Recently, I had an opportunity to travel to Venice, Italy. And, since I'm such an Anglophile, I couldn't bypass the chance to make a stopover in England on the way. It was a marvelous trip, the memories of which I will treasure always. Fortunately, I have more than my faulty memory to rely on in that regard; I have lots of pictures. As I looked through those photos again today, I was reminded of something that impressed me relating to the architecture both in Venice and in England: the ceilings. It's not that the walls and floors of the Renaissance and baroque cathedrals aren't equally striking; they are. But then we often find that in more modern buildings, even in this country - beautiful tile work, inlaid hardwoods, fine paintings and draperies. The ceilings, however, are often entirely ignored. Whether those artists long ago simply ran out of space and, therefore, had no choice but to move higher, or whether it was a conscious decision to place some of their finest work there in order to inspire us to look heavenward, I don't know. Either way, it's well worth a kink in your neck to admire it. Here are two examples (a side chapel in St. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, and the Abbey at Bath, England).
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