Video La Madeleine Church in Paris.


To stand at the foot of the steps and look up to the bronze doors is to understand the awe the Greeks felt when they built the Parthenon in Athens.

The absolute scale of the place is humbling. I didn't stop to take out my tape measure (I don't know why) to actually define the dimensions of the giant-order column's bases, but they are at least six feet square. As I think on it, they're probably two meters square."

The quality and overwhelming detail visible to the ant-like mortal perceiving it are breathtaking and lovingly, carefully, executed.

I really am at a loss for words to describe this building; having seen the place, I would be unable to convey my impressions to a class of undergraduates in other than mechanical, dimensioned terms. This is not a building that permits of dry descriptions.

Standing at the door, looking down the Rue Royal tying together the Church and the Place de la Concorde, the knot is the gold-capped Pillar of Luxor standing before the Place.

The timeline goes something like this: the Place de la Concorde was built in 1772. The Luxor Obelisk was erected in 1836. The Church of the Madeleine was built in 1842 in the shape of a Greek temple to celebrate Napoleon's victories.

Everywhere you turn something is older than you can really wrap your head around.

Life is wondrous.

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