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The Nativity is found on one of the balconies of Tallinn's Holy Ghost Church……and so is Tallin's oldest clock.
 Set as it is in the heart of Tallinn's Old Town, The Holy Ghost Church is surrounded by people — but, behind its thick walls, thre's peace. I've always been fascinated with clocks; tempus fugit, as Benjamin would say.

Churches? Well, you can always do with a moment of reflection — and there's always the possibility of discovering a Nativity.
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The Ayala Altarpiece, a pictorial narrative in the Gothic linear style by an anonymous 14th century artist, is one of the Medieval masterpieces of the Art Institute of Chicago.

 The photographer/blogger is ithere to provide scale: the large Ayala Altarpiece fills a gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago. I was fourteen when I first saw the Art Institute of Chicago. I arrived in the Windy City by train from New York with my adoptive parents who brought me to America. ...

 This "Antique" crèche is a reprint of a 1900 vintage nativity, and features a new back, complete with Gothic window, courtesy of Crechemania.com After my Basilica videos, I decided to give up all the Photoshop cutting and pasting — and try an X-acto knife, instead.

The reason? Creating a new back for a lovely Czech nativity that my friend Svatava Vizinová sent me for Christmas.

"It was printed in 1900," she writes, "in Vjperty Town. This is a reprint, of ...

Inspired by Fra Angelico's (Brother Angel) frescos in the Monastery of San Marco, Florence, .

  Gothic architecture seems to have developed so that church walls could be pierced windows that let in the light in abundance through beautiful stained glass windows.

And so it is with the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier: 64 Gothic stained glass windows and lancets flood the church with bright Iowa sunshine.

They also illustrate the faith with splendid ...

The predella of the altar of the Blessed Virgin of St. Francis Xavier Basilica, Dyersville, Iowa, is adorned by polychrome wood carvings of the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, and the Finding of the boy Jesus at the Temple.A testament to faith and art — a magnificent Gothic Basilica set amidst the corn fields of Iowa

One expects to see cornfields and rolling hills in Iowa — but a Basilica?

Yet, that's what the small sign on Highway ...