Nolan M. Kavanagh
  • Me
  • Career/CV
  • Research
  • Tutoring
  • Blog
  • Study Abroad
  • Nepal
  • Things I Like
  • Contact

Nolan Takes Awkward Pictures with Churches

Last Updated: August 30, 2016
As you may know, I am a baptized Roman Catholic. As such, while studying abroad, it was my spiritual obligation to visit every ornate cathedral in Europe. And to take awkward pictures with all of them.

​Thus, I present the special, high definition gallery: Nolan Takes Awkward Pictures with Churches.
Cathedral of Toledo

Cathedral of Segovia

SEGOVIA, SPAIN
January 15, 2016
Her full name is the Holy Cathedral-Church of Our Mother of the Assumption and of St. Fructus of Segovia, built in the sixteenth century in Gothic style. I couldn’t go inside.

But look at that awkward kid in front of her (with John and Erin).​
Cathedral of Segovia
Cathedral of Segovia
Cathedral of Segovia

Cathedral of Granada

GRANADA, SPAIN
January 29, 2016
Although crowded tightly between shops, the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral-Church of the Incarnation of Granada couldn’t escape me. She’s a Renaissance masterpiece.

I snagged an awful selfie with her too.​

(That’s Mackenzie.)
Cathedral of Granada
Cathedral of Granada
Cathedral of Granada

Cathedral of Valencia

VALENCIA, SPAIN
February 13, 2016
Waiting to get this picture from a friend...

Cathedral of Toledo

TOLEDO, SPAIN
February 26, 2016
​The Primate Cathedral of St. Mary of Toledo, considered the magnum opus of Spanish Gothic cathedrals, looks like she’s tumbling over in this picture. (But don’t worry. She’s not.)

Look! There I am!
Cathedral of Toledo
Cathedral of Toledo

Monastery of St. John

TOLEDO, SPAIN
February 26, 2016
The Monastery of St. John of the Kings was built, in Gothic style, to rival Toledo’s own cathedral as the city’s grandest church. If you ask me, though, it’s not close.

Also not close: my attempts to be photogenic.​
Monastery of St. John

Cathedral of Bilbao

BILBAO, SPAIN
February 27, 2016
Amidst heavy rains and monsoon winds, I bravely fought the elements to enter the Cathedral-Basilica of St. James the Great, then promptly scurried out as Mass was starting.

Look at me, pretending to blow away.
Cathedral of Bilbao
Cathedral of Bilbao

Cathedral of San Sebastián

SAN SEBASTIÁN, SPAIN
February 28, 2016
​The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd of San Sebastián is uncomfortably new, younger than most of its counterparts by over a half millennium. But we love younger siblings just the same.

Who’s that cool cat in front?
Cathedral of San Sebastián
Cathedral of San Sebastián

Notre-Dame Cathedral

PARIS, FRANCE
Week of March 18, 2016
Likely the most renowned cathedral in the world, Notre-Dame of Paris stands as a Gothic warning of man’s mortality, relative unimportance, and powerlessness before the might of God. Heavy stuff.

I wonder if something could forewarn my awkwardness like that...
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Notre-Dame Cathedral

Sainte-Chapelle

PARIS, FRANCE
March 19, 2016
Once the French king’s personal worship space, this thirteenth-century Gothic “Holy Chapel” contains floor-to-ceiling, every-wall exquisite stained glass. The colors are enchanting.

Catholicism has that effect.
Sainte-Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle

Cathedral of Sevilla

SEVILLA, SPAIN
Week of March 23, 2016
Cathedral of St. Mary of the See is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. And oh my, she is fantastically ugly. But I went to two masses there, including the Easter Vigil, and was moved to tears.

Apparently I was distracted in this photo.
Cathedral of Sevilla
Cathedral of Sevilla
Cathedral of Sevilla

La Mezquita-Cathedral of Córdoba

CÓRDOBA, SPAIN
March 26, 2016
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was, before the Spanish Reconquest, a Muslim mosque. As you can tell, the Catholics converted it in function but never fully in style.

So, too, are my church pictures stylistically awkward.
La Mezquita of Córdoba
La Mezquita of Córdoba
La Mezquita of Córdoba

Basilica of El Escorial

SAN LORENZO DEL ESCORIAL, SPAIN
April 17, 2016
El Escorial was the palace of King Phillip II, where he commanded Spain’s empire and headed its anti-Protestant efforts. It famously houses the remains of the royal family for generations.

