March ramblings
I've been very bad at keeping up with my ramblings in various parts of the country since we went to press four weeks ago. This post is intended to catch up with assorted picture spam from March.
Earlier in the month, I was in Ely, where I visited the cathedral on a lovely sunny day.
Inside the cathedral...
My attempt to photograph the Ely cathedral lantern. You'll find more professional attempts online.
I was entranced by the effect of the light falling through the stained glass on to the stone of the window frames (I think this set of windows depicts Exodus - the Israelites are smearing the doors with blood at the top, then the unsmeared Egyptians are mourning the deaths of their first-born, and then the Israelites are following the pillar of smoke out of Egypt).
I was also entranced by the effect of the light on the nearby pillars.
Here's another one - this appears to be about David and Saul.
Saul committing suicide at Mount Gilboa after his armour-bearer refuses to help with the job. The caption is from David's lament, and in translation reads "How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished."
And more lights on the pillar.
Finally, the memorial to two railwaymen who died in an accident in 1845.
I seem to have failed to take any photos at Manchester Art Gallery (or maybe I wasn't sure if it was allowed), but I was there with espresso_addict about a week ago to see the Joana Vasconcelos exhibition. At first this seemed rather absurd, but it really grew on us. The big pieces are in a paid-entry gallery - including the amazing Lilicoptere, which was apparently made for an exhibition at Versailles, and Vasconcelos described as a helicopter for Marie Antoinette, though after hearing The Ride of the Valkyries in another part of the exhibition I want to see a production of The Ring in which the Valkyries arrive in helicopters covered in ostrich feathers and Swarovski crystals, with steampunk controls. But there are plenty of smaller pieces scattered throughout the main collection (she'd evidently planned this carefully - eg there was a snake next to The Temptation of Eve, and one work was set up to frame Holman Hunt's The Shadow of Death). A specially commissioned work, Britannia, which hangs in the Atrium (through the shop, and around the stairs leading up to the modern galleries), reminded me of the alien in
legionseagle's Tunnelling to Freedom, only much fluffier and clearly benign. It's on until June 1. Do go and see Britannia, at least, if you're in the vicinity.
Last weekend I was in Derby, where there seemed to be an awful lot of police on duty to control the arrival of the Association of Cricket Statisticians in town, though it eventually turned out they were more interested in Derby County v Nottingham Forest. Anyway, on my way back from the cricket ground there was a fantastic Double Derby Rainbow.
This past week has belonged to the Manchester Histories Festival, at which there have been various Peterloo-related events, of which more later. But I also took the opportunity to call in at the new-look Manchester Central Library.
The Library (which first opened in 1934) has been closed for four years for refurbishment, but reopened last week, and I caught up with it on Wednesday. What I forgot to do was to take a photo of the exterior; this looks pretty much the same as before, but cleaner, of course, there's a bit less street furniture, and there's a nice new paved area in front of the steps.
Once you go in, the entry hall which used to be full of barriers and security points is now completely open, giving the visitor a fine view of the Shakespeare window. (This seems to have been designed by someone with some interesting crossovers in mind - eg the top left pane brings together Malvolio, Imogen, Petruchio and Katharina.)
Of course the most spectacular bit, as ever, remains the domed Reading Room...
...with the lovely skylight...
...and sound advice...
Here are the borders of the room.
And the central desk, which used to be full of librarians, but they seem to have been repositioned.
And when you peer over the counter, you can see through to the floor below, which has exhibitions, a cafe etc. (The floor/ceiling appears to be well sound-proofed.)
But you can keep going up the stairs! As at Ely I was delighted by light effects - not from stained glass this time, one of the windows must have been acting as a prism.
When you get to the top - I think this is the fourth floor - you can see the outside of the Reading Room dome.
Because actually the Reading Room dome is a mini-dome inside the overall curving walls - see this view from above.
The tower just visible at the edge of my own photo is the Town Hall Clock Tower, which I ascended a couple of years ago.
Apart from the view, the fourth floor offers reference books in stacks (decorated with images of local worthies such as Hannah Mitchell and John Dee) which can be manoeuvred from side to side by electronic buttons, as a space-saving device.
I was already thinking this was obviously the set-up for a murder story when a man did indeed start squashing me between two shelves, not having looked to see if there was anyone in that section before pressing the button. He got very apologetic when I called out to him to stop.
Contrary to malicious rumours, I found plenty of excellent reading on all floors of the Library.
In the evening, I was at a debate entitled Peterloo 2019, discussing how we should commemorate the bicentary of the massacre in five years.
The panel consisted of historian Robert Poole, actor/actress (she isn't quite sure which is correct) Maxine Peake, DJ Dave Haslam (who chaired the discussion) and Lucy Archer of the People's History Museum, which was playing host.
There will be more Peterloo events at the Manchester Histories Festival on Saturday. I'll be on the Peterloo Memorial Campaign stall inside the Town Hall, and there's also the second half of a workshop on contemporary documents concerning the Manchester Rising of 1817 (the Blanketeers), plus a talk on Shelley's Mask of Anarchy followed by a reading.
