Xujiahui
It had been a few years since we were in Xujiahui, the part of Shanghai where St. Ignatius Cathedral stands. I was surprised searching my blog archives that it had already been five and a half years. We had been back to Shanghai for the Expo, but then we did not have any time to go to the Cathedral.
I was surprised how much had changed. The idea of Xujiahui as a tourist destination had really taken off.
More after the jump
Had I realized that more of the old Xiujiahui Jesuit buildings were open for regular tours, I would have budgeted more time. As it was, we had about an hour to visit the church to see the windows.
Photographs are still prohibited inside the cathedral. In addition to the incredible biblical-themed windows on the ground floor, some of which can be seen in the slide show here, there stunning botanical windows on the clerestory level.
This was the first time that Brigid really could explore the windows, and understand the context for the images. Her favorites were the Marian window pairs; these were marked by a flower at the top center. Under this was depicted scenes from the Gospel, such as the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and then her visit to her cousin Elizabeth.
I had purchased a CD, "Xiujiahui Origin" from the tourism office, hoping it had more pictures of the windows. In the very short video covering all of the sites in the Xiujiahui area, the church gets the first yet still brief mention. There's nothing specific about the new windows, nor the artist.
After the church closed, we walked around outside to see the gargoyles, because, god bless the gargoyles.
Afterwards, we started walking toward Xiujiahui Park to meet up with some friends of ours that moved to Shanghai (and, more specifically, Xiujiahui) from Beijing. We walked past Bibliotheca Zikawei, the old Jesuit Library that is now operated as part of the Shanghai library. On our previous visits to Shanghai, the library was open for visitors at very limited times (I seem to remember Saturday mornings). We only this trip learned it is now open for several hours a day, so we hadn't made time to go there this time. Next time.
There are other Jesuit-related sites open, too, that we will need to see another time, like the Zikawei Observatory.
We made our way to the beautiful Xujiahui Park. This park was built over an old industrial site, which is in evidence only in the lone smokestack that still stands.
The kids went crazy over the black swans.
There were swans nesting in the little lake front duplex.
After that was an amazing night of Indian food and catching up with friends, our favorite part of the whole trip. All of Xiujiahui, and seeing our friends who happen to live near there, will definitely take up more of our time on a future Shanghai trip.
I was surprised how much had changed. The idea of Xujiahui as a tourist destination had really taken off.
More after the jump
Had I realized that more of the old Xiujiahui Jesuit buildings were open for regular tours, I would have budgeted more time. As it was, we had about an hour to visit the church to see the windows.
Photographs are still prohibited inside the cathedral. In addition to the incredible biblical-themed windows on the ground floor, some of which can be seen in the slide show here, there stunning botanical windows on the clerestory level.
This was the first time that Brigid really could explore the windows, and understand the context for the images. Her favorites were the Marian window pairs; these were marked by a flower at the top center. Under this was depicted scenes from the Gospel, such as the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and then her visit to her cousin Elizabeth.
I had purchased a CD, "Xiujiahui Origin" from the tourism office, hoping it had more pictures of the windows. In the very short video covering all of the sites in the Xiujiahui area, the church gets the first yet still brief mention. There's nothing specific about the new windows, nor the artist.
After the church closed, we walked around outside to see the gargoyles, because, god bless the gargoyles.
Afterwards, we started walking toward Xiujiahui Park to meet up with some friends of ours that moved to Shanghai (and, more specifically, Xiujiahui) from Beijing. We walked past Bibliotheca Zikawei, the old Jesuit Library that is now operated as part of the Shanghai library. On our previous visits to Shanghai, the library was open for visitors at very limited times (I seem to remember Saturday mornings). We only this trip learned it is now open for several hours a day, so we hadn't made time to go there this time. Next time.
There are other Jesuit-related sites open, too, that we will need to see another time, like the Zikawei Observatory.
We made our way to the beautiful Xujiahui Park. This park was built over an old industrial site, which is in evidence only in the lone smokestack that still stands.
The kids went crazy over the black swans.
There were swans nesting in the little lake front duplex.
After that was an amazing night of Indian food and catching up with friends, our favorite part of the whole trip. All of Xiujiahui, and seeing our friends who happen to live near there, will definitely take up more of our time on a future Shanghai trip.
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