Wednesday, November 5, 2020

The  morning of the 5th we continued to explore St. Louis - going to the Basilica of St. Louis (so a Basilica is an "upgrade" of a cathedral blessed by the Pope.  Quite the honor! ) The initial church was completed in 1914.  Named for Saint Louis, it was designated a basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

I have seen many churches and cathedrals but this one caught my eye and left a big impression on me.  What was so unique about it?  The church is known for its large mosaic installation which is one of the largest in the Western Hemisphere.  What I think caught my eyes more than other mosaics in churches is that these mosaics were done in the Byzantine style rather than Roman.  What does this mean?  The mosaics were glassy and sparkled and had so much depth of color.  I hope some of the pictures will show you this.  Also it was commissioned all at once so I think the artist worked hard to blend and complement each area as a whole.

Detail of above

Detail of above

A little bit more in depth about the mosaics for those who might be interested:

After exploring Forest Park (St Louis's version of New York's Central Park with lots of trees changing colors)  we then visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens (MoBot).  Both so fun to visit and worth going back to explore some more.  The Mobot even had a tropical environment under a glass dome that they called their Climatron.  It felt like the tropics and supported all kinds of exotic plants.  The rest of the botanical gardens stretched on with beautiful and varied grounds.

Fall Colors in the Forest Park:

Not a dead pine, but a bald cedar which is seasonal and loses it's leaves/needles in the fall....

The Mobot was setting up for their winter lights event that they called their Garden Glow....will have to come back when they have it all lit up.

Inside the Climatron (tropical forest)

The Mobot tapped Dale Chihuly for some of their visual fun.

And finally (but definitely not all) the Garden Glow set up had purple lights in this yellow tree.  I am sure in a couple of weeks this tree will not have leaves but right now the effect is stunning.