Now that's delayed gratification!

The book [i]The Pillars of the Earth[/i] by Ken Follett points out something I never thought about.

Regardless of the moral ramifications, building a cathedral took decades and more.

I wonder if anyone today could even entertain the idea of committing so much money and so many lives for a project they would never see completed.

Now relationships shatter over a text left on "read" for an hour.

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ninalanyon · 61-69, T

Not many today and not many then either. But Antoni Gaudi did not so very long ago with the Sagrada Familia basilica. I've been to the top of one of the towers and looked out on the unfinished, unroofed, body of the church; If I'm lucky it might be finished in my lifetime.

The cathedral at Salisbury (the subject of Pillars of the Earth) took about a hundred years, from the start to the completion of the spire, the one in Cologne was something like eight hundred years old by the time the last piece had been added but these are very rare objects now and were also rare at the time that construction started.

But the balance of power has shifted and so also has the means of wealth creation so ordinary people are no longer so dependent on patronage. I don't think that powerful people would have any qualms about committing the human and financial resources to large projects even now, but they would find it difficult to impose their will on the mass of the public which means that the kind of project that get done is different, for instance the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and numerous other worthy cause large and small. I don't suppose many people in charities supporting cancer research expect a cure in their lifetime.

Mamapolo2016 · F

@ninalanyon Cologne was just waiting for the popularity wheel to spin around to Gothic again.

ElwoodBlues · M

@ninalanyon My wife and I visited Barcelona earlier this year, and paid homage to several Gaudi buildings: Palau Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, and of course, Sagrada Familia. It's now roofed over and the transepts with their towers are complete. They are building the tallest tower, and the entrance at the end of the nave. Our tickets got us in first thing on a sunny morning when light thru stained glass was dappling interior columns and floors. I'm not the least bit religious, but the building is wonderous to be inside.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@ElwoodBlues Do you know if it is still possible to go up inside the towers?

When I went there were hardly any rules and no tickets, no guides. I just stuffed all my Spanish money in the collection box.

There was a bunch of young Japanese tourists there; everywhere else that I have been among them they have been chattering and viewing everything through a camera, but this time I and a young Japanese man found ourselves at the top of the tower and we just stared out in total silence, cameras forgotten until the last moment as we left

This was over thirty years ago.

ElwoodBlues · M

@ninalanyon Yes, when my wife and I went, there was a separate ticket purchase to ride an elevator up and walk down one of the towers. There were two tower choices, one at the end of either transept. The towers have names like "tower of passion" and something else.

Anyway we bought that ticket too. You ride up (I think they said 60 meters?) walk across a short bridge to another tower, and begin descending. You do get a few wide views over the city and a few more views thru narrow windows of the city and of adjacent towers.

Personally, I'm glad I went up the tower and satisfied my curiosity, but it wasn't by any means the best part of the visit. Just hanging out on the cathedral floor and admiring the space and all the details was the best part of the visit.