And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but the truth in a masquerade.

Their own cross to bear. St Johns Park, New Town. April 2011. Sunday Top Five day and what possible top five could top The Top Five Churches That I Have Been Into And Find Firmly Stuck In My Mind? As a person of no faith [and believe me, at this point I have no faith in anything at all…] you know that a church must have something going for it to either have me going inside, let alone remember much about it.

• Nürnberg Frauenkirche, Nürnberg. Seriously, how could you go past a church where the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned?



• St. Vitus Cathedral, Praha. A spooky number located inside the castle, we were fortunate enough to see just towards the end of the restoration of the façade out front.



• Notre Dame de Paris, Paris. Jean de Jandun nailed it in 1323: “that most terrible church of the most glorious Virgin Mary, mother of God, deservedly shines out, like the sun among stars..." You really do have to see it to believe it.



• St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. A testament to the wealth of nineteenth century Melbourne, the yellow sandstone of St Paul’s marks it out against the dominant bluestone that is usually found throughout the city. Part of the Neo-Gothic revival, I never knew that it had the second highest Anglican spire in the world. Well, there you go!



• Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Venezia. Normally people might be expected to plump for Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco (a.k.a. St Mark's Basilica). Now, San Marco is all well and good, but a little bit flash for my tastes. Far more memorable is the abandoned cathedral on the island of Torcello. Founded in 639, the façade of the Last Judgement is one of the scariest things I reckon I’ve seen. The fact that they abandoned the island after nearly everyone died of malaria may have something to do with that…

You can see the (former) church on the right of this picture. St Johns Park, New Town. April 2011.