with the pilasters articulated towers consist of diamond roofs. The choir, which was built around 1160, with a round, three-story apse flanked on both sides by a five-story tower. The third floor of the apse is a dwarf gallery with 21 arches. Some of the columns around the windows carry a lion as a symbol of Christ. The Church is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture on the Middle Rhine.

The official St Castor’s Basilica of Koblenz: http://www.sankt-kastor-koblenz.de/

The Koblenz tourist office on the Basilica: https://www.koblenz-tourism.com/culture/churches-in-koblenz/st-castor-basilica.html

Another stunning sight to see in beautiful Koblenz.  The area is wonderful to walk and plenty to eat just along the two rivers point. As for the St Castor’s Basilica is one of the sights to see while visiting the city for sure.

And remember , happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

And here I am back at one my all time favorite in my belle France! Yes again the first castle I visited with my then girlfriend as she was from the region, and it has been a blast since then, one for the memories of always now. Let me update this older post and tell you about a wonderful gallery call the galerie de Diane at the Château de Fontainebleau!

Just not to be biased I am friends of these castles Versailles, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and Chantilly. I  have written many posts on my souvenir favorite Fontainebleau, for the record, the first castle I ever visited in France in 1990 with my now late dear wife Martine. Again Fontainebleau is in department 77 Seine-et-Marne in the ïle de France region east of Paris.  I like, however, to show you some of its jewels inside and one of them is the Galerie de Diane or Diane’s Gallery! This is my contribution to its fame!

Rebuilt on the orders of Napoleon I, the Galerie de Diane or Diane’s gallery is the longest room in the castle. Its decor replaces the compositions relating the myth of Diane that had been carried out under Henri IV after the construction of the gallery, located above the gallery of the deer. The ceiling painted under the restoration replaces the decor of the second school of Fontainebleau. As for its development in the library, it dates from Napoleon III.

The library of the Château de Fontainebleau, is located in the Galerie de Diane. This golden gallery, formerly known as the Queen’s Gallery, connecting the Queen’s apartments and the Aviary’s office, 80 meters long and about 10 meters wide, was first decorated with scenes illustrating the myth of Diane, that of Apollo , and the king’s victories, on the wooden attics of the walls and the ceiling of the broken vault. Its former decor is particularly known to us thanks to a rich album watercolour of percussion, and fragments of paintings and panelling, preserved today in the castle.  During the French revolution, Diane’s gallery became a prison in which, among other things, Trinitarian clerics were incarcerated. Damaged, it was restored first under Napoleon I who abolished the decorations of the 17C, then during the Restoration period, when its vault was adorned in the style of the painter David such as Diane on her chariot going to Endymion. These decorations are complemented by 24 historical scenes in the troubadour style , notably Charlemagne passes the Alps , 8 of which have come as donations. Used as a banquet hall by king Louis-Philippe, it was transformed into a library under the Second Empire, in 1858, as above by Napoleon III.

The official Château de Fpntainebleau on its galleries including Diane:  https://www.chateaudefontainebleau.fr/en/explore-the-castle-and-gardens/fontainebleau-rooms/the-grands-apartments/nineteenth-century-galleries/

The Friends of the Château de Fontainebleau on the Diane’s gallery: https://www.amischateaufontainebleau.org/la-galerie-de-diane-01032017/

The Friends of the Château de Fontainebleau on the restoration of the globe in the library: https://www.amischateaufontainebleau.org/restauration-du-globe-terrestre-de-la-galerie-de-diane/

Hope you enjoy the post and do look out for the Galerie de Diane when visiting the Château de Fontainebleau, it is gorgeous!

And remember , happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

And let me take you north to another wonderful country we have enjoyed our vacations a lot over the years. I am updating this lovely older post on the Church Saint John the Baptist of Brussels! Hope you enjoy as I, and thanks for reading me over these years since 2010!

