While visiting Rome recently, this was my favourite picture in the Vatican. Despite the tour of the Vatican being incredibly crowded, I was impressed by the fact that excluding the Sistine Chapel, people seemed to be allowed to take pictures of whatever they wanted. This offered a surprising contrast with the Franciscan friars at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi who were lurking round almost every corner guarding against people taking pictures.
So why is the picture above (and below) my favourite one in the Vatican?
Well, I just love the way it juxtaposes the heavenly realm above the earthly realm in such a beautiful medieval format. It's borne of the same kind of beauty that gets me to the Old Latin Mass on Sunday, it represents some kind of profound high culture that modern-day Western Europe, with its crass political 'correctness', now sadly lacks.
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