Vallombroso: Cathedral Of The Pines (1928) was taken by the Italian photographer Fosco Maraini in his native Tuscany. Maraini (1912-2004) was a remarkable person, an anthropologist who wrote that "races don't exist, cultures exist" long before other scientists acknowledged this truth. One of Maraini's many interests was the endangered Ainu culture of Japan. Two of Maraini's daughters were born while he and his wife, Princess Topazia Alliata di Salaparuta, lived in Japan from 1938 to 1947. Ironically, though the family had fled Fascist Italy, they were imprisoned in Japan during World War II for Maraini's refusal to sign an allegiance to the Mussolini government.
As a child living in Massachusetts, my parents took me on a memorable visit to the Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, New Hampshire, a place that has its own connection to events of World War II. When I found this photograph by Maraini, it stirred memories.
To learn about the American Cathedral of the Pines, visit here.
5 comments:
Maraini sounds a very interesting man. In England we have the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral planted after WWI in honour of the dead.
I could worship in this church any time! Thanks for the link to the original.
Neil, the New Hampshire forest also has a view of Mt. Monadnock, a distinctive outcropping that was painted numerous times by Abbott Handerson Thayer, a painter much admired by Charles Lang Freer, benefactor of the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C. It was an old forest that its owner intended to make his home after WW II, but he was killed in the fighting. I don't know anything about Whipsnade - like where, exactly, it is.
Jeanne, Rindge, NH, is close to the northern border of Massachusetts and a reasonable drive from Boston. I remember vividly the smell of the pines and the coolness on a hot summer day.
The Whipsnade Tree Cathedral is in Bedfordshire. It's owned and maintained by the National Trust, and there's more information (and some rather underwhelming photos) here: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-whipsnadetreecathedral
Post a Comment