850 years of daily service!, a photo from Scania, Gotaland

Photographer's Note

I'm starting a series of photos of the Cathedral in Lund - and perhaps some other interesting buildings in my home town.

Construction of the Cathedral in Lund began around the year 1100 and for a long time it served as the seat of the largest archbishopric in Europe. The oldest parts of the Cathedral are considered to be the finest Romanesque building in Scandinavia.

With its impressive, characteristic double towers - added in today's fashion around 1850 and called "Lunna Pågar" ["The Boys of Lund"], when seen for miles around - the Cathedral is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions with almost half a million visitors a year.

The photo shows the southern tower and gives a good view of the stone-work. The material used is sandstone coming from a local quarry outside Höör some 40 kms away. The use of sandstone has created an interesting side-effect, which I'll show in a later posting.

A daily church service has been held in this Cathedral for 850 years.

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Adjusted brightness -5 and contrast +10, increased saturation in blues & magentas +30, resized for TE, sharpened, framed and saved for Web.

Gatis, pamastro, digi-mom, nwoehnl has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Gatis (925) 2004-05-11 17:03

Unique monument in nice setting, good note. Little seen of the building but the picture is just nice!

Ebbe (9617) 2004-05-11 17:05

Was it neccessary to point out that the "Syrén" is in blossom down there ;(

But I like how you used the tree in bloom to frame the church tower. The Cathedral in Lund I remember as a very grey creation standing in a place where it is hard to get a more distant view. So I think this picture is a good achievement.

pamastro (7218) 2004-05-12 2:10

Very nice. The textures and tones of the towers are great. And the colors of the sky and the flowers and leaves are beautiful. The building is captured beautifully. Great amount of detail. I love the appearance of the age. All the stains from weathering over the centuries. And all throughout a service was held constantly. Great job, Kaj.

nwoehnl (122) 2004-05-12 14:32

Supreme post-work on this one, Kaj. To my perception, contrast and colors are really at their prime. The upward-looking angle towards the tower beneath the blossoming trees is well chosen, too. Beautifully done.

dcastor (74) 2004-05-16 19:54

This is a great shot of a difficult object. I do have thoughts of my own to search for good angles to depict this building, but I guess you found one of the very best :-) The flowers certainly enhance the shot.

Clochette (8076) 2004-05-18 15:31

Kaj, I really love your composition here. Good angle, which enabled you not to include disturbing elements. At the contrary, the tree in the foreground nicely brings a coloured touch in the pic.
In addition, I like the contrast on the church architecture (you did well in increasing it !)
Very good work.