Photos

There are so many things that I love about being an American who lives in Europe. In my own country, “old architecture” is anything built over 140 years ago. Living in Germany, I can go anywhere and touch the past dating back to Roman times. Just a short bike ride away from my home is the city of Mainz. Once a Roman stronghold originating in about 13 B.C., it is a city that allows a visitor to view the passage of European history in its buildings and streets.

This is a photo that I took in at the St. Martin Cathedral; also simply known as the Mainz Cathedral as it’s the largest structure in the city. Among the numerous statues, tombs, and funerary monuments there rests an entrance to the Gotthard chapel. It’s a humble space erected before 1137 by Archbishop Adalbert for use as a private chapel. Still used today as a place for quiet reflection, dwarfed by a large cathedral usually overrun by tourists, one can find this large wooden crucifix dating back to the period of the Hohenstaufen Emperors.

Compared to the hundreds of other artifacts on the grounds, it seems so humble in construction and quality. But with the use of lighting and its setting of this small space, I found it to be the most powerful item in the place.

Capturing this was a challenge with the lighting and color of the room. I also didn’t want to disturb the few people that were in the chapel with a flash. Resting the camera on a prayer rail, I took about 20 pictures with my Fuji with various settings in manual mode to get this shot. I used Photoshop Elements 4.0 to crop a small nearby enclave, and this was the result.