The Entrance by Chipka
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Description
The history of Pekkur Castle stretches back to the 8th century (710), to the diminutive Royal Monastery, believed to have been utilized by the apocryphal priest-brotherhood of the Two Brothers. Though under Christian domination throughout much of its recorded history, Agara has remained a steadfast pagan country, often disguising the worship of native gods beneath a thin, sometimes haphazard coat of contrived Christianity. Evidence of this practice can be found in the 12 “theaters” scattered throughout the castle proper.
Though not the only castle in Agara, the Pekkur castle (Pekkursk Hradh) is the largest. It crowns a roughly triangular hill rising from the central region of modern-day Pekkur, and—as expected—serves as the most popular destination for tourists ambling through the historical environments of Pekkur. Though the castle itself is an impressive aggregate of structures, surrounded by thick walls and a deer moat, the largest tourist draw seems to be the courtyards, known among Agarans, as theaters. Each theater (téátr as pronounced in Agaran) is dedicated to a particular stretch of the year. There is one theater for each month of the year and three theaters per season. Historically, the castle theaters are utilized for largely social functions. The Winter Theaters play host to revivalist ceremonies and festivals of a local-religious nature, though the largest of the Winter Theaters is home to contemporary Christmas celebrations; the Spring Theaters are generally home to various seasonal markets. The Summer Theaters—also the largest—are dedicated to dramatic presentations, concerts, and dances, and the Autumn Theaters, like their Spring Theater counterparts, pay host to various markets.
Aside from the larger theaters, more intimate courtyards exist as well: these served as private retreats for members of the Royal Family. Many of the smaller courtyards are closed to the public, or accessible only via guided tour of the various castle interiors. Tourists are encouraged, however, to pay a small fee for an official guided tour, as Pekkur Castle, like the city surround it, offers a number of surreal treasures, including the famous Machine Courtyard that, according to legend, is one of the places through which the Agaran Machine may be accessed directly. Tourists often clamor for a chance to glimpse the mysterious machine, and those interested in this history of Agara are encouraged to enjoy any of the castle tours that touch on aspects of the half-mythical Agaran Machine. (Tours are available in all European languages, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and [as of 2009,] Polynesian.)
This courtyard is actually a courtyard annex to the largest of the Winter Theaters. The lit windows serve the barracks of the Pekkur Castle Guard. As with most of Europe’s castles, the Pekkur Castle allows tourists to observe extravagant and spectacular Changing of the Guard ceremonies. Such ceremonies are rare in Europe as Equestrian Guards are a part of the ceremony.
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Okay…there is no such city as Pekkur: not in this reality, at any rate. There is no such country as Agara…not here…and yet…
This image is of the courtyard of a church in Chicago’s tourist district: steps away from Michigan Avenue. I can’t remember the name of the church, but it’s a fairly large piece of Gothic architecture, run my the Catholic Archdiocese. I was drawn to the lights in the courtyard and to the play of streetlight and shadow in the passage. I snapped this photo through a closed gate, utilizing a handy-dandy McDonald’s soft-drink cup as a stabilizing surface.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
Comments (20)
flavia49
beautiful capture and writing
treasureprints
Well framed shot of this beautiful architecture.:)
sandra46
MAGNIFICENT GOTHIC MOOD
Faemike55
Wonderful capture and cool narrative
MrsLubner
The words were a great story but the image spoke of something more sinister...learning it is a church put it all in perspective for me. And to think it is in the USA, it all made sense. A most stellar shot of a place that resounds with the cries of lost souls.
netot
And yet...is a place you can not miss if you really want to experience the beauty. Impressive photography. the color and the shapes are superbly integrated, like lights and shadows.
auntietk
I like the idea of an anteroom to winter. This is it, despite the warm lighting. It has a cold and bleak feeling somehow. Always a pleasure to see something from Agara!
whaleman
Nice moody shot!
durleybeachbum
An enchanting image. And I was swept away by your story.
kgb224
Outstanding work my friend. God Bless.
marybelgium
beautiful !
MrsRatbag
I love how Agara exists in tandem with our world; you are so privileged to be there for the rare breakthroughs in the fabric of these realities! Well done, Chip!
photosynthesis
A great night shot - love the light & the warm orange tones...
Fidelity2
It is a great expression. I thank you for it. 5+!!
helanker
What warm looking and a bit spooky place it is. This light appeals to me. It is so beautiful. Though it makes me think about my childhood, when walking to the school a dark winter morning. Especially when I was later and all the kids already were inside :D
bmac62
It appears that you were standing upright when you took this...isn't that photographic blasphemy? Shouldn't you have been on the floor, or hanging from a chandelier or at least laying on top of a table? At any rate, I like the lighting, the mood, the creative story...well done!
