Cherubs in the Old North Church

January 4, 2025 11:39 AM

In 1730, angels began appearing on the walls of the Old North Church. By 1913, they disappeared under a layer of white paint. Conservators are working to reveal some of them, showing the church more like Paul Revere would have known it.
posted by PussKillian (2 comments total)

As a naughty bored child my mother carved a primitive chicken into a pew in the Catholic Church in Pakenham ON - we find it whenever we visit the old relatives. There are cherubs scattered about that church ceiling and one is based on my grandmother as a small child. Old churches have so much history.
posted by whatevernot at 1:04 PM on January 4 [10 favorites]

One of the gob-smack moments of my adult life was the assertion / hypothesis that the pillars in the nave of Durham Cathedral had probably been subjected to a !bling! paint-job in medieval times. I'd been dragged round lots of the great English cathedrals as a child and was at school in Canterbury and and found all the stone rather dull; although I like the hymns. I'd for sure have perked up if the pillars were still all gleaming in purple and gold.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:51 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]