Quite a few old, photogenic churches can be found in Pula, the nearest city to the place where I live. They were built in different periods throughout the city's long, dynamic history, so they display a wide array of art styles incorporated into the sacral architecture.
The one currently called The Church of Our Lady of the Sea is probably the prettiest of them all.
Originally, when it was freshly built by the Austro-Hungarian administration, in the last decade of the 19th century, this church had a different name.
It was called Marinekirche - The Church of The Navy.
Pula was the main military port of the Habsburg Monarchy in those times, so a big, showy church dedicated to the Navy isn't a surprise.
The work on Our Lady Of The Sea started in 1891.
The church was finished in 1898.
On the 3rd of March 2024, I spent an hour or so sniffing around this iconic building, trying to collect a nice bunch of details for an architecture-oriented post once in the future.
Well, it seems that the future is now. In the following photograph ...
... I zoomed in on one of the petrified angels on the rooftop. A bit later ...
... while photographing this green angel made of copper, I noticed a bird on one of its wings. In the following shot ...
... the same bird is resting on the cross in the angel's hand.
It's an Eurasian magpie (Pica pica).
The church's exterior is abundantly decorated with sculptures, reliefs, and mosaics. You can see a bunch of petrified saints in this shot.
Beautiful artwork is scattered all around the building and displayed in a permanent open-air exhibition available to anyone at any time.
Early Byzantine art was the main inspiration for the mosaics.
The neoclassical sculptures were made in Czechia.
I don't know what to say under this picture. Maybe you could wave hello to the saint since it seems that the dude is waving hello to you.
You can see yet another petrified saint in this shot. They all have exuberant, well-maintained beards as any good hipster should have.
Here you can see the simple abstract pattern ...
... found in a window.
The patterns in the windows looked the same to me at first sight and from a certain distance, but ...
... a better look through the lens of my camera made me realize the surprising little differences.
You can see a bit of geometry combined with simple floral decorations in this relief situated relatively high on the building.
These stony heads have a fairly archaic, medieval look.
I have more artsy details to show you in this post, but I'll save that stuff for later ...
... becouse right now, I would like to say a few words about the church's immediate surroundings.
Our Lady Of The Sea is situated in the neiberhood called Stoia, a place that harbors quite a few historic jewels from the Austro-Hungarian era of the city among its less interesting newer condos.
I published two posts about the history of that part of the city in the last few years, two posts that can be seen as prequels to this one. That's why I'm about to put the links that lead to them, right here - right now.
@borjan/the-historic-working-class-neiberhood
@borjan/graveyard-walk-in-stoia
At some point ...
... while I was busy exploring the church's surroundings through the lens of my versatile Canon PowerShot SX60 HS camera ...
... a man followed by a small dog passed by and entered today's post.
I don't remember why this building caught my attention on the 3rd of March 2024. Maybe the showy red line in the middle of its front facade has something to do with that. In the following photograph ...
... I zoomed in to get a better look at the details.
Here you can see The Church of Our Lady of the Sea reflected in the windows of a nearby modern building.
These two photographs show the lions at the entrance of the church and a friend who was there with me. Her horoscope sign is a lion too. I mean a Leo. But a Leo is just a Lion up there among the stars, isn't it?
The guarding lions are a bit weird.
Their reptilian tails make them look like lionheaded dragons.
Here you can take a look at the surroundings from the dragonlion perspective.
Industrial structures dominate the view.
The shipyard isn't far...
... just a bit downhill and then across the street, it looks like you could reach it in one long jump.
The history of this historic shipyard started a few decades before the history of the main protagonist of today's post - in 1856.
Two years after the ceremonial laying of the first stone on the building site, on the 5th of October 1858, the first military ship was launched into the sea.
Here you can see an angel from the church and a crane from the shipyard posing seemingly near each other in the same shot.
In this photograph, I zoomed in a bit more.
I like this scene a lot. There is a certain vague symbolism embedded in it.
A bit later ...
... I zoomed in on this ornate cross, and then ...
... on a juvenile sagull on the rooftop.
Here you can see the beautiful artwork above the church's main entrance, the one guarded by the lion-dragon hybrids.
The central mosaic representing the mother of god on her throne, surrounded by angels, is so vivid.
Here you can see a bearded dude that looks like a saint and it probably is one.
In this photograph, I zoomed in on a lovely vase and some even lovelier white flowers in it.
You can see plenty of style on this crowned lady's outfit. It looks a bit like a fashion mosaic.
The image of this saint is partially damaged.
The man looks tired of posing on the wall, in the sun, rain, or whatever the good God sends on this cursed little planet called Earth.
I don't know who this dude is or who's the crown for, but ...
... but I do like the mosaic.
It's colorful ... it glitters... pure magic!
All the mosaics shown so far in the post were photographed in the shade. In the following shot ...
... you can see a mosaic partially illuminated by the setting sun ...
... a barefoot nun posing in her iconic professional outfit.
This shepherd was completely illuminated by the sun situated pretty low above the horizon.
The shepherd and the nun are very close but can't see each other.
Can't tell you much about the bearded, wise-looking dude in this picture. The mosaic is pretty cool, though.
Damn, it seems that I just can't stop talking about these mosaics! Can't tell you if it's a blessing or a curse.
This is an auxiliary entrance to the church.
It's much smaller than the main one but very elegant, ornate and beautiful.
As you can see in this photograph, the thick wooden door is nicely decorated as well.
This statue representing the Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a newcomer among the saints around Our Lady Of The Sea.
It's here since the 22nd of October 2010.
Here you can see some lovely floral shapes trapped inside a circle.
The saints in this photograph look like a choir ready to sing you a psalm ... or, I don't know ... ready to go for an Eurovision song contest, maybe ...
This old anchor displayed near the church dates from the same Austro-Hungarian period as Our Lady Of The Sea. It was brought on this lawn on the 1st of November 1998, as a gift from the shipyard administration.
And now ...
... before ending the post ...
... I wanna show you some cool heads made of stone.
Each one is different.
Each head looks like it could be a portrait of a person that actually existed.
THAT'S ALL I WANTED TO TELL YOU TODAY. THE POST ENDS HERE. AS ALWAYS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END.