Mainz Cathedral Interiors

Mainz Cathedral was built during the period 975 to 1011. This cathedral burned seven times in the course of centuries, it was built that many times after and it miraculously survived the recent WWII bombings too. Reading historical facts like these made me want to visit the cathedral.



The interiors are not exactly beautiful, but simple. There are tombs and funereal monuments of former Rhineland Prince Bishop Electors. Huge decorated pillars certainly demanded attention. There are statues sculpted images and paintings of long forgotten bishops, lords, German and French saints. Walking past them was like walking through the alleys of history. There are numerous smaller chapels around the main altar, dedicated to different saints.



None of the old wall frescos and stain glass window exist today, what we see are the freshly made ones, some imitated versions too. The cathedral had housed French troops for 11 years during the Napoleonic occupation until 1814. Read more interesting facts here.

Mainz Cathedral

We halted at Mainz next. A powerful city once famous for its long history from Roman times and even more famous as the birth place of Guttenberg, this city is definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere near. Johannes Guttenberg, inventor of printing with moveable type ushered in the modern information age. The Guttenberg museum here showcases items as old as 500 years old related to printing technology. The sad part was that we missed this museum as it was closed due to Good Friday weekend or may be we were late. It was almost 5pm. Check out this site if you plan to be there: Guttenberg Museum Mainz.


We headed to Mainz Cathedral, a reddish brown massive structure, standing strong since 975 AD. This is yet another miraculously surviving cathedral of Germany because during World War II, Allied bombing of Mainz destroyed 80% of the city, but the cathedral was left almost entirely unharmed. Officially known as St. Martin’s cathedral, this Dom is one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture. As usual I try to take the pictures of the impressive doorways the cathedrals of Europe have. These are pics of two doorways of the cathedral. These are some of the surviving ornamental pieces of the cathedral from Romanesque pier basilica: the bronze door panels of the market portal.

Monday Doorways

Drives in Germany

Europe has excellent rail facility, yet we chose to travel by road. The road ways of all the six countries we drove through are in excellent condition with clear road signs. The roads are dotted with plenty of gas stations, McDonald's and bathroom facilities. The four lane roads reminded me of my drives between Bangalore – Hyderabad and Bangalore – Chennai.


Driving around in Italy last year with the help of GPS had boosted our confidence. Unknown routes no longer scared us and we visited the interiors of towns without getting lost. We had taken our favorite music CDs along and with an Indian atmosphere inside the car we experienced the mesmerizing sights of different countries. The car was our home for the next 23 days.

Germany has many scenic routes and some of the networks of roads are themed. We traveled through some parts of the castle route and romantic route. Sharing here, the shots taken during the drive from Frankfurt to Cologne and back. These shots were taken near around the same spot. It seemed like mountain driving, sharp and steep curves with scenic sights on either side.

Skywatch Friday

Faces of India - 10

Two brothers!

Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country. See more here.

Cologne Cathedral Interiors

Walking in to this cathedral, Cologne Cathedral, with such tall spires I did expect to see huge interiors, yet I was stunned, the infinite space and light in the interiors surpassed all my imagination. I was looking at the ceiling 130ft up above my head, moving around in this huge complex and trying to avoid bumping in to fellow tourists was an experience by itself. Everybody seemed to be concentrating on getting that right angle and the right framing of images within.



The structure built with an estimated 200,000 tons of raw materials, all without the benefit of computers, sophisticated machinery or cranes, stands strong even today having survived 14 hits during WWII. This mighty and silent Gothic structure absorbs in prayers and dreams of millions of tourists every year. It takes around €8 million for the maintenance and upkeep of this cathedral.



The most delicate works of the cathedral the stain glass paintings were removed and kept safely during the WWII. The 19th century glass painters used as many as 40 glass pigments and the result is the energetic luminescence of the huge windows.

Medieval statue of Saint Christopher, Patron of Travelers

I consider myself lucky to have visited and prayed in this great monument.

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Cologne Cathedral, Germany

From Frankfurt to Cologne, we went all the way to see the Cologne Cathedral: a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we entered the city the first thing we got see were the two steeples of this massive Cathedral. This is the second tallest church I had read; standing at its base it was impossible to capture the entire façade in my 18-55 mm lens.


The two main steeples seemed to stretch out and reach the sky. The cathedral also called the ‘Cathedral of Blessed Virgin and St. Peter’ escaped the WWII bombings. Good! Otherwise the 600+ years that went in the construction of this great monument would have gone waste and the monument would have been reduced to dust in seconds.



Pollution, wind, rain and snow is eating away its exteriors, the façade has a dark gray color and while we were there a section of the façade was under repairs. The doors and the work on the arches over them seemed impossibly beautiful and fine. And this was only the exteriors!

Skywatch Friday

Faces of India - 9

She was posing for somebody else and I stole a shot.

Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country. See more here.

Bratislava Castle, Slovakia

Today we were at Bratislava, Slovakia. It was cool one and half hour drive from Vienna. The first place we targeted to see was Bratislava Castle. A snow white rectangular structure perched on a small hill, it was visible from miles away as we were entering the city. There is no parking facility around so we had to park our car downhill and walk up along the marked path.

This castle was devastated by fire in 1811, today's version is the rebuilt form of the castle during 1953 to 1968. We walked up getting glorious views of Danube river flowing down beside the hill. Our thrill died down soon because the castle was closed for further renovation. The museum too was closed. Lucky future tourists!

Skywatch Friday

Peterskirche, Vienna

The copper dome didn't look very attractive, but the interiors are dazzling. We spent good half an hour inside this St. Peter's Church, believed to be one of the oldest founded in 792 by Charlemagne. Sharing with you one shot of Madonna and Child taken in the interiors of St. Peter's Church, Vienna today.

See more of the World at: That's My World