The beauty of Armenian khachkars

Khachkars, Armenia/ Kimberly Sullivan

We had a wonderful vacation in the Caucasus last month – and I’ll be writing more about what we saw in beautiful Georgia and Armenia in the coming weeks. But one of the beautiful objects we saw throughout Armenia were the traditional khachkars, or carved, cross-stone stele. These khachkars are typical of medieval Armenian Christian…

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Chagall’s splash of color in Zurich’s Fraumünster

Chagall painted glass, Zurich / Kimberly Sullivan

On a recent trip to Zurich, I returned to see the Chagall painted windows I hadn’t seen in years. Russian-Jewsih artist Marc Chagall (Moishe Segal/Mark Zacharovič Šagal, 1887-1985) began a new phase of his career with stained glass and painted windows for churches. Zurich’s Fraumünster church, founded in 853 by Louis the German for his…

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Macabre memories in Sedlec, Czech Republic

Close to the pretty town of Kutna Hora, an oft-visited town close to Prague and famous for its spectacular Gothic church – Svata Barbora (Saint Barbara), see my earlier post – lies another impressive must-see. Only two kilometers northeast of Kutna Hora lies the suburb of Sedlec. While the town is nothing special, it’s a destination…

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