Skybird goes to church

[Skybird]

There are some birthdays being celebrated in Germany this year.

60 years of German constitution (or the surrogate of it...).

60 years since the founding of the democratic German federal republic.

1000 years since finishing the dome in Mainz.

That puts it a bit into perspective, eh?

Okay, you know me: me and churches - well...

However, I found this link of a virtual tour through the worldfamous Mainzer Dom.

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/conte...0?inPopup=true

You know the drill. The icons move you around inside the pictures. Scroll wheel zooms in and out. Holding left button moves the camera. You can move around inside all of the inside hall, even areas that usually are prohibited to the public. However, access to the menu that allows you to enter the basement and the 1st floor (2nd for our American friends), is only available from the windowed mode. Return from fullscreen mode by hitting ESC.

What you see, has been build, painted and has been carved from stone and wood one thousand years ago. Make sure you zoom in on the details of the wooden carvings inside. Also note that at the beginning you can set the picture to full screen.

Incredible that they were able to build thingslike this back then. Incredible that they could stick for a century and longer to get such an effort completed. Compare with the modern time, understand the meaning of patience, and learn what dedication is. The hectic, short-termed interests of ours today fade in comparison. We could already have been on Mars since 10, since 20 years - what hindered us? really just practical constraints - or lacking determination and interest, and a shifting of resource-spendings as a result?

Some of the huge European cathedrals were build over a time of up to 400 years.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Cool Tour

Originally Posted by Skybird

Incredible that they were able to build thingslike this back then. Incredible that they could stick for a century and longer to get such an effort completed.

God Willed It

Compare with the modern time, understand the meaning of patience, and learn what dedication is. The hectic, short-termed interests of ours today fade in comparison. We could already have been on Mars since 10, since 20 years - what hindered us? really just practical constraints - or lacking determination and interest, and a shifting of resource-spendings as a result?

I think we were mostly hindered by actual progress. The kind that benefits people and not regimes. As momentous as some of the achievements of our forberearers were, most were built by tyranny, oppression, and the suffering of the vast majority.
While that remains the case in some places today, that cannot be said of Germany, or indeed, almost any other Western nation. I'm pretty sure the serfs who toiled in the quarries would glady change places with almost anyone else in Europe today.

[Captain Vlad]

The thread title sounds like an episode for the sitcom they eventually make out of Subsim.

[Task Force]

Nice looking church.

[jpm1]

terrific . that kind of thing in all middle age castles , churches , fortresses would be super . we could explore the secret rooms of the Templars castles or walk inside a monastery or fortresses underground that would be cool

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Skybird

What you see, has been build, painted and has been carved from stone and wood one thousand years ago....

Any idea how much of it is original?
I remember reading that our Lancasters made a mess of most of it.

Here is a similar 360 tour of my local Cathederal / Minster; the largest of it's type in Europe by internal volume.
LINK (fullscreen tour recommended!)

[Skybird]

Also a nice tour in York.

On the Mainzer Cathedral:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainz_Cathedral

[jpm1]

Originally Posted by Letum

Any idea how much of it is original?
I remember reading that our Lancasters made a mess of most of it.

Here is a similar 360 tour of my local Cathederal / Minster; the largest of it's type in Europe by internal volume.
LINK (fullscreen tour recommended!)
[IMG]pic[/IMG]

Thanks

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

God Willed It

Pretty much did. Something so magnificent couldn't have been built any other way. A common theme you will find with religion throughout the ancient world. Without faith, man will do nothing great.

-S

[Letum]

Aside from, perhaps, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahl, the walls of
Babalon, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Colosseum and Aqueduct at Rome
and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.