Going out of order here, but this is the last church tower I climbed in Poland, the morning of the day I left. This is St Mary Magdalen in Wroclaw, a slightly less visited church because it is not right on the Rynek. An imposing brick Gothic edifice on the outside, on the inside it exhibits the same stark splendor as most of the churches I visited in Poland. Very plain white walls with some brick detail on the vaulting, little or no stained glass. The altars were incredibly ornate, and so was the carving in the choir stalls, but I couldn't get close enough to really look closely. Nor would I really have the vocabulary to tell you about it if I had.But I can climb. 5 zloty to climb the tower, less than U.S. $2.50. Do you see that little bridge connecting the two towers near the top? It's called the Penances Bridge, and you get to go out on it.
Of course, once you've climbed the last several flights of stairs that turn into those open metal grilles with no backs, and you can just look down at the cement stairs below that will kill you, and you start wondering when the last time is that that old priest walked up these stairs... Well, let's just say that it took me a bit of inching along till I really started walking out on the bridge (to right).Was it worth it? Here's one of my photos from the top.
2 comments:
you really need to start bringing along a mask and cape for climbing church towers. it seems vaguely old-timey and dastardly. like tying someone to a railroad track and twirling your mustache.
Yeah, that's what you want when you're climbing ancient stairs, a cape to trip you up. Did I mention that the lights towards the top were only motion activated, and not too well at that?
Post a Comment