“Birnau Church”
The Basilica of Birnau is a popular pilgrimage church located on lake Constance’s west banks. Lake Constance, also known as Bodensee in German, is a 63 Km long lake, fed by the Rhine river and borders Germany Austria and Switzerland. It is surrounded by resort towns and is a popular tourist destination, especially for swimming, sailing and windsurfing. There is a cycle path of 270 Km around the lake, known as Bodensee – Radweg.
On the hills around the lake, there are picturesque orchards and vineyards.
The Basilica of Birnau was built in 1746 – 1749 and is a beautiful baroque church with impressive paintings and sculptures.
It is unusual that it has seven altars. The beautiful organ was rebuilt after the second world war and sometimes there are concerts in the church.
Towards the end of our holiday we managed to stay a couple of days in the area and visited few picturesque places, as well as the Sigmaringen Castle, where the family of Romanian kings originated.
Anyway, we managed to spend an afternoon at the Birnau Church and I painted this little painting of the church, alla prima, on Ampersand board.
So, here it is:
“Birnau Church”
Oil on Ampersand board.
20 X 25cm (8” X 10”).