So I keep you up north with another of my favorites cities in Europe, Brussels. Again, been here several times over the years and have family near the Belgian border with France. So used it as a jumping place to visit the northern countries.  There is so much to see in Brussels, really, needs to be seen more by all.  However, in my walks, I have come to see some interesting monuments that falls into the off the beaten path category. One of them is the Church St John the Baptist at Béguinage at Place du Béguinage, best ways is walking as the city is very walkable but to get close you can use public transports such as on bus/tram Line 4 stop/arrêt De Brouckere. And Bus Line 88 stop/arrêt Beguinage. Also, by Metro lines 1A and 1B stop/arrêt Sainte-Catherine.  The Church Saint-Jean-Baptiste-au-Béguinage, located in the historic center of the city of Brussels, is a baroque-Flemish-style Church. It’s construction began in 1657.

A long history I like

Living first scattered in the village, wishes were received from the Bishop of Cambrai. The permission in 1252 to build a large enclosure made of individual houses that allow them to live communally. It is called Notre-Dame de la Vigne (Our Lady of the Vine). This one becomes very important, possessing at the best moment of its history, its laundry, its mill on the Senne river,and its hospital. In 1579, the Gothic Church of Béguinage was looted by the Calvinists. A new baroque-style Church replaced the old one. The first stone is laid in 1657. At the beginning of the 19C, little-maintained small houses were made available to indigent elderly people. The church became a parish Church in 1801. In 1824, a large part of béguinage constructions is considered dilapidated so they are demolished to make way for the construction of a large hospice, now the Pachéco hospice. The last houses of Béguinage disappeared in 1856. In 2006, the reconstruction of the structure was undertaken by using oak wood from the Loire, France. This structure then received 3 000 m2 of slates from Spain.

From the Béguinage alone remains its remarkable Church St. John the Baptist, built in late Baroque style, it was built on the foundations of the Gothic church destroyed during religious disturbances, and this explains its plan in the form of a Latin cross that is not usual for a baroque church. Its facade presents everything that the architectural tendencies of the late 17C allowed such as pilasters, columns, capitals, torches, œils-de-bœuf in a loaded but harmonious ensemble that already reminds us of the neo-classical style that is not far away. At the beginning of the 18C, an elegant campanile lace tower was added.

In the interior you can see the master altar is in Louis XVI style. The central medallion represents the Holy Family. Backed by the walls of the aisles: the six confessional, from the 18C, adorned with feminine allegorical figures holding various objects related to the sacrament of Reconciliation.  The pulpit of truth, also of the 18C, is consecrated to St. Dominic the founder of the Dominicans.  A large rock (wooden) supports the tub and the staircase of the pulpit. Dominique is represented as the winner of the Cathar heresy.

As for the paintings what holds the most attention is a series of paintings by Théodore van Loon. The latter was designated at the time to reconstruct the pictorial heritage following the iconoclastic destructions during the 16C  Wars of religion. However, of the six paintings of Van Loon, only two remain visible in the Church: the Coronation of St. Ursula (North transept) and the Adoration of the Magi.  One is placed at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts (l’Assomption), four other Van Loons of the Church have just been restored on the occasion of the exhibition  “Theodore Van Loon, a Caravaggio between Rome and Brussels.” A remarkable 16C painting is found in the right transept. A monumental cross of Christ  is at the end of the south transept.  In the south transept, a moving stone tomb, from an Antwerp workshop, can be admired. The Way of the Cross in plaster, done in 1862.  Therere regular exhibitions, parishioners have a strong commitment to the poor and emigrants here.

The Brussels tourist office on the church: https://visit.brussels/en/place/The-Church-of-Saint-John-the-Baptist-at-the-Beguinage

The Heritage Monuments of Brussels on the church: https://monument.heritage.brussels/fr/Bruxelles_Pentagone/Place_du_Beguinage/A001/36908

You have to see it in full sun when the brightness plays on the stone. You have to visit it and be surprised by the few that are made, to the point that it serves as a refuge for homeless people who cook there!! Another off the beaten path to see in Brussels!

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!