Blog

This is St. Olaf's Church in Tallinn, Estonia. Or...

This is St. Olav's Church in Tallinn, Estonia  I've seen it spelled both ways and this is an inclusive blog.  

About the Church

St. Olaf's/Olav's was originally constructed in the 1100's, probably over decades.

It's been struck by lightning at least 10 times. It has burned down three times. While I don't have information as to whether it ever fell over and sank into the swamp, I can assure you that the fourth one stayed up.

It started Catholic, then became Lutheran. Lately it's Baptist. If you are a PhD candidate looking for a dissertation topic in the field of what the heck happens to churches over the centuries, you're welcome.

Its admirers note with considerable pride that it was the tallest building in the world for some 75 years ending around 1625. Unfortunately, however, there are always those who feel compelled to dispute everything. The haters claim that (a) there are too many conflicting claims about its past height to give credence to any of them, and (b) its measurements from ye olden days are in meters, a unit having such a wide variety of differing ye olden definitions that they might just as well have been figuring the height using French baguettes. If you can forgive my use of one of my mother's saltier expressions, I'd like to tell all of these parade rainers to go pee up a rope.  If St. Olav's folks want to say it was once the world's tallest building, then by gum it was once the world's tallest building. Period. Let them have their moment.

About Tallinn

Tallinn sits up there on top of Estonia next to the Baltic Sea about 50 miles or so south of Helsinki Finland being all enigmatic. The Medieval town is exactly that - Medieval. It is surrounded by the modern City, which in Estonia means something like the way Cleveland probably looked in the 1950s. Most of the century's old Medieval buildings are home to souvenir shops, restaurants, and various ticky-tack. Still, it is an amazing place.  The archeologists up there probably bulldoze the Colonial Williamsburg aged construction out of the way without a second thought to get at the good stuff.

About the Painting

Yes, I realize that it looks a wee bit like a Children's book illustration, what with the church looking so huge relative to everything else and that ridiculously tall steeple. Thing is - that's exactly how it looks.  The church IS huge relative to everything else and the steeple shoots skyward like a radio tower.  

I was definitely going for color in this one. Probably more color than is actually there, but Estonia is kind of a somber place in many ways and I wanted to cheer it up a tad. After all, they've got sadistic trolls on Wikipedia trying to tell them their church wasn't really all that tall in 1600 so they need a break. Also, as is my typical habit, I again broke one of the cardinal rules of good painting. Generally artists of all other than comic books go out of our way to avoid the appearance of outlining things. In this case, for me, the painting just wasn't working until I started slashing in some off-kilter wall edges and rooflines in the town in the foreground. Gives it some whimsy, I hope. I try not to think about it too hard.

Hope you enjoy it.