Hello, friends. But today we will not talk at all about religion, but about quite mundane banal things.
If you believe this photo, then this is an Orthodox church in Bethlehem of 1801 (I personally do not believe, I assume that the photo is dated 1820-1840, but this was written in the annotation). What catches your eye first of all in this photo? Well, probably the fact that the building itself with the columns somehow does not really harmonize with its filling. Namely, balls hanging on chains everywhere confuse. What it is? How many I was in old Orthodox churches (many places), I have never seen. In addition, I have not heard any mention of such things in the church rules either (gentlemen who read this text and know anything about such things not by assumption, please respond). I suppose that these balls have no other purpose other than for illumination. But sorry, the illumination in the temple? Something doesn't fit. Although, strange objects in Orthodox churches have already been observed earlier. Let's leave the Orthodox churches aside and see how Catholic churches were illuminated in the 19th century. For this, in fact, we will take their photos from the 19th century and take a close look (all photos are dated before 1910).
There are a lot of metallic flowers in the temple, similar, like twin brothers. Everything would be fine, but it is better to pay attention to them more closely - as discussed in previous articles, when they were in the lamps, they had a very specific functionality.
Chandeliers seem to be like chandeliers, and there are even shades, but there are too many metallic colors. It is possible that this is just a decoration.
But here, if you zoom in and look, it's just a chandelier made of some metallic colors, and there are not even seats for the shades. It happens?
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There are again lamps with a massive pot below. What is such a pot for? It is possible that now the photo is just a tribute to tradition, and earlier the pot found its use, and the lamp burned differently.
And here is the same chandelier with metal flowers, but there are already light bulbs. Only they are a little strange in shape, and if you look closely, they seem to be empty. Maybe it seemed?
No, it didn't seem. Here are the same bulbs of the same shape, but the filament is not visible at all.
If you look closely, there are metal tips on the candles in the upper corners, and the candles themselves are of the same height - they did not even think to burn. It is strange, especially since they are clearly not standing in churches for beauty. Apparently, their light did not come from the combustion of paraffin (or what they are from).
This is clearly an electric chandelier, only the lamp inside it has a strange shape. Oddly enough, the external power wires are not visible, and the chandelier bracket is fixed at the top of the arch into a socket, to the metal connection going out there.
And here in the upper corners are our old familiar designs. Apparently, they were used not only on the roofs of houses and in commercial stores, but also in temples as well.
And here a similar design is shown even in working order. The lamps under the shades are on, although not very brightly.
As you can see, the lighting of Catholic churches in the 19th century also keeps a lot of forgotten secrets.
Until next time.