Architecture can stun you with its greatness. Rarely, if ever, has it been the stuff I thought it would be.
Here are my three wonders that snuck up on me.
- The Duomo in Florence, Italy as seen from Watermelon Street. I was standing outside the museum housing Michelangelo’s David. I looked to my right and I had this sudden feeling of seeing what a person in the fifteenth century saw. Even the mist in the air seems the same to me. For the entire week I returned to that same spot and had the same emotion. Just think, a spot on a street leading to a building as one of the wonders of the world to me.
- I was walking to the great Louvre in Paris. I was there when what was in front of it was a glass pyramid with a tiny one next to it. What a stupid creation, I thought. The entrance to the art museum was through this eye soar. I stepped down into the museum. Through out my tour of the museum I kept thinking about that stupid looking glass pyramid. After leaving I came back that afternoon, and it hit me: this is the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen. I saw in the morning, afternoon, and night. The Eiffel Tower was close by, but it was that glass pyramid that made that entire square pick up. But only if I looked at it through the lens of that sweet, sweet pyramid.
- I finally got out of the house as the coronavirus quarantine started lifting. I came up the elevator and walked out upon City Creek Mall in Salt Lake City. Everywhere I looked that brisk beautiful sunny day I saw beautiful buildings, actually skyscrapers, and mountain views coming at me as if in a 3D event. I came back the next day and looked down each lane leading out of the mall, and experienced the same thing. I can’t remember the store fronts, just the most beautiful mall I have ever experienced. A mall greater than itself. Every bit as stunning as my view from Watermelon Street. And it rivaled that glass pyramid, maybe even more if I had to choose.
Please, tell me your favorites. Take your time. It’s worth every word. Remember, we’re talking spiritual here.