Europe

[Visited: June 2005]

Waking up an early bright Sunday morning in Birmingham drove me outside to explore this industrial city. I soon ended up on Victoria Square, the real city centre. On one side I saw the enormous Council House, a fountain of similar dimensions in front of it, and apart from the inevitable classical statue of Queen Victoria, also other modern statues. From here, streets radiate in several directions, and I decided to head towards St Philip Cathedral, a 18th century neoclassical building on Colmore Row.
The Cathedral is surrounded by cautiously kept lawns, and just inside the iron fences are graves of persons who for many various reasons were important in their days. The most interesting part of the Cathedral is inside, according to me. Tall stained-glass windows decorate both sides of St Philips Cathedral, and they are all brilliant displays of stained-glass art, depicting several scenes of the Bible. As it was a sunny day, the light coming through rendered the scenes perfectly.
From here, I walked towards the other main church of Birmingham, St Martins in the Bullring. This area is a curious mix of classical and at times daring modern times architecture. The Bullring is as modern as a retail complex can be, the whole area contains fountains, squares, pillars, towers, bridges and buildings. Even for non-shoppers walking in this area is certainly recommended as you can see many different architectural styles at once. Leaving this area and walking into less developed quarters of Birmingham, the number of cranes towering over old, worn down houses struck me. Who knows what Birmingham will look like in the near future?

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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[Visited: June 2005]

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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