KatesFriend
Truly it was the soft light of the photo that really grabbed me at first. It looks like a sacred place. Both ancient and mysterious. Somewhere where the light is never completely banished even in the dead of night. I shall have to remember that trick with the McDonald’s in future - I don't suppose a Tim Horton's cup would do. A nice matter-of-fact tone to this tour of ancient Pekkur. The narrative makes this eccentric place that much more real to the reader. I myself am intrigued by this place and the mysteries of this particular castle. If only I could book a trip to Agara or pass through it on a train from west to east. It seems this place it perched between two worlds in that manner.
anahata.c
Chip, I've been here so little, except to view; and part of the reason I go so long without commenting is that I love to comment in detail, but I just don't have the ability to do it as regularly or as well-paced as you do. A single long comment takes me forever, I mean it can be 30 minutes, because I crawl through it like a snail---not because I don't love the work, but because I just can't get the words out in the torrents as you do. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know how you do it, the flow of jewels from your pen in gallery after gallery: Some of your comments 3 paragraphs long (and long paragraphs too), with such feeling and connection, and with your typical wonderful diversions, little worlds unto themselves. And you manage to do that so many times a night, after lonnnng days of work. I don't know how you do it. I sometimes stay away from commenting on RR because it's such a lengthy process for me. So you have to forgive me for these long absences, while you show up in my gallery and leave me diamonds each time you're there. Jewels. My appreciation for them is vast, and my response time is equally vast. I apologize, I just wish I could do this faster and better. I'm just so slow. (I'm slowly beginning to post dedis again---it'll be over many weeks---and yours will come. They're not in any order, unless someone is struggling (as was the case with my last dedi); but as the words find completion inside me. Point is, you'll get mine! It'll just be wayyyyyy after your birthday. But in the world of Agara and Pekkur, etc, I assume calendars are different from ours. I freaking hope so, 'cause it's a helluva good excuse...) Ok. Of the many superlative gems you've posted (I've read every one), it's particularly hard for me to choose a few for one session, so I hope to be back for another in the coming few weeks. I don't begin with this one because it's my first favorite---there are too many of those in your gallery---but because it's typical of one of your styles. I'll see if I can explain this...It's not a full story, but rather a collection of snapshots from the endless cultures inside you; and though the snapshots are only of a few things---the téátrs (did I get the plural right? téátoros? téátresses? tiaras???), the courtyards, etc---you still intimate whole worlds through your snapshots. This I remember from my earliest visits to your remarkable gallery. Small descriptions size-wise, huge intimations vision-wise. God you do that well. And I love them because, even without your long rich and humanly opulent narratives, you still intimate long rich and humanly opulent narratives. So they're amazing to me. The plethora of intersections of life, structures, cultures, etc, in a large city or large city-state, etc, is one of the wonders of a cultural world, whatever form it takes. By illuminating just a smattering of those intersections, you make clear just how vast the culture is, and make us want to go there to see all the things that are bristling behind your already bristling descriptions. We feel, after these types of narratives, that we're missing something huge, and we want to go there to see it for ourselves. The idea of 3 theaters per season, the many languages, the Machine (I'm dying to see that thing), all are parts of the worlds you travel in and reveal through these snapshot pieces. And your photo---well, I know and have photographed this church many times (across from the Hancock, right? same church?)---it's another of your transformative images which turn a space into a whole other world. I know this view, too, and I know the courtyard: You've captured/created a wonderful light spilling on the ground, wonderful light glowing along the vaulting, atop, and I love the angle on the back wall of gothic windows: You know where to stand! The spilling uppermost-light is like a beacon of a distant civilization, inviting us in yet speaking of mysteries beyond our sight, foreboding and enticing at the same time. The picture fits the narrative perfectly. You know, in the fiction I started for you (in my dedi of a year ago), I had all kinds of such places passing by. But in that year, I just couldn't get the narrative to hold. It was, in essence, a visit to your imagination, with galaxy after galaxy of such places. (I actually had a guide---a well dressed nucleotide), and we traveled through your bloodstream through your heart, lungs, etc, encountering more peoples and cultures than in the most varied scenes from Star Wars. The pulmonary artery was a madhouse of collisions, hucksters, cultural icons, prostitutes, great minds, ghosts, etc, and it was all in the journey to your imagination, which I was told I had to have 'protective gear' for because so much of what was there had, to past visitors, caused temporary blindness, vertigo, loss of consciousness, etc. It was a good idea, but I never got it off the page: It was just too much for me at that time. I don't know if I'm ready yet to pick up where I left that monster behind; not yet at least. But I hope to finish it one day. But it was a real tribute, that I can tell you. I even had a pass to get 'in', though the lady who gave it to me---who wore an "I Love Český Krumlov" t-shirt---wound up walking out of the tale because---her words---I couldn't write to save my ass. But that's no big deal: Lots of my characters have walked out of my tales. But I'll finish that one day, I promise.) But your fiction, along with your images, do create worlds which overflow with riches, and yet which intimate tons of riches inside of those riches...so we're always reminded that what we get is just a part of the whole (wygijpotw) (like that little "wysiwig" takeoff? see why I never finished that tale?), whose dimensions may go well past 'whole' anyway, to many wholes. In any case, a piece as modest as this only brings home how rich what you say is, and how rich what you don't say is. While your images carve out worlds all their own---all the more rich for me, because I often know the places you photograph, and then see them wholly anew when you put your inner eye to them. Wonderful piece, verbally, visually, and mythically. And see, I began this comment at 4:10 a.m. and it's nearly 5. How do you do it, Chip? Do you have super hormones? Are there several of you? See why it's so hard for me to comment on lots of images? Almost 50 minutes for this lousy little comment! I hope at least the jokes were worth is. (You wanna joke? In high school, we had a phys-ed group who claimed to run the ångström. I was in that group. Pitiful, isn't it? That we thought that was funny? Ok, I'll leave this now. Terrific work as always...)
FredNunes
Nice work.
danapommet
Beautiful shot and I like the soft lighting!