There was music and theatre and cinema in the month too, but I'd better call a halt for now.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.
Earlier in the month, I was in Ely, where I visited the cathedral on a lovely sunny day.
Inside the cathedral...
My attempt to photograph the Ely cathedral lantern. You'll find more professional attempts online.
I was entranced by the effect of the light falling through the stained glass on to the stone of the window frames (I think this set of windows depicts Exodus - the Israelites are smearing the doors with blood at the top, then the unsmeared Egyptians are mourning the deaths of their first-born, and then the Israelites are following the pillar of smoke out of Egypt).
I was also entranced by the effect of the light on the nearby pillars.
Here's another one - this appears to be about David and Saul.
Saul committing suicide at Mount Gilboa after his armour-bearer refuses to help with the job. The caption is from David's lament, and in translation reads "How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished."
And more lights on the pillar.
Finally, the memorial to two railwaymen who died in an accident in 1845.
I seem to have failed to take any photos at Manchester Art Gallery (or maybe I wasn't sure if it was allowed), but I was there with espresso_addict about a week ago to see the Joana Vasconcelos exhibition. At first this seemed rather absurd, but it really grew on us. The big pieces are in a paid-entry gallery - including the amazing Lilicoptere, which was apparently made for an exhibition at Versailles, and Vasconcelos described as a helicopter for Marie Antoinette, though after hearing The Ride of the Valkyries in another part of the exhibition I want to see a production of The Ring in which the Valkyries arrive in helicopters covered in ostrich feathers and Swarovski crystals, with steampunk controls. But there are plenty of smaller pieces scattered throughout the main collection (she'd evidently planned this carefully - eg there was a snake next to The Temptation of Eve, and one work was set up to frame Holman Hunt's The Shadow of Death). A specially commissioned work, Britannia, which hangs in the Atrium (through the shop, and around the stairs leading up to the modern galleries), reminded me of the alien in
legionseagle's Tunnelling to Freedom, only much fluffier and clearly benign. It's on until June 1. Do go and see Britannia, at least, if you're in the vicinity.
Last weekend I was in Derby, where there seemed to be an awful lot of police on duty to control the arrival of the Association of Cricket Statisticians in town, though it eventually turned out they were more interested in Derby County v Nottingham Forest. Anyway, on my way back from the cricket ground there was a fantastic Double Derby Rainbow.
This past week has belonged to the Manchester Histories Festival, at which there have been various Peterloo-related events, of which more later. But I also took the opportunity to call in at the new-look Manchester Central Library.
The Library (which first opened in 1934) has been closed for four years for refurbishment, but reopened last week, and I caught up with it on Wednesday. What I forgot to do was to take a photo of the exterior; this looks pretty much the same as before, but cleaner, of course, there's a bit less street furniture, and there's a nice new paved area in front of the steps.
Once you go in, the entry hall which used to be full of barriers and security points is now completely open, giving the visitor a fine view of the Shakespeare window. (This seems to have been designed by someone with some interesting crossovers in mind - eg the top left pane brings together Malvolio, Imogen, Petruchio and Katharina.)
Of course the most spectacular bit, as ever, remains the domed Reading Room...
...with the lovely skylight...
...and sound advice...
Here are the borders of the room.
And the central desk, which used to be full of librarians, but they seem to have been repositioned.
And when you peer over the counter, you can see through to the floor below, which has exhibitions, a cafe etc. (The floor/ceiling appears to be well sound-proofed.)
But you can keep going up the stairs! As at Ely I was delighted by light effects - not from stained glass this time, one of the windows must have been acting as a prism.
When you get to the top - I think this is the fourth floor - you can see the outside of the Reading Room dome.
Because actually the Reading Room dome is a mini-dome inside the overall curving walls - see this view from above.
The tower just visible at the edge of my own photo is the Town Hall Clock Tower, which I ascended a couple of years ago.
Apart from the view, the fourth floor offers reference books in stacks (decorated with images of local worthies such as Hannah Mitchell and John Dee) which can be manoeuvred from side to side by electronic buttons, as a space-saving device.
I was already thinking this was obviously the set-up for a murder story when a man did indeed start squashing me between two shelves, not having looked to see if there was anyone in that section before pressing the button. He got very apologetic when I called out to him to stop.
Contrary to malicious rumours, I found plenty of excellent reading on all floors of the Library.
In the evening, I was at a debate entitled Peterloo 2019, discussing how we should commemorate the bicentary of the massacre in five years.
The panel consisted of historian Robert Poole, actor/actress (she isn't quite sure which is correct) Maxine Peake, DJ Dave Haslam (who chaired the discussion) and Lucy Archer of the People's History Museum, which was playing host.
There will be more Peterloo events at the Manchester Histories Festival on Saturday. I'll be on the Peterloo Memorial Campaign stall inside the Town Hall, and there's also the second half of a workshop on contemporary documents concerning the Manchester Rising of 1817 (the Blanketeers), plus a talk on Shelley's Mask of Anarchy followed by a reading.
There was music and theatre and cinema in the month too, but I'd better call a halt for now.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.