Rambling around the village with my camera, I see the peaked rooftops and burgundy gables of the monastery of the sisters of the Visitation in the distance almost everywhere I go, but there is no way of viewing the place more closely or snapping closer photos of the cloister buildings, gardens and extensive grounds - they are almost entirely surrounded by high walls and fences, dense hedges and old trees. That is not a complaint by the way, for one of the most wonderful things about the monastery is its sense of stillness and enclosure, of apartness.
The first three photos were taken from outside the cloister walls. The image below is of the cloister gate and its serene Madonna of the Visitation. What is it about this quiet enclosure which calls me back to the deep shade of its old walls, again and again? It must be the silence — it is the silence I think of when I "see" the place in my mind's eye. Silence is a rare and wonderful thing in an urban setting.
1 comment:
The light and shadow on the roof is lovely.
When I was young, I had a very favorite place of serenity and refuge above any sound of traffic, far away from people. I still treasure thoughts of those moments of silence.
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