Its current appearance was defined in 1885. But there was a fairly similar church there since 1470. That older one was built on the remains of the Byzantine chapel from the 8th century.
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This area wasn't inhabited in 1885. The church and the sanctuary were surrounded by forest. The city was about three kilometers away.
The only trees that remain today around the Church of Our Lady of Mercy are cypresses that form a little park and are helping make the walkway that leads to the church entrance more majestic.
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The forest isn't far, though. Just behind the busy road that leads out of the city and flows into the highway and this fairytale castle that hosts a Pizzeria and some other commercial activities, there is the large forest park of Shiana.
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On the same side of the road, less than fifty meters from the church, you can find supermarkets, storage facilities, and a big scrap yard with hills made of all kinds of metal parts and cars waiting to be dismantled.
It's a busy suburb where trucks constantly come and go, load and unload their trailers.
The above photograph was taken from the parking lot of a supermarket called Konzum. The following shot ...
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... taken from the same spot in the large parking lot, shows the upper part of the church tower near the Church of Our Lady of Mercy. You can also see a small fragment of the church's yellow facade hidden behind the neighboring houses and cypresses if you thoroughly explore all the details of this enlargeable picture.
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Here I zoomed in a bit more.
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Some minutes later, I noticed a mushroom on the narrow stretch of lawn between the parking lot and the road.
This natural little tower is a Conocybe tenera fruiting body. This species grows in all kinds of lawns and meadows and is quite common to find it in urban areas.
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In this shot, I used the powerful zoom of my Canon PowerShot SX60 HS camera to bring the details of the church tower very close to my curious eyes. Meanwhile ...
... one of the supermarket employees was working to keep the parking lot clean.
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In this photograph, I'm approaching the church through the alley bordered by tall, elegant cypress trees.
It's time to take an up-close look at the church's front facade.
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Here you can take a good look at the decorative engravings on the massive wooden door and the stain-glass details of the narrow, elongated windows.
Above the door ...
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... there is a relatively small but quite lovely rosette.
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A bit higher, there is a cross that lets a bit of outdoor light through four narrow elongated holes.
Above all that stuff, there is an elegant tower with the year in which the church as we see it today was consecrated engraved in one of its segments. That year is 1886.
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In the park near the church, there is this thing that looks like an outdoor altar of the sanctuary to me.
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I have learned a few things about sacral architecture through my art-oriented education, but since I have never practiced any kind of religion, I don't know the name and purpose of everything that can be found in or around churches and sanctuaries.
One thing that I can tell you though, is that I'm the type of atheist who enjoys and admires artistic products of religions very much.
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There was only one pot on that thing I'm calling an outdoor altar ...
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... and in that lonely pot ...
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... only one flower was growing a few days ago when I visited the park around the church after buying some stuff in the nearby supermarket.
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Here you can take a good look at the church tower in its entirety.
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This is the rear side of Our Lady of Mercy in Shiana. The light blue detail in the lower left corner of the picture is something that looks like small roadside chapels I encounter on country lanes between small towns and villages all around the region.
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Here you can see the entire thing.
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Here you can see the front of what I'll call "a Madonna cabinet."
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The milk-white color of the petrified lady, combined with the celestial blue of the background sprinkled with golden stars ...
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... looks great to me. Dry plants in yellow pots are a nice addition to the composition locked inside the cabinet.
On the rear side of the - let's call it a mini chapel, I saw some mysterious symbols. One of those is probably made of the letters M and A. I mean, this stuff looks mysterious to me but I'm pretty sure that is quite normal for some or many other people. That's all I can tell you about the above photograph.
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Here I zoomed in on the relatively small window on the rear facade of the church. In the following photograph ...
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... I zoomed in a bit more.
This place was a goal of seasonal pilgrimages from all parts of the region. The nearby supermarkets congregate pilgrims from the city and surrounding villages every day.
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Behind the church, at the end of a narrow road, only about twenty or thirty meters from Our Lady of Mercy ...
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... there is a house with three tall wooden crosses in its yard. The crucified Jesus is still hanging on the one in the center.
The two thieves who left their place on the cross probably hold some good position in the city administration, or who knows, maybe even in the Catholic Church's current hierarchy.
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This building was a small monastery until 1971.
At first sight, it looked to me that E.T. the extraterrestrial is mentioned in the white letters incorporated into the rusted gate, but nope ...
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... it's a Latin inscription that means "peace and good."
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So yeah, peace and good folks - this post is over.
AS ALWAYS HERE ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.
Some well taken photos!
I have to say that's a hectic yellow for a church, although it is somewhat befitting for the building.
Churches are something else hey, remnants from an ancient past. Did you hear about that church in France or somewhere in Europe that burned down a couple of years ago.. I think the church was older than 800 years! 800 fucking years...imagine that!!!
Yes, I remember that fire. It was in the news for days. A massive reconstruction i going on there still.
I can’t count how many big churches I’ve seen in my life
Churches are so big just like the ones you’ve shared
Nice pictures!
A beautiful photography of a beautiful church 😍
That green(grey/yellow building is truly amazing. Is this hole place a pizzeria?
No, only a small part is Pizzeria. There is some kind of Go Cart club or Go Cart organization of some kind in there ... and other stuff that I didn't check in detail ... but the word Pizzeria is the most visible, so I usually first think about Pizzeria when I see that building.
I never tried the Pizza there, though. And I never entered the building.
I love the sarcastic comment about this, well I think the reason why the two thieves were not shown was that they didn't want to take the attention away from Christ which is the sole purpose of the statue being erected.
That's probably true. 🙂 Sounds reasonable.
The church is so beautiful, and looks so good compared to the number of years it's been around for. Lovely photographs as always.
Three bells in the church roof is impressive, and I !LUV the designs on the doors and windows ~ Most beautiful photos indeed! !ALIVE
Have a great day Borjan 😎 !VSC
The design of the church is beautiful, it is interesting how it is preserved in good condition having many years, I guess they used an excellent quality material for its construction in addition to making their respective maintenance, beautiful photographs, thanks for sharing.
I'm in love with those pines standing regally beside the church building, they look so well groomed. Yes tall and elegant is more like it.
Then the lone mushroom again, they seem to love solitude.
Kudos to the cleaners of that Park, it's sparkling.
That Church is old, over a century old and still this beautiful, the decorative engravings must be by renowned designers. On the whole, it's a very big church and very beautiful, I would hail Holy Mary all day, sitting in that magnificent Church.
Thank you @borjan for always serving us these 'delicacies'.
It's beautiful how the sunbeams illuminate the church ... lovely photo.
the church has a very peaceful vibe or maybe spiritual vibe because of the trees surrounding it. oh and you found another mushroom!
What a beautiful church full of history, beautiful shots, I love the details of the building that makes it unique.
have a great day Thank you very much dear friend @borjan for introducing us to the Nuestra Señora de la Merced church
The church and the fairytale pizzeria look really nice!
Great pictures!
I always admire how you seem to have a lot of old buildings still standing beautifully in your country, and also still in use.
Those old trees might already be cut down here in my country. !LOLZ
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@borjan, I sent you anHow manage was the mushroom able to grow in that aspect
I must say it's a very old charge but well maintained. Both the outer and inner enviornment are pasific.
I have nothing to with charge but on Every 25th of December, I must visit our nearby one. Festival is awesome.
Thanks man for sharing.
#hive #posh
The church will really look so large looking at the appearance
A Very wonderful photography of this historic building.
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