The old church

Coming from Europe I gained a new respect for history and old everything when I crossed the Ocean. Didn't happened right away, I think it was during our 2nd summer, when we were travelling in our small car through Southern Ontario. We would see a sign for a 'historic place' (somewhere close to Elora) and we will stop to see this place... imagining nothing sort of our beloved palaces or monasteries... just to find a plaque. To add insult to injury - the plaque was commemorating I forgot what important event from... 70 years ago!

For us, who learned in grade 7 and 8 about our ancestors, the Romans and Dacs... who grew up visiting ruins over 2,000 years old and churches that were built 1,000 year ago and they are still standing - history is something that happened really loooooong time ago.

One of my most precious memory from Romania are the 2 journeys at the monasteries. One - when I was 10 years old, the other - 15 years later, with my DH. If you ever get a chance - try to visit the monasteries in Romania or Greece. The Russian ones would have been as marvelous, but most of them were destroyed... I am not sure how ours remained - nonetheless, they are hundreds and hundreds of years old. Each region of the country will sport different styles - and you'll also recognize different architectural styles depending on the era they were built in. The region most rich in monasteries and churches is Moldova (not the country, the region that's part of Romania... at the border with Moldova Republic, which has been part of the country too... but that's another story), however the churches I love the most are in Transylvania and Maramures (West and North areas of the country). They look very much like the churches I see here - mostly the Anglican ones - and I don't know enough history to understand why, maybe because that part of the country has been under the Austrian-Hungarian Empire for many years.

When I had to choose my next project at the stained glass place - I wanted it to be related to Christmas, but usable for other occasions too. Leafing through the tens of books with designs I came upon this standing church - exactly like one I recall from back Europe. I knew I had to try it - although it had myriads of small and smaller pieces.

The result is what you see above - the old village church, with the bell calling the people to the Sunday service, and the light beautifully filtered through the blue jeweled round window.

A reminder of the old continent, of its rich history - in the new life we are building here.