Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button below.
Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré – Québec City Region (Part 2)
Picking up from where I left off last week here are some of the interior shots from the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré about a half-hour drive east of Québec City.
After taking some exterior shots I headed over to the visitors center to find out about the possibility of taking a guided tour. The lady behind the counter informed me that I was about a week too early in the season. They were just getting ramped up for the busy summer tourist season and the guided tours would only start up again in mid-May 😦
She was on her toes enough to notice the two cameras hanging around my neck. She looked at her watch and told me that if I was there to take pictures inside, it would be a good idea to go now. The next mass was due to start in about 45 minutes, and since photography was not permitted during services if I didn’t go now I would have to wait another hour and a half before I’d be able to take pics inside.
Gee it’s refreshing when people are proactively helpful like this! So I took the kind lady’s advice and headed inside.
Here’s a selection of some of interior doors along with a few of my favourite non-door shots:
I could go on and on with sweeping shots in this grand building but I’ll try to contain myself on concentrate more on doors 😉
This door lead to some stairs to smaller chapel in the basement.
I found the downstairs chapel to be almost as impressive and in some ways even prettier than the one on the main level.
A semi-circular walkway around its perimeter offered up some lovely doors as well.
I hope to see you back again next week to finish the tour as we check out some of the peripheral buildings that are part of this complex.
As always, thanks so much for reading 🙂
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Thoroughly enjoyed these gorgeous images Norm. Looks like we were on your wavelength this week! https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/lens-artists-challenge-20-open-sesame-doors-and-doorways/
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Thanks for the heads-up Tina. We do doors here every Thursday so if you ever have other share-worthy doors and feel a desire to join us: by all means come on by. The more the merrier 🙂
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Thanks Norm!
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Stunning, Norm. I have to say that the confessional doors really reminded me of the penalty box. Gotta love hockey.
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beautiful church and doors. My uncle would love that organ.
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I only regret not getting the chance to hear the organ played.
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That is absolutely beautiful inside. I love that semi-circular area around the perimeter of the downstairs chapel.
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Thanks Amy. The blue ceiling made it feel so peaceful in there.
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OMG, OMG, OMG! Thanks for the photos of the basement chapel. It’s even more spectacular than I remembered! There is definitely an otherworldly feel to it and is so much more appealing than the cavernous cathedral itself.
Great photos, Norm. Each and every one of them. I’ve never noticed how intricate ceiling is until you turned your camera on it. Wow!
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It’s sensory overload with so many little details everywhere in there.
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I agree – you don’t quite know where to look first 🙂
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Love the doors, but, oh my, that ceiling! Thanks for all these remarkable photos.
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Thanks. Yes I got a sore neck from all the upward gawking 😉
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Stunning!
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🙂
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WOW (forwards and backwards)!
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🙂
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Well, I’m so glad you didn’t contain yourself too much, Norm. Although the doors are awesome, those ceilings are amazing. I can’t blame your camera for being drawn upward so much. Beautiful interior and the lighting is fabulous, too.
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The grand hall is magnificent and the basement chapel intriguing. The doors are nice too! =)
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Thank you 🙂
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What a lovely church! I agree with you, the downstairs chapel is spectacular. Great lighting.
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Thank you! Yes the blue has a very calming influence.
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Stunning shots, Norm. Especially #3,#4 of the interior, ceilings. A perfect example of what my phone can’t do…or what I can’t do 🙂
Beautiful.
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Thanks for the kind words 🙂
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This is indeed a beautiful church and your images of its doors and many other fabulous features are stunning. Chapeau!
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Merci mon amie 🙂
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Beautiful photos, Norm. I love traditional churches, so solid outside and beutiful and peaceful inside. This one is a stunner!
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It is indeed. Thank you Luccia 🙂
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Your captures are a treat, Norm. Hold onto these! Because the painted style is a very early iconic style, very seldom seen on this N. side of the ocean. My favorite is your capture of the two pillars looking up at the ceiling with the stained glass windows! Nice to have informative helpful people around:)
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Thank you. I had never seen this style of painting before and I remember noticing it and thinking it was rather unique 🙂
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Interesting murals on the ceiling – more subtle than what you usually but I like them.
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Thank Jan. I had not seen that style of ceiling murals before – it is quite interesting.
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Wow! Now that’s a church…
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It is indeed – thanks John 🙂
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Truly awesome
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Thank you Ian. glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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What a magnificent building! I agree: I also think the downstairs chapel is prettier and more intriguing than the main space. Thanks for the tour!
