The Hippo Gargoyle of Laon
Among Laon Cathedral’s sculpture, I thought one gargoyle deserved a post of its own. Here is the façade of the cathedral And here is a gargoyle of a hippo, of…
Statuary from Laon Cathedral
I don’t pretend these random shots capture the glory of Laon Cathedral and I did not get an adequate picture of the highly impressive oxen statues in the tower (see…
A medieval wooden stature of St Molua at St Molua’s Church, Killaloe, Ballycallan, Kilkenny
St Molua’s Church, Killaloe, Ballycallan Parish, Kilkenny, is not to be confused with St Molua’s Church in the other Killaloe in Country Clare. And indeed one must not confuse Molua…
When Toby Keith eased Merle Haggard’s burdens
Via the Unfinished Pyramid blog, I came across this touching story about the country singer Toby Keith and #AprilCountry outlaw fave Merle Haggard: “It was Super Bowl weekend. Merle had…
Wallace Holy Water Font, Ss Peter and Paul’s Church, Clonmel
“Designed, sculpted Presented J Wallace Clonmel January 1853” is inscribed on this HOly Water Font located in the narthex (fancy word for a church lobby, I just looked this up…
The late Michel Serres on angels and messengers
At the start of this month, the French thinker Michel Serres died aged 88. He had an eclectic range of interests, as evinced by his Wikipedia page: Over the next…
“loneliness, the toxic by-product of freedom which generates ad-hoc, fragile communities among people who have escaped conventional backgrounds and who, after dreaming of cosmopolis, wake up atomized.”
A few weeks back I came across a brief review in the New Yorker by Peter Schjeldahl of the current Whitney Biennial, which turned out to be a condensed version…
Séamus Sweeney 