bleu et or

11:14 Aug 19, 2013 

It seems that Narcisse, in the book only got as far as Bavaria, where Catholic churches also have onion domes on their bell towers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_dome
"It is the predominant form for church domes in Russia (Russian: луковичная глава, lúkovichnaya glava; mostly on Russian Orthodox churches) and Bavaria, Germany (German: Zwiebelturm (= "onion tower"), plural: Zwiebeltürme, mostly on Catholic churches), ... "

15:23 Aug 18, 2013 

Blue and gold are generally associated by Catholics with "Mary Queen of Heaven". (I know some Republican French people who believe that the design of the European Union flag was a Catholic conspiracy.) Mary is traditionally depicted wearing a blue robe and, having ascended to heaven, a gold crown or a halo of twelve golden stars.

http://www3.nd.edu/~wcawley/corson/schoolcolors.htm
'The University’s Gold and Blue colors were not only associated with Mary, the Queen of Heaven, Father Sorin’s “guiding star,” they were also the royal colors of King Edward, St. Edward the Confessor, the patron saint of Father Edward Sorin -- founder of Notre Dame and St. Edward’s University. Father McAvoy said it so well: “To have a history is to have a name and the richer the history the more glorious the name.”'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Europe#cite_note-Levy-7

05:09 Aug 18, 2013 

I think you are trying to put words into my mouth: I didn't say 'Eastern European church', but churches; these architectural features are typical of some of the churches found more commonly in the east of Europe than in the west.

23:58 Aug 17, 2013 

What I was pointing out is that there's no such thing as "Eastern European church" neither as a religion nor as an architectural style, the same way there's no "West European religion" nor "West European churches" but several quite distinctive styles - round churches, Merovingian, Norman, gothic, baroque etc...
In Eastern Europe you'll find several variants of mainstream Christianity Orthodox, Catholics, Uniates etc etc plus all sort of sects, you'll also find a variety of architectural styles - the one described is typical of Russian orthodox churches (I would be surprised if you find many catholic churches in that style).
Now to come back to "'les clochers arrondis bleu et or comme au paradis", why would blue and gold be associated with paradise is a different matter, possibly it was so obvious at that time that no one bothered to put it in writing, or no one published it yet on the Web. That was maybe obvious to those with a certain religious education at the the time when it was written, but it's not so obvious today.

21:16 Aug 17, 2013 

Oh please don't be so dismissive! There are churches in lots of Eastern European countries that have not-dissimilar architecture to those commonly associated with Russia, i.e. towers with domes (variously onion-shaped, pepper-pot, etc.), any of which might be covered in blue tiles / painted blue or gilded. I feel sure this is the idea behind these words — though now we have vital extra context, the Napoleonic / Russian connection of course can't be ignored.

20:03 Aug 17, 2013 

there's no such thing as an "Eastern european church"; what is described in this ST is most likely a Russian orthodox church (like this one http://www.russianchurchlondon.org/wp-content/themes/russian... ), probably in the story of Napoleon's trip to Moscow; which makes any direct links to rosicrucians quite unlikely.

18:04 Aug 17, 2013 

Description comes from the context telling about the campaign of Napoleon army in the history...

17:30 Aug 17, 2013 

Where is this description of? It makes me thinks of Eastern European churches with gilded or coloured domes on their bell-towers, but it does all very much depend on where this is.