New Again – A Senryū #ThursdayDoors

West Facade, Lille Cathedral, Lille Northern France. Licensed image credit: © Richair | Dreamstime

boarded up no more

translucence made new again

building on the past

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Built on the feudal land where the city was founded, the Cathedral and minor Basilica, Notre Dame de la Treille in Lille, France (Lille Cathedral) is a mix of very modern architecture and medieval components (circa 1900s). Lille Cathedral was built in honor of the Virgin Mary (venerated in Lille, France as Our Lady of the Treille).

Its main facade unfinished and boarded up for decades, Lille Cathedral was made new again when generous benefactors aided the cathedral’s monumental completion in 1999.

The featured doors are the five meters high (16 feet) main entrance doors, west facade.

Main Entrance, West Facade, Lille Cathedral, France. Licensed image credit: © Frederic Araujo | Dreamstime

The doors are made of glass framed in bronze by sculptor Georges Jeanclos. The central mullion (in the middle) depicts Mary, Mother of Jesus, with open arms. On the bronze mullion are sculptured vines in relief. Vines are the symbol of Our Lady of the Treille, to whom the city of Lille is dedicated.

Trivia #1: The miracle of the 53 healed.

Documented accounts that persists to this day, record that on June 14, 1234, fifty three persons with disabilities prayed for healing in front of the carved statue of Our Lady of the Treille in the Collegiate Church of Saint-Pierre (the predecessor church to Lille Cathedral).

All 53 persons were healed. To this day, each year, the many miracles associated with the statue, Our Lady of the Treille, are commemorated on the second Sunday after Pentecost in Lille.

On October 28, 1634, in a unique act of devotion, Jean le Vasseur, the Mayor of Lille, offered up the keys to the city on the Collegiate Church of Saint-Pierre‘s altar in gratitude, some say, for the numerous miracles documented in the city’s centuries-long devotion to Our Lady of the Treille.

Trivia #2:

Lille Cathedral lacked a suitable second and larger organ for its Gallery (the cathedral has a smaller choir organ since the 1867). In 2007, the legendary concert hall of Radio France, Studio 104, Paris, ‘sold’ its famous theatre organ to Lille Cathedral— for the symbolic sum of one franc. The organ was remodeled and installed at Lille Cathedral in 2008.

Additional facts:

Drawing millions of visitors each September, Lille, France, is home to one of Europe’s largest flea markets, Grande Braderie de Lille.

Although it is hard to see in photos, Lille Cathedral’s modern west facade’s exoskeleton is made from 100 sheets of translucent marble on which the equation E=mc² is engraved.

Pictured below Lille Cathedral during construction when the first segment (the apse) was completed in 1900.

Lille Cathedral, under construction in 1900 showing the apse completed. Image credit: Par E. C. | Wikimedia CC 4.0,
Completed, Lille Cathedral, Lille France. Licensed image credit: © Milosk50 | Dreamstime.

And for more ThursdayDoors visit Dan Antion at No Facilities

Ritva Photography

Half Shadows – TankaTuesday #38, Becky’s #November Shadows

Edmonton – 142 Street.

Autumn wanes. Thimbles of sunlight dollop skies, the day blinks. Trees in half shadows linger leaving intentions. Year’s end looms its patchwork of hope—the unseen dispelling mountains with small mustard seeds, grafted to the vine.

autumn clears the air

sunrise slowly dims the light—

hope grows fall candles

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For Colleen Chesebro’s TankaTuesday #38 – 18 November 2025 where this week’s host Willow Willers‘ invitation is to write in shadorma prose along with a syllabic form on any topic of the writer’s choice.

For Becky’s Squares of B, Photo Challenge; #NovemberShadows

Wordless Wednesday

Image credit: collegefessing on Instagram via boredpanda
Image credit: myinfo on pinterest
Image credit: thunderdungeon
Bronze sculpture of a blanket as a bench. Iris Le Rütte, Park Kalheupink Netherlands. Image credit: Door Pieter Delicaat | Wikimedia CC 3.0,
Ducks in a row. Image credit: Julie Ford | Pinterest
Image credit: pinterest
Image credit: fluffmemes via Pinterest
Image credit: pinterest

Linking with Sandee at Comedy-Plus #WordlessWednesday

Measure – A Poem;  WDYS #315

Image credit: Jon Tyson | Unsplash

Each moment pours from the same acquifer,

Neither half full nor half empty it’s measure.

It’s clay-jar handle unique to every palm print

a surefooted piton and anchor as the days drift.

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For Sadje’s #Whatdoyousee #315 – 17 November 2025.

For Dan’s Sporting Venues — CFFC

(Pictured above) Still under construction, the new Coronation Park, Sports and Recreation Facility, Edmonton. The building’s siding is copper.

Coronation Park Sports Field. Edmonton

On my way to take a photo of the rear of the bleachers at Coronation Park Sports Field (in the distance in the image above), I came across this caution sign…!! – a closeup is below.

Coronation Park Field. Edmontion

For Dan’s Sporting Venues — CFFC Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge.

Browns & Greys— Terri’s #SundayStills

November 2022 – A tree in a shopping mall parking lot. Edmonton.

And then… months later taken from my car, a photo of the same tree June 2023 (image below)

For Terri’s #Sunday-Stills, November: Shades of brown or grey

#FOTD

Chrysanthemums (Cushion White), For Cee’s #FOTD

Awww Monday

Image credit: Nick Olejniczak | flickr CC 2.0

Linking with Sandee at Comedy-Plus Awww Mondays

Cellpic Sunday

Mural, 115 St. Edmonton.

I came across this lengthy mural on the side of a building this past Spring 2025 at Edmonton’s 115th Street corner. The building has no signage and Google had scarce little information.

For John’s #Cellpic Sunday

Deb’s Which Way CWWC : Black and White Week – 2

Edmonton. First snow, November 2025.

For Deb’s Which Way CWWC – Black and White, Week 2.