Thursday, July 5, 2012

I'm In A Drain!

To be strictly accurate I'm in Drain, a somewhat stretched-out village sprawling along a ridge above the Western end of the Loire Valley. For the first time we have both a solid internet connection and the time to use it. Perhaps you'd like to see some holiday snaps.

There is an element of relevance. Last year I noted how the images from virtual worlds can permeate and overlay the physical. The real-world setting of The Secret World adds an extra fold. I keep seeing things that remind me of things I saw in Funcom's game that reminded me of things I'd seen outside it.

Top match so far, this magnificent art-deco church in the spa town of Bagnoles de L'Orne. It doesn't look much like the one in Kingsmouth, except when it does. It's how they don't look so much alike that's so striking.


The aesthetic is different but the clarity of line is emphatically in accord and the two churches are weird in a  congruent way. One of the first things that struck me as uncanny about the Kingsmouth church was the symmetry of the stained-glass windows. I'd never seen a church that had so many spaced so evenly. Now I have.

Of course, the Kingsmouth church has all its windows the same and this one has them all different. Except they are so rigorously unified in design and subject they seem quite the same after all.

The Addams Family Estate next door (that's what's left of the name above the gate up the top there) just added to the effect.

I did actually look for eyes in pyramids and Mrs Bhagpuss suggested we check the wards.

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful architecture. These old churches really do have a 'presence', don't they.

    ReplyDelete

Wider Two Column Modification courtesy of The Blogger Guide