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FALL 2000
Gloria Horvay
Clerk, Salem Quarterly MeetingDear Friends,
As I write, we are in the air over Europe, looking down over forests and fields of Germany and France. My husband was finally successful in getting me away from home for more than a week — 22 days to be exact! It has been an enjoyable trip with one week in the British Isles and two weeks in Scandinavia.
While in London we tried to visit a Quaker meetinghouse, even though we couldn’t work First-day worship into our schedule. When we phoned we were told that one had been bombed during the Second World War, and that the other two were “just buildings.” We opted to visit the site of Britain Yearly Meeting. It is a large, square room with theatre-style seats and balconies on three sides. The day we were there, a special symposium was being held for teachers of art and music. We were interested in noting that the bookstore there had many items from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
One building in Oslo, Norway, which interested us as Quakers was the City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every fall. In Stockholm, Sweden, we saw the building where the banquet is held for the Nobel Prize winners, and also the home where Alfred Nobel lived.
(Excuse me a minute. My special-order meal of Asian vegetarian food was just delivered. As I look below, we are crossing the English Channel. This food is a nice change from all the fish we have been eating in Scandinavia, where herring or salmon is served at every meal.)
In Europe, cathedrals and churches are on all the “must see” lists for tourists. The size and splendor of these buildings are impressive, especially for those interested in the history of architecture. Church was connected with government when these magnificent buildings were erected, and the town’s wealth was put into the cathedrals.
We saw a couple of unique churches that are worthy of mention. One is a modern church in Helsinki built in 1969. Named “The Church in the Rock,” a large rock was dynamited to create the sanctuary. The ceiling is made up of windows with a central copper dome. This church had the most spiritual feel of any we visited, perhaps because of its closeness to nature.
The other unusual style of church was a Norwegian wooden stave church built in the 12th Century, slightly before Catholicism took over from the pagan Viking religion. The stave church we saw had no windows or benches or source of heat. Candles were used for light, and people stood through the service.
I am anxious to get our film developed and put together an album of the religious buildings we saw on this trip. I’ll bring it to Quarterly Meeting at Greenwich in September to share with you.
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Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
