9/11, Hell on Earth
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2007-04-10 23:47
A quote from Gilbert Kreijger at Reuters, 8 April 2007
A new stained glass window in a Dutch cathedral that contains an image of the World Trade Center attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people was blessed on Sunday by a Dutch bishop. The window, built up of about twenty different panes with representations of heaven and hell, has the WTC pane at the bottom showing "hell on earth", its maker Marc Mulders said. (...)
The window in the Sint Jan cathedral in Den Bosch, a city in the south of the Netherlands, has attracted the attention of the world's media press because of the Twin Tower image, pastor Geert Jan van Rossem said. (...)
A small crowd applauded and praised the window's bright colors when the bishop revealed the stained glass window.
This window tells me a lot
Submitted by George2 on Wed, 2007-04-11 20:59.
This window tells me a lot more than some saint with a halo behind his head. Life is about choice: right or wrong. This window obviously depicts wrong. I am sure there are some 'right' windows too.
Art has not always to be beautiful. An ugly message may be brought across by an ugly window. Judging by all the attention it got, the window has brought its message to more people than most other stained windows in the world. So, good job!
message?
Submitted by Dog of Flanders on Wed, 2007-04-11 08:53.
Esthetics isn't really the problem here, the point is that art in christian churches used to relay a message of hope, celebrate virtue or remind us of the sacrifice of Christ.
It's as if there's an intent to keep people away from this church, or demoralize those that persist.
In Response
Submitted by Kapitein Andre on Wed, 2007-04-11 03:12.
I'll have to agree with Zeno's aesthetic commentary. I have nothing personally against commemoration of recent events, because certainly medieval religious art depicted both Biblical and contemorary "events," however, it would be more appropriate for the "9-11" representation to be featured in American churches. Something symbolic of Islamization (e.g. Van Gogh's corpse and a half crescent moon or the Siege of Vienna) would be more appropriate for Dutch churches...
Politics apart...
Submitted by Zeno on Wed, 2007-04-11 02:35.
It's perhaps the ugliest Church stained-glass windows I have ever seen.