Visiting the Cathedral

Monday, January 31st, 2011

Today it was necessary to head in to town, as my rent had to be paid before February 1st. As I had plenty of time, I decided to walk. They say that you can see the cathedral for miles out - sure enough, I could see the cathedral not long after I left Flogsta.

That's the cathedral in the center of the picture.  Sure enough, it's dusk, too.  At 3:38 PM.  Which is no longer at all surprising.

The cathedral served as a good guide to make sure I kept going in the right direction, although it wasn't difficult.  Not much later, I came across a sight that not many Americans would like:

Cheap gasoline!  Usually it's about 13.40 kronor per litre.  12.93 is low!  The 9.74 is for 85% ethanol.  The price works out to about $2/litre, or a bit below $8 per gallon.

When I was more or less in town, I came across a truck with a familiar brand:

Polarbröd!  Polarbröd is a yummy flat bread that's a traditional northern Swedish bread.  I eat it often for open-faced sandwiches.  It's the third of fourth largest bread brand in Sweden.

I made it into town and paid my rent, then went east across the river to the Uppsala Konsert & Kongress building to buy a ticket to a classical concert occurring in May.  I decided to walk back as well.  I found myself near the cathedral, so I decided to take a walk around it and see what its open hours were.

It was still open!  It's open until 6 PM.  So I went on in.  It wasn't crowded, but it wasn't the ideal time to visit either, as it was dusk, so there wasn't much light coming in through the stained glass windows.  I plan to visit again, but during daylight hours.  Even so, it was impressive.  It's just as tall and decorated as the French cathedrals I saw several years ago.  The exterior style is quite different, red brick instead of stone, but it is all stone inside.  My pictures aren't great due to the lack of light, but I'll include some nevertheless.

 This is the memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld, who grew up in Uppsala and was the second secretary-general of the UN.  It seemed to be one of the most recent displays in the cathedral; the relics of Saint Eric of Sweden (who was never actually made a saint by the Pope, but is considered one here anyway) from the 1100s seemed to be the oldest.

 The chandeliers made this a difficult picture to take, but this is the view from near the back of the church, looking forward.  All the chandeliers are electric, except the one above the altar, which has candles but was not lit.  The electric cabling seems to be attached to the sides of cathedral with a sticky substance, rather than actually going through the stone.

 The pipe organ at the back of the cathedral.  There are two pipe organs.  The white cloth is covering construction work - the cathedral is undergoing renovations.

 

 The second organ, at the left side of the church (when facing the altar), and one of the stained glass windows.

 One of the tombs on the right side of the church.  It's much more impressive with real, rather than photographed, light.  The two tombs in this area dated from the 1600s or early 1700s.

 One of the paintings on the wall.  The styling seems a bit more northern European than what I remember from the French cathedrals, and definitely medieval (the cathedral was begun in the late 1200s).  The scene on the left is peaceful, but the one partly visible on the right is warlike, as were several of the other scenes in this room.

There were a few worshippers present, saying their own prayers, but I did not see any priests while I was there.  I thought I saw a nun near the room where Gustav Vasa I, King of Sweden, was entombed, but later learned that it was actually an incredibly realistic statue.  I hadn't approached too close to be polite!