Seville Cathedral, the choir

[low_delta]

In the center of the cathedral is the choir. The north and south walls of the vault have the organ pipes, and lots of carved statuary. The east and west walls are more or less open.

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This is not the console room, and that little thing on top of it does not move up and down when the cathedral is traveling. This is the middle of the floor where the director stands. Apparently, that pyramid shaped thing is the music stand. This is looking west. The rose window is over the front door.

This may have been my favorite place inside the cathedral. It was the only place in the place that had wood that wasn't covered in gold leaf. It was a warm place. Donna and Cyn were trying to move on to the main altar, but it took me a while to take this place in.

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Around the walls are two rows of seats. The detail is amazing.

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All the details are unique. Each little statue is different. I love the geometric patterns.

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This is above the seats, and below the pipes.

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As I mentioned, the north and south walls of the center vault are walled, and those walls hold the pipes. The first picture shows these walls inside the choir. This picture is the other side of the south wall.

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Check out the roof of the cathedral. The cross-shaped vaults down the middle, are obviously higher than the rest of the roof. There are stained glass windows on the walls up there in the tops of those vaults. There is one vault that's even higher than the rest, right in the middle. The choir is under the vault that's just to the left of that one.

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Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I agree. The choir is an amazing part of the Cathedral. If you visit enough Cathedrals in Europe (Gothic ones, anyway), you'll see that the layouts are all very similar with the main altar and choir being dead center in many places. They are the heart of the building and all else is subsidiary.

In 1992, for 6 months, we were allowed to go inside the choir and see the detail up close. It's truly amazing and you get a very different perspective from inside.

When you think that all those details were hand carved....my mind, anyway, is overwhelmed by all that craftsmanship.

I just spent about 20 minutes going over all the detail in your post.
:)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I bet it sounds amazing too!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

In December there is a traditional concert there of Handel's Messiah.
The organ, the choral group = huge WOW factor.