Monday, 16 June 2014

Hamburg Series - St Michaelis Church

We normally visit churches on account of the architecture. Sometimes we bump into a service and we would stay a little while to watch the service and to listen to the choir. These religious ceremonies have a calming effect, maybe that's due to the conditioning effect of the mind.

St Michaelis Church is described as the most beautiful church in norther Germany. I am not sure about this, but not in a position to argue because I haven't seen all the churches in northern Germany. Compared to the Baroque churches in Italy,  St Michelis is not in the premier league.
St Michaelis Church, Hamburg
One of the three organs, St Micahelis Church
The magnificent pulpit
The magnificent altarpiece
A choir practicing. In the background is a second organ.
On the day, there was a church fete. There were senior citizens setting up stalls for bric-a-brac and food and drink, as well as benches for visitors to have a cup of tea or coffee, a glass of wine, some cakes and home-made sandwiches. The cakes were really delicious. I observed that the pace was slow, actually very slow, but then this was not a commercial enterprise so everybody waited patiently and with good humour, including myself.
Mass appeal or niche market
There was a VW van parked outside the church selling newspapers. Strategically placed was a basket of sweets. Searching on the internet, I found that this is a weekly Protestant newspaper. So, every church is looking for an audience.