Regular readers of my blog (if there are any left when I so seldom post!) will know that Chris, my son, has been a docent at the Cathedral for over 20 years. When I visit over Christmas, I always hope for an opportunity to visit the Cathedral and see their ever-growing collection of creches. Got to go this year and took a bunch of pictures but nowhere near pictures of all of them. When I very first saw them (quite a few years ago), they were in one room. Now the collection is displayed in four rooms!
I'm now at my daughter Heather's house after having first traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana to visit January and Maggie in their new home of which they are the proud owners. After a week or so there, I drove east to spend Christmas and New Years with Chris and Heather so I've been having a happy time and thought I'd take a breather to share my photos here. I hope you enjoy them and I also hope you and your loved ones have a very happy, healthy and wonderful holiday!
I posted this photo walking up the center aisle to the choir and altar area of the cathedral in "original" size to give an idea of the size and beauty of the cathedral. The very last photo is also original size and is walking back down the central aisle to the exit.
I very carefully made a list of where each creche was created but when I started posting the photos I realized that the list was not matching the photos! The only 2 I'm sure of are the first one from Maryland and the South Africa one.
This first creche was created in Maryland and all the figures are crocheted!
And these two photos show a creche made from tiny beads.
Below is a creche where the figures have been made using the felting technique.
This is from South Africa and was one of my favorites. Again, all bead work except for the actual faces and I like the gorgeous lion amongst all the dark colors.
This little "booth" of miniature nativities of course caught my eye. I collected nativities here and there through the years and once I got into my miniatures hobby, I delighted in finding tinier and tinier ones.
There were several of these tall cabinets where the scene went all the way across each shelf.
This truly incredible display came from France and pretty much was a showstopper. Just so much going on and so very, very rustic. I loved it.
Another room had more of these tall cabinets
I particularly like the second shelf down which I remember was from Kenya. It is all wood and and the pieces were so smooth they gleamed.
Leaving the cathedral - my photos have never been able to capture the beauty of stained glass wherever I happen to be. But this one gives a bit of an idea of its beauty.
6 comments:
The crèche exhibit is always a treat! The cathedral has something like 700 of them now, but only puts out about 175 each year...
Glad you're up here for the holidays! -Chris
I have to apologize to anyone who may have posted a comment to any of my posts. I used to be notified by Blogger when I had received a comment which was nice. Now I've discovered that I have to go to the business end of my blog, then go to comments, then go to comments awaiting moderation, then delete all the spam ones, and THEN publish any actual comments that might have come in. I'm sure at some point I was notified of that change but as inactive as I've been with my blog I tend to forget I need to check after I publish a new post.
Any or all of my friends are free to e-mail me and say "hey, old lady, don't forget to check for comments!" :)
Thank you for sharing the lovely trip to the Washington Cathedral to see the creches. They were a treat to view.
Sis in SWFL
I certainly agree the creche from France is a knockout!! But they're all really impressive and a nice Christmas morning treat. Thank you and hope you're having a happy, happy. Love to all, Chinch
Oh, wow! These photos are amazing so I can’t imagine seeing them in person. A far cry from the version my grandmother crocheted and put googly eyes on baby Jesus! So glad you are having fun visiting. But we miss you!
Gorgeous. What a great trip for Christmas.
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