Look Up

Because they represent the cultural and architectural history of communities, we frequently visit houses of worship in the places to which we traveled. We typically find the doors unlocked and even wide-open. In Rome, one church had removed its front doors. Houses of worship also can be a great places to rest and get reoriented, especially during a long day of walking. Whether exploring or resting, it is easy to miss the forest for the trees, particularly the ceilings.

The vaulted ceilings of cathedrals are structural and architectural marvels, and beautiful in that regard; for example, Westminster Abby in London, Notre Dame in Paris, and St. Patrick's in NYC pictured below.

Some lesser known and smaller places of worship that we have visited had very ornate ceilings, for example, the blue lit vaulted ceiling in the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal (see photo at the top). The following are photos of a few unique ceilings we discovered by looking up in three cities: Bath, Belfast, and Rome.

• St. Malachy's Church, Belfast, Northern Ireland