Harmony

Harmony

Saturday 6 June 2015

Glasgow - an urban experience

The weather forecast for today was foul - wind and rain all day



We opted to take the train to Glasgow -
where the weather was also foul but less critical.



What a place full of wonders! we saw some great wall art
















A church with a cash machine and a neon flashing OPEN sign








We walked up to the cathedral and found the Glasgow Necropolis, with amazing monuments, mausoleums and headstones






 From where we got a great view of the Cathedral and shamelessly took a selfie
Apologies!






Inside the Cathedral were some beautiful stain glass windows - I particularly liked the fisherman hugging a fish.


Also everywhere in the Cathedral, founded by St Mungo, were images of a fish with a ring in its mouth - I looked it up and this is what it said on Wikipedia

In the 'Life of Saint Mungo', he performed four miracles in Glasgow. The following verse is used to remember Mungo's four miracles:
Here is the bird that never flew
Here is the tree that never grew
Here is the bell that never rang
Here is the fish that never swam
The verses refer to the following:
  • The Bird — Mungo restored life to a robin, that had been killed by some of his classmates.
  • The Tree — Mungo had been left in charge of a fire in Saint Serf's monastery. He fell asleep and the fire went out. Taking a hazel branch, he restarted the fire.
  • The Bell — the bell is thought to have been brought by Mungo from Rome. It was said to have been used in services and to mourn the deceased. The original bell no longer exists, and a replacement, created in the 1640s, is now on display in Glasgow.
  • The Fish — refers to the story about Queen Languoreth of Strathclyde who was suspected of infidelity by her husband. King Riderch demanded to see her ring, which he claimed she had given to her lover. In reality the King had thrown it into the River Clyde. Faced with execution she appealed for help to Mungo, who ordered a messenger to catch a fish in the river. On opening the fish, the ring was miraculously found inside, which allowed the Queen to clear her name.



After a lovely salad and copious amounts of coffee and hot chocolate we walked the mile or so to the Scotland Street School Museum a building designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh and now a museum to him and to early 20th century schooling. All those tiles and desks and blackboards brought memories flooding back for both Hilary and me. The building is a stunning bit of architecture both inside and out.








We arrived back tired but happy to a still windy and rainy Largs.
Bacon and eggs for supper!
Goodnight.



1 comment:

  1. And I though St Mungo was just about homeless people - you learn something new .......

    ReplyDelete