Monday, May 17, 2010

The Thief and the Church in the Wilderness

Near Dharamsala in the Himalayas, there is an old church among the deodars called the Church in the Wilderness. In the nineteenth century, a British officer was killed there by wild bears.
The church has beautiful stained glass windows.

The church reminds one of a bear, somehow.


There are magnificent Deodar trees all round the church.




Lord Elgin, who was a viceroy of India, is buried here. It is the same Lord Elgin who stole the marble sculptures from the Panthenon in Greece. By all accounts, Elgin seems to have been an unscrupulous and cruel man.



5 comments:

  1. It is a beautiful place. And your photographs are great also. Like always.
    The part of the story about Lord Elgin and his theft of the marbles from Parthenon Athens, and moved them to England is interesting also.
    I knew he was one of the biggest thieves in history but did not know he was a viceroy of India.
    It looks like the queen used to send the best of their kind to govern the colonies.
    Costas

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  2. What a lovely old church in beautiful, peaceful surroundings. Those trees are wonderful. Too bad it has some unsavory history. The past is gone, the beauty remains.

    FlowerLady

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  3. Thanks for sharing. Yes lets hope the Elgin marbles are returned to Greece.

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  4. It is a beautiful place with a haunting past. The British Spanish and French Monarchy sent their finest to conquer and rule with an iron fist. Many of the finest civilizations were destroyed in the name of their God and their Queen. At least the some truth is known about the villains.

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  5. Costas, yes, many of the British viceroys were unsavoury characters, but many of them were good too.
    Flower Lady, thanks for your visit. Yes, it is a really peaceful church among beautiful trees.
    Ian, lets hope it will happen soon.
    Helen, what you say is quite true. But there were some very good administrators and historians among them too.

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