Tuesday, September 10, I left Villa Thébaïde early in the morning to
go to
Loges-Margueron 10210 France, to pay homage to my parents at
the family grave. I greeted a cousin of my generation. Of course I
made the pilgrimage to places of memory.
Then I undertook a
journey back in time to learn about the art of stained glass, the
highlights of religious buildings! Heritage of the Christian
roots of France, with all due respect to atheists of all
persuasions,
Marxist atheism and its avatar, Stalinist
communism of the Soviet Union, did not survive the fall of the USSR
in 1989, leading to the galloping return of Christian orthodoxy and
its contemporary consequences.
The naivety of most of the leaders
of the European Union abandoned the regal tasks of protecting the
vital interests of their country, relying on the shield of the
United States,
NATO, their awakening was painful following the
invasion of Ukraine .
War and its substrate, violence, are
consubstantial with human nature originating from the animal
kingdom. Humanity shows many examples of this, particularly
associated with religious imperialism. During the wars of religion
in France, Armand Amalric, papal legate, ordered Simon de Montfort,
armed wing of the French royalty, during the crusade against the
Albigensians, the Cathars: "Kill them all, God will recognize his own" .
“Si vis pacem para bellum” But let’s not be fooled,
war and violence are never eradicated!
The sun irradiating
the glass roofs of religious monuments, rose windows, constitutes a
magical moment thanks to the spectrum of light through the colored
stained glass window participating in the symbolism of light:
“Divine light, God, and physical light (manifestation of God). The
stained glass windows were then responsible for transforming
physical light into divine light, in other words bringing the divine
presence into the cathedral” (Wiki)
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I continued towards Troyes to stay two days at the IBIS hotel in order to visit, on Wednesday September 11, The museum of stained glass, inaugurated in December 2022, in the former Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte des Comtes-de-Champagne. I devoted the morning to visiting the City of Stained Glass and in the afternoon I visited a few churches mentioned by the Stained Glass Route guide, 70 churches in Aube!
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Thursday September 12 I left Troyes at dawn for
Poitiers which has
the stained glass museum
inaugurated in 1988 in Curzay-sur-Vonne.
I stayed two days at the IBIS hotel to visit
it
and the center of Poitiers on Friday September 13.
 it
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Saturday September 14, on the way home, I decided to make a safety stop halfway through at the IBIS hotel in Saint-Étienne.
Sunday September 15 the highway took me to Le Muy exit 36 for Trans-en-Provence. The round trip was approximately 2200 km.
