The “Chiesa Valdese” (Waldensian church) was originally built between 1845 and 1849 by an architect Rumball, as the church of the local Scottish
Presbyterian community, active as merchants in Livorno since the 17th Century.
Around 1910, with the changing of the laws about the port, the community dwindled and then practically ceased to exist, so the building was purchased by the local
Waldensian Evangelical Church, present in Livorno since 1861.
The church has a central location, just off “Piazza Cavour”, near the ancient “Cimitero degli Inglesi” (Englishmen's Cemetery) and the Anglican church of “San Giorgio”, both visible in the old print. The beautiful stained windows and an impressive organ were destroyed in the last war.
The “Chiesa Valdese” (Waldensian church) was originally built between 1845 and 1849 by an architect Rumball, as the church of the local Scottish Presbyterian community, active as merchants in Livorno since the 17th Century.
Around 1910, with the changing of the laws about the port, the community dwindled and then practically ceased to exist, so the building was purchased by the local Waldensian Evangelical Church, present in Livorno since 1861.
The church has a central location, just off “Piazza Cavour”, near the ancient “Cimitero degli Inglesi” (Englishmen's Cemetery) and the Anglican church of “San Giorgio”, both visible in the old print. The beautiful stained windows and an impressive organ were destroyed in the last war.
Very unusual looking. If not for the crosses on the facade I would not have guessed it's a church.
ReplyDeleteI was going to write just the same as Andreea just did.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and different building.
Chiming in with GW and Andreea. Nice triplet of photos.
ReplyDeleteInteresting bit of history about the Scots. I agree with what has been said already, though it is a nice, subdued building, in keeping with Presbyterian modesty?
ReplyDeleteAs all the others I would never say this is a church, but it's a wonderful building anyway! So much destroyed by the war... It's really impressive, what a shame!
ReplyDeleteSo austere compared to our Catholic churches. The details on the roof seems to be their only concession to decoration. And the stained glass windows, and I'm so sorry they didn't survive.
ReplyDeleteOh, and thank you for the meaning of the name 'Crisostomo.' I'm surprised our teachers never taught us that — Rizal's choice of the name for his main protagonist now makes much more sense.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your "Sacred Sunday" post as we have a Waldensian settlement in North Carolina, USA. Here is a link to the history of the town of Valdese, in case you are interested.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ci.valdese.nc.us/history.htm
Perhaps you already know about it!
It doesn't look much like a church - perhaps that was done intentionally, so people wouldn't confuse it with a Roman Catholic Church. I know that happened in this country frequently.
ReplyDeleteI used to known about Waldensians, but I forgot and I'm too lazy to look it up.
Have a great end to the weekend. Tell Trillian not to study too hard. Maybe take a break and take a photo and post it?
In Scotland some of us call them Presbydrearians :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice, tidy looking building.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting old church. It reminds me of a convent that saw.
ReplyDeleteJacob,I would like to take some photos, but studying and the heat are too much...sooner or later I'll promise to try again!
ReplyDeleteI remember visiting once a Chiesa Valdese in Rome, eons ago, and it was the same austere architecture. Protestants do it this way, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my playa posting. I totally 500% agree with you on the beauty and calm of a deserted city. But in Barcelona... Every barcelones going away on holiday is replaced by 5 tourists, so a calm place here is quite hard to find. And believe it or not, the beach on the photo was the calmest one... Have a good week!
It's so nice that you found a print to go with your photos. Again, your architecture is so interesting. It looks so tropical with the palm tree. I thought those were reserved for the south. Are they typical in your area?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many “Piazza Cavour” there are in Italy... I seem to recall having come across a few. Maybe it's like with our "Kungsgatan" ("King's Street"). Every city would want one.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy it when you match drawing with a site! Did you find any goats this time around? I like the edge of the roof - is there something going on on the top - are people allowed there? I like the yellow paint - not shy at all!
ReplyDelete@ Rob - I believe you...
ReplyDelete@ tapirgal - I forgot to say that the print come from Wikipeda. Lots of palm trees here, usually close to the sea or inside the parks.
@ Ellie - For every goat then, you have five scooters now. The church is now in a narrow street which runs along everything you see in the old print.
Thanks about the palm trees. Nice.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, the boat is Arrow 2. We only have that one pilot boat for the river, but 2 for the bar that are moored in Hammond, closer to the ocean. One is Columbia, one is Chinook, and they are bigger. One yellow, one orange in real life. I found Livorno on this link:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?mmsi=367137390¢erx=-123.8297¢ery=46.19045&zoom=10&type_color=3
Where is your pilot dock and how many pilot boats? I couldn't find teh boat, but Arrow 2 is also missing on the map, although it was there recently. I'm sure it didn't disappear in real life!!! More boat pix soon. If you have one you are curious about ask. It could be fun to find it.
The name di Chiesa comes to mind. Is there some clerical background to that as well?
ReplyDelete