Open House Sunday
Today was the last of Open House weekend, which I normally miss because it conflict with the Thames festival, so I headed for Liverpool Street with the g-d and boyfriend. There are always too many places on the list to visit all the interesting-looking ones, and the City is probably the best area, since everything is within walking distance. Today, we made three visits, but could probably have managed more if the g-d and I hadn't been feeling a bit wobbly with some sort of late-summer cold.
First on the list was Bevis Marks synagogue, the oldest in Britain, with an interior that has remained pretty much unchanged since it was built in 1701. It's a very pleasant, unfussy space, very like the Wren churches of the same date, with the original (very rare, but unfortunately not very comfortable) oak benches, and seven beautiful chandeliers, one for each day of the week. Apparently for winter weddings they turn off all the electric light and just use candles, which must be beautiful. No photographs allowed, but there is a reasonably good picture here.
Years ago, I used to pass St Ethelburga's church on Bishopsgate every day on my way to work from Hackney, and I always noticed the little church, and vaguely meant to visit it. Then in 1993 it was practically vaporized by an IRA bomb. For a while, its fate was uncertain - one suggestion was to encase the ruins in a glass box as a memorial, but now it has been beautifully rebuilt, using traditional materials and methods as a centre for reconciliation and peace, which is a much better idea, with a tiny and rather moving garden at the back, and behind that a bedouin tent with stained glass windows (alas, my picture of these didn't come out), which today was hosting a meditation class. Very C of E, as were the tea and huge wodges of cake we were offered.
A corner of the garden
Back wall of the church. The garden is really tiny.
By this time, the g-d and I were beginning to flag a little, so we passed on the opportunity to see the unspecified Roman remains under Leadenhall Market and the tour of the Bank of England (put off by the long queue) and made for the Guildhall Art Gallery, to see the remains of the Roman amphitheatre in the basement. This isn't really a building, and is probably most notable for the way it has been presented. Since only a third or so of the ruins could be unearthed (the remainder goes under other buildings), lighting and forced perspective have been cleverly used to suggest the size of the remainder.
The sizeable queue outside the Bank of England.
The ground floor of the bank was deliberately built without windows, after its first incarnation was burnt down in (I think) the Gordon Riots, and the doors are of massive bronze. This one had an interesting and highly appropriate design of two lions guarding a huge pile of money.
Neither of us could face the Guildhall itself after this, so we all headed for the bus stop, passing several of the little patches of green that lurk next to ancient buildings in the crevices between huge office blocks all over the City.
The Guildhall in its square, looking rather Belgian.
Another old church behind the Guildhall, with a reedy pond in front of it. The City's gardens may be small, but they are beautifully kept.
Another little garden behind the Guildhall - no idea what it was called, but it might have been one of the bombed-out churches that have been turned into gardens.
It was a beautiful, and definitely autumnal day, much nicer than the rubbishy summer days we have been having for the last few weeks.
First on the list was Bevis Marks synagogue, the oldest in Britain, with an interior that has remained pretty much unchanged since it was built in 1701. It's a very pleasant, unfussy space, very like the Wren churches of the same date, with the original (very rare, but unfortunately not very comfortable) oak benches, and seven beautiful chandeliers, one for each day of the week. Apparently for winter weddings they turn off all the electric light and just use candles, which must be beautiful. No photographs allowed, but there is a reasonably good picture here.
Years ago, I used to pass St Ethelburga's church on Bishopsgate every day on my way to work from Hackney, and I always noticed the little church, and vaguely meant to visit it. Then in 1993 it was practically vaporized by an IRA bomb. For a while, its fate was uncertain - one suggestion was to encase the ruins in a glass box as a memorial, but now it has been beautifully rebuilt, using traditional materials and methods as a centre for reconciliation and peace, which is a much better idea, with a tiny and rather moving garden at the back, and behind that a bedouin tent with stained glass windows (alas, my picture of these didn't come out), which today was hosting a meditation class. Very C of E, as were the tea and huge wodges of cake we were offered.
A corner of the garden
Back wall of the church. The garden is really tiny.
By this time, the g-d and I were beginning to flag a little, so we passed on the opportunity to see the unspecified Roman remains under Leadenhall Market and the tour of the Bank of England (put off by the long queue) and made for the Guildhall Art Gallery, to see the remains of the Roman amphitheatre in the basement. This isn't really a building, and is probably most notable for the way it has been presented. Since only a third or so of the ruins could be unearthed (the remainder goes under other buildings), lighting and forced perspective have been cleverly used to suggest the size of the remainder.
The sizeable queue outside the Bank of England.
The ground floor of the bank was deliberately built without windows, after its first incarnation was burnt down in (I think) the Gordon Riots, and the doors are of massive bronze. This one had an interesting and highly appropriate design of two lions guarding a huge pile of money.
Neither of us could face the Guildhall itself after this, so we all headed for the bus stop, passing several of the little patches of green that lurk next to ancient buildings in the crevices between huge office blocks all over the City.
The Guildhall in its square, looking rather Belgian.
Another old church behind the Guildhall, with a reedy pond in front of it. The City's gardens may be small, but they are beautifully kept.
Another little garden behind the Guildhall - no idea what it was called, but it might have been one of the bombed-out churches that have been turned into gardens.
It was a beautiful, and definitely autumnal day, much nicer than the rubbishy summer days we have been having for the last few weeks.