Unfolded Maps

If you’re lucky enough to be spending time in a European city that allows free entry into churches then I recommend a bit of ‘church walking’.

Church walking is when you’re on your way to somewhere, spot a church and decide to go in just to take a peek around.

By ‘looking around’ I don’t necessarily mean counting the number of flying buttresses or the size of the organ pipes or figuring out if anyone famous is buried there.  Instead, I invite you to look for the small details.

These small details can be the expression on a woman’s face in a large stained glass window or a unicorn hiding behind a knight’s tomb.

People have many reasons for entering a church – to feel closer to God, because it’s famous, to admire the architecture and/or the artwork.  For me it’s the quirky little details unique to each church that I prefer to record.  Perhaps because many churches are so imposing it’s easy to find yourself overwhelmed…

… or perhaps it’s that I feel closer to God in the woods than in any church.

Sometimes I wonder how long little pieces of art sit unnoticed because there are so many bigger things to see.

Things like knights and naves and those huge organ pipes.

Not that there is anything wrong with those things.  For me though, I search for the quirky little masterpieces that differentiate a church from other churches.

They’ve been there for hundreds of years waiting for the observant pilgrim to appreciate them.  Will that pilgrim be you?

Note on the captions: There aren’t any.  These photos happen to be from a trip to the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary but church walking can be done in any city like Rome for example.  Which church or cathedral isn’t important in my opinion and negates the purpose of church walking – discovery of the quirky and the unique.

Feed the blogger: Anyone else do any church walking?  Find anything interesting?  I would love to see it!