PPAC: #19
I haven’t contributed to this because I have so little to contribute. Uxbridge doesn’t have public art. We used to have three lovely mosaics on the wall across from the Mumford dam, but sometime between last Thursday and this past Monday, they (whoever “they” are) removed them. The entire wall with mosaics. A new, low wall is where the old tall wall (and mosaics) had been.
Photo: Garry Armstrong
I’m hoping they removed them because they needed to be repaired and (hopefully!) will be placed in one of our museums. There is a museum at Riverbend — the red barn is a museum — and the one they will create from the old church they are restoring.
After more than 150 years of being outside, pelted by rain, wind, sleet ,and snow, those mosaics surely needed at least new grouting and a good polishing.
Meanwhile, work on the old church is moving along much faster than anyone expected. Both sides of the church have been scraped clean and properly painted. The stained glass windows have been polished and sealed. The top half of the steeple is gleaming. What remains (other than internal restoration) is the front of the church including its doors and windows.
I didn’t expect the work to go this fast. I guess they are hoping to have it ready to stand on its own before winter comes — whenever that turns out to be.
Garry is worried the mosaics were not saved. I think they were. I know in Israel, when they found old mosaics, they’d leave them open for viewing for a few weeks then remove them, repair them, polish them and put them in a museum. Sometimes, they built a museum just to house something special. The removal was like this: VERY tidy. When we were there on Monday, I was standing there and I realized I could see the river. I had never been able to see the river from that place because… Wait a minute. Where’s the wall? Whoa!
I saw no signs of breakage or collapse so I’m optimistic. I hope I’m optimistically right!
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Categories: #Photography, Anecdote, Arts, Cee's Photo Challenge
ABSTRACT BY NATURE 
MIDWEEK MADNESS? 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I sure hope those walls were restored – it must have been quite a job to remove the whole lot of them. Fortunately you had photos of them – they do look wonderful; such intricate work!
Absolutely stained glass is art – the work & artistry that goes into it! Thank you for sharing the peek into restoration.
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Thanks for the wonderful lesson to go along with the photos. I love old churches particularly. I’m glad they are restoring them.
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I was beginning to give up. The church was empty and gradually deteriorating for fifteen years. I was really thrilled that it was bought and is being restored. It IS beautiful and the tallest building in town. You can see it from anywhere outside of town.
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That’s wonderfu,l Marilyn. Buildings are like our own personal stuff. It’s hard to know which to save and which to keep as time moves on. I’m glad the city thought a church was worth saving. 🙂
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I love those old churches. Trouble is that most of them are locked up now. Used to be that you could go into any church – day or night – seven days a week. Those days are gone.
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Guns and wacko shooters. There have been so many church shooting, I suppose they finally realized it was dangerous.
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Churches are great public arts. I adore your mural photos too 😀 😀
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I also loved them. I hope I see them again someday.
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GORGEOUS MOSAICS. HOW WONDERFUL TO HAVE THEM IN YOUR VILLAGE.
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It was wonderful. They removed them last week. I do not know where they have gone.
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I’m glad you showed a closeup as I had no idea these were composed of mosaic tiles when I viewed the first photo. I, too, hope they’ve been preserved.
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They are certainly old enough. I’m encouraged that it was a clean removal. I didn’t see anything broken, or any sign of rubble, so those walls came down in one clean piece, or so I believe. I honestly can’t imagine any other reason to remove them. I’m just hoping they show up in one of our local museums and not somewhere in Boston where we’ll never see them again.
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I hope you are submitting these images to the proper officials.., they’d be foolish not to include them in a collection, or to a museum…or, at least, where some historical exhibit lives
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We don’t HAVE officials. We have a “board of selectmen” who are now, I suppose, selectpeople. I’m not even sure who they are. No mayor and town hall is closed unless you have to make a tax payment — for which you need an appointment. This is a very small town.
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