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Toulouse Cathedral

Toulouse Cathedral Toulouse, France

West Facade
22.7.2008: Toulouse Beautiful, because it is such an odd mish-mash of styles and bits. I especially like the "lean-to" at the west end. One of the reasons I'm not so fussed on gothic revival architecture is that it strikes me as too perfect. It reflects a romantic ideal of the middle ages. I suppose that's pretty enough, but it doesn't seem as interesting. Or not to me. No doubt 19th century medievalists got to this building as well, but even so, they were stuck with the shambles that had grown up (and fallen down) over several centuries of political crisis, warfare, religious strife and lean times. It's like the difference between a beautifully wrinkly face that shows its owner's character and one that's had that same history botoxed out of it.
Later: I'm not sure whether that last analogy works really, though I'll leave it there. And, of course, I suppose, a gothic revival church might tell us all sorts of interesting things about the 19th and early 20th centuries, if we cared to enquire. Image credit: Nicholas Thompson
map of Toulouse Cathedral

Quick Facts on Toulouse Cathedral
old-fashioned flower design element

Id
248483
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