Also buried there: my dignity.
El Escorial
El Escorial
El Escorial

Valle de los Caídos

SAN LORENZO DEL ESCORIAL, SPAIN
April 17, 2016
I’m going to break tone here.

Valley of the Fallen is the memorial for Spain’s dictator, Francisco Franco (d. 1975), who is buried there. Built by political prisoners, with its bunker-like atmosphere and plaques celebrating the victors of the Civil War, it stirred anger and unease inside me like no other church I visited. Although I entered smiling, I did not leave that way.

The Catholic Church’s relationship with democracy has, throughout the modern era, been tentative. The Church initially supported Franco’s dictatorship because he provided it legal protections. After Vatican II, and Franco’s death, it welcomed democracy in Spain. In Latin America, however, it has supported both regime types, simultaneously.

Regardless of Church doctrine, or its political interpretations, the legitimization of regimes that degrade, repress, disappear, or murder its citizens is, in any context, unacceptable. And only in visiting this particular basilica did I come to appreciate the gravity of the Church’s political influence — on nations, on conflicts, and on lives.
Valle de los Caídos
Valle de los Caídos

Cathedral of Lisbon

LISBON, PORTUGAL
April 23, 2016
The Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major has a reputation for being, among Europe’s cathedrals, rather underwhelming in grandeur. But she didn’t underwhelm me.

I found a barrier on which to stand.
Cathedral of Lisbon
Cathedral of Lisbon

Monastery of Jerónimos

LISBON, PORTUGAL
​April 23, 2016
Funded by a royal tax on African and Asian imperial trade, the Monastery of Jerónimos exemplifies the Manueline style, or Portuguese late Gothic. The style, itself, drew on Eastern influences.

But in this picture, I look west.
Monastery of Jerónimos
Monastery of Jerónimos

Sistine Chapel

VATICAN CITY STATE
May 13, 2016
The Sistine Chapel requires no commentary. I will only add that the adjoining picture is the ceiling from a leading hallway. And that is Austin.
Vatican Museums
Sistine Chapel

St. Peter’s Basilica

VATICAN CITY STATE
May 13, 2016
The queen of all Catholic churches, the Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican is as massive and breathtaking as religiously important. And it has Michelangelo’s Pietà.

Although touristy, it left me speechless.
St. Peter’s Basilica
St. Peter’s Basilica
Michelangelo’s Pietà

Cathedral of Rome

ROME, ITALY
May 16, 2016
The Papal Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran claims the title of oldest church in the West. That said, its reconstruction spanned several centuries.

What an obelisk! And what a selfie!
Cathedral of Rome
Cathedral of Rome
Cathedral of Rome
Cathedral of Rome

Bonus:
​Scala Santa

ROME, ITALY
May 16, 2016
​Across the street from Lateran Basilica, the Holy Steps are, supposedly, the transposed steps from Pontius Pilate’s praetorium, on which Jesus walked in his trial. Many Catholics go to climb them, too.

I did not.
Scala Santa
Scala Santa

Pantheon

ROME, ITALY
May 16, 2016
This one is cheating: It’s the Roman Pantheon, built for their many (I’m obligated to say) unreal gods. But the Catholics co-opted it as a Cardinal-Deaconry, so it technically counts.

As the saying goes, when in Rome, misappropriate another culture.
Pantheon
Pantheon
Pantheon

St. Ignatius Church

ROME, ITALY
May 16, 2016
The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius, now under a cardinal, was originally the chapel for the first Jesuit University. Until the university moved.

But its Baroque style remains magnificent.
St. Ignatius Church
St. Ignatius Church

Sagrada Familia

BARCELONA, SPAIN
May 24, 2016
Still under the construction, the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family is Antoni Gaudí’s greatest work. Its design mimics nature, like its forest-inspired ceiling.

My pose mimics something natural, too.
Sagrada Familia
Sagrada Familia
Sagrada Familia
Sagrada Familia

Cathedral of Barcelona

BARCELONA, SPAIN
May 24, 2016
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia is dedicated to Barcelona’s patron saint, who was stripped naked by the Romans then killed in a barrel of knives.

Anyway, I went on the roof!​
Cathedral of Barcelona
Cathedral of Barcelona
Cathedral of Barcelona
Cathedral of Barcelona

This gallery is dedicated to Mr. Szatkowski, my high school European history teacher. In his class, we learned about Renaissance art, the French banana craze (not real, I later learned), and Catholic cathedrals. I owe my appreciation for Western history to him.

Mr. Szat, this is for you: A grand tour of Europe’s cathedrals.
© 2018 Nolan M. Kavanagh  |  Curriculum vitae  |  Contact me