Peace In Their Time

WE face Israel in today's round seven.

Israel v England 3

Nathan Birnboim (2357) v Richard Freeman (1987)

Malkiel Peretz (2158) v David Tucker (1898)
Moshe Gal (2106) v Tim Spanton (1800)
Abir Har-Even (1980) v Robert Kane (1723)

ONE of the more memorable stories from when I worked on newspapers is the time the Washington Post rang ambassadors based in the American capital and asked them what they would most like for Christmas.

The Soviet ambassador called for nuclear disarmament, the French ambassador said he would like to see world peace, etc.

What makes the tale memorable is that the British ambassador asked for a bottle of port and some mince pies.

That is the gist of the story - I may have some of the details wrong - and I was reminded of it when discovering Świdnica has a Church of Peace.

I was going to give it a miss - it sounded too right-on for me - until I by chance learnt it dates back to the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the 30 Years War in 1648.

This part of Silesia was under the rule of the Catholic Habsburgs, who were pressurised by Sweden, at the time one of the great powers of Europe, to allow the building of a Protestant church.

It went ahead, but with major restrictions on the construction process in the hope, apparently, that the church would not last long.

Similar restrictions, including a ban on using stone, were imposed on Orthodox churches in Habsburg-ruled Romania, which led to churches being built entirely of wood, as I found when I visited Transylvania last year.

The solution in Świdnica was to use wattle-and-daub, a process in which wooden strips are held together by a mix, typically containing mud, sand, cow dung and straw.

The Holy Trinity Church of Peace, to give the building its full title, can hold 7,500 worshippers and has been a Unesco world heritage site since 2001.

It is certainly impressive, although I feel the hype given to it locally is rather overdone - if gaudy ostentation is what one is looking for, it can be found in countless Catholic churches and cathedrals.

Anyway you can judge for yourself from the following photos.

Outside it looks like a large Tudor mansion

Main altar

Hochberg family box

Pulpit

I am guessing this is Martin Luther

I have no idea who this is but the amount of finery surrounding the portrait is almost designed to distract attention from her

A local bigwig and his wife?

Cute, even if long forgotten

Landscapes also have their place, albeit less prominently displayed than the people who ruled over them

Bell, possibly from a later-built bell tower rather than the church itself

Last Supper

Baptismal font in the church foyer

Świdnica's coat of arms is a reminder that for centuries it was better known under its German name of Schweidnitz

Side-on view of the exterior

Handsome gravestones have been rearranged to decorate the outside

The church was allowed a bell tower, again under pressure from Sweden, in 1708