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Thank you Marian 🙂
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Gorgeous! I love entering new (to me) cathedrals and being surprised and delighted by the grandeur inside. Where we are currently traveling, there are a lot of Catholic churches and cathedrals… I’ll never look at the confessionals the same way again ( 🙂 ). I’m so happy that woman was on her toes and clued you in on the window-of-opportunity you had!
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Thanks. Her unsolicited helpful tip was a truly pleasant surprise.
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Norm, it really is refreshing when people are proactively helpful like that. It is a hospitality thing – but also people like that understand that this is how we share beauty with the world – and so for her to value your camera efforts says so much (I felt that at an art show recently where a lady came up to show me another artist I could go and meet – and take a few pics with – she was awesome).
anyhow, my fav of this post is that opening exterior – the two sets of doors – but also there is a blue/gray hue with white that caught my eye a few times here
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Thank you!
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🙂
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Very pretty. Those mosaics are really something, aren’t they?
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They are indeed 🙂
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Absolutely beautiful!
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Thank you!
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These are gorgeous photos, Norm. Those doors, all of them, are amazing. I especially like the last one, the shapes on it call to me. I can say in all truthfulness that there’s nothing like this building anywhere around me. Way cool.
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Thanks Ally. We have a few truly grand churches like that around here. It always leaves me speechless to see how much artistic passion, effort, energy, and resources were put into some of these places.
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It’s always hard to find words to properly compliment such grand places — this is definitely worthy of an awesome and an amazing. The windows alone make me swoon!
I agree with you on the small chapel as well. It’s still stunning, but it’s cozy and the lighting seems precious.
So glad the lady let you in for a peek and snap 🙂
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Thanks Joey. Yeah the muted lighting and colors in the downstairs chapel made it feel very cozy and peaceful.
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A real beauty I must revisit.
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It has only been a few weeks but I’m already thinking about when I might go back again too 😉
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You inspired me to do a doors post a couple of weeks ago. This post is just gorgeous that church is awesome!
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Thanks Tony. Sorry I missed your post. I went back to have a look and left a comment but I think it ended up in spam jail – you may have to go into your comments and bail me out 😦
If you join us with a doors post in the future remember to swing by and add it to our link-up list using the blue froggie button in my post. It makes it easier for the other door lovers to find the post when they’re on in one place – cheers!
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Wow! Just wow! Although we Lutherans don’t do confession (to a pastor), I love the confessional doors. But the entire place is awesome, in the original sense of the word–inspiring awe. Beautiful shots.
janet
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Couldn’t put it better than this Janet. Fabulous photos Norm. 😀
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Thanks Su 🙂
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Thank you Janet 🙂
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I almost thought you were going to say the lady at the visitor centre decided to give you a tour, but her tip about going in before mass started was pretty good too! The colours in the downstairs chapel give it a bit of an underwater or outer space feel. And everything looks so immaculate!
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Thanks. You’re right the place is spotless and impeccably maintained.
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Really great to see the doors inside. It is interesting that the main structure of the building takes its roots from medieval architecture and yet the doors are startlingly modern in design. Stunning nave.
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You’re right, there is an interesting mix of classic architecture and modern elements in this one.
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The doors are historic and handsome, and the sweeping shots took my breath away. This is a gorgeous church, and you did it proud, Norm.
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Thank you Judy 🙂
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Wow! Great doors and I’m very glad you took us inside too. A stunning interior
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Thank you Debbie 🙂
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So much beauty here, Norm. I’m glad the lady was on her toes and got you in for these photos. I like the confessional doors and I laughed out loud at “Catholic Penalty Box” – so true. The downstairs chapel looks almost surreal in that first photo. I really like the arched entrances on that level.
This building certainly required more that one week. I think you could have stretched it out even farther. The photos are excellent, and I can only imagine the lighting was a bit of a challenge.
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Thank you Dan. I can’t take credit for the penalty box line. One of my uncles used to call it that. Church in general was something he called Sunday Morning Sinners Club. Needless to say he had a quirky sense of humor.
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Quirky and Canadian 🙂
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Ahhh. So pretty that I don’t really mind what it is that goes on in there. 😀 Seems a bit like watching the villas and private gardens and reconsidering capitalism. 😉 Seriously though, spectacular photography.
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Yeah it’s not quite enough to convince me I’d need to go start attending church but I will visit them to admire the art and architecture 😉
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