(photograph © Kiwidutch)
The Roman Catholic Basilica in Christchurch is at present just a shadow of it’s former self…
…although who knows what will happen even though the building has joined a select few on a short-list of historic buildings that many Christchurch residents have indicated that they would like to see saved at any cost.
The others are the Christchurch Anglican Cathedral, Canterbury Provincial Buildings, and the Arts Centre and they are on this short-list because these buildings are so tied up in the identity of the city that their loss should be considered only as a very last resort .
The financial feasibility of saving them is of course a totally different issue and every large aftershock that continues amongst the multitude of small tremors, adds additional damage millimetre by millimetre to the already weakened structures.
These aftershocks have proved to be the fatal nails in the coffin for many historic buildings around the city so it remains to be seen if the Roman Catholic Basilica and the other top historic buildings can withstand the shaking until the tremors subside to pre-September 201o levels.
One strange thing happened during the February 2011 earthquake, there was a large statue of the Virgin Mary in the bell tower that usually faced the bell-ringers but during the earthquake she turned a full 180 degrees to look instead out of the window behind her, amazingly the statue remained upright during the entire process although she did get a little chipped by falling masonry.
(Local Carmelite nuns have since repaired her).
The angels above the main entrance to the nave survived the quakes, the stone cross that once stood on the parapet just above them did break off and was hanging precariously over the edge, so was quickly removed for safety reasons.
It’s nice to see that the angels survived, no mean feat considering that each of the tall towers either side of them plunged past during the shaking.
Hopefully it can all be restored… of course it’s still too early to tell, but I will hopefully be back in Christchurch in a few years time and will continue to document the decisions and events that will decide the future of this stunning building.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Really curious what happened to the statue of the virgin Mary. I hope they manage to restore at least a good part of the building, would be really sad to lose a building as nice as that one.
Comment by Doggy's Style — October 4, 2012 @ 1:58 pm |
Doggy,
The statue needed minor repairs (which have been done by the local Carmelite nuns) and is currently in another building for safekeeping… a few people took her 180 degree turn as a “sign” that she was turning her back on the evil’s of the church, others said she must have wanted to look out of the window and across the broken city as a symbol of solidarity. For me it’s just one of the weird things that happens by chance when Mother Earth shakes rattles and rolls. People who want to read more into it will because they want to, nothing more nothing less.
Comment by kiwidutch — October 5, 2012 @ 6:45 pm |
Really fine images in this one, Kiwidutch; your whole series documenting the earthquake damage is excellent.
Comment by Luddy's Lens — October 6, 2012 @ 2:09 am |
Thanks Luddy…
Newspapers for the most part report on the moments after a disaster happened and the odd, infrequent update later if we are lucky. For better or worse this is part of my history,…. the ongoing history of the city I grew up in. These quakes are a fact of the cities life and I like to document life.
The clean-up / recovery is now into it’s second year and that’s just the start .., this is “long haul” stuff with ups and down’s aplenty. Locals are still living under stressful conditions, financial pressure, insurance hassles and in a lot of cases, still with quake damage.
One day things will be completely different, many of the most visible physical scars will have been covered over… the emotional scars will take goodness how long. In documenting this is a way of showing people both now and in the future the whole process of recovering from a major earthquake and for me personally, a way to say goodbye to places I knew and loved.
Comment by kiwidutch — October 6, 2012 @ 8:28 am |
I know what you mean. I grew up in California, and remember some big ones. The ’94 Northridge quake really threw the state for a loop, since we all thought our earthquake building codes were the best in the world. But in that quake, buildings toppled over, a large parking garage flattened, and freeways collapsed (a mind-blower for Californians), in addition to a blow to the economy — all very similar to what you’ve shown us and described Christchurch. (Also, the biggest shocker for us, there were several dozen fatalities and something like 1000 injured. I mention all this because, as I said, we thought we had all this locked up for good, but this reminded us of San Francisco 80 years before.)
I don’t personally have any pictures of the post-earthquake damage that I saw (for any of the quakes), so I really do think it’s great that you’ve made a record of what happened in Christchurch.
Comment by Luddy's Lens — October 6, 2012 @ 9:44 pm
Luddy,
I think it’s a real pity that people didn’t keep a personal diary of events after the Northridge quake… (I remember it well, those images motorway bridges down and cars hanging over the broken bits were scary).
Mind you the fact the digital cameras are widespread these days does change things: would I have taken so many photos of all this on film? not at all, too cost prohibitive and way back in 1994 the internet possibilities for sharing the information were more limited too (to say nothing of internet connection speeds) .
Technology has had a big effect on how information can be recorded, stored and transmitted, for which I am really thankful.
People have to remember that NO building can be made 100% earthquake-proof. The Kobe quake wave in Japan had a force of 0.5 G, the February one in Christchurch was just over 2 G…. with that kind of velocity and coming from an incredibly shallow depth, there is no time for any warning before the sucker punch hits. Photographing this part of the recovery is difficult but later I hope to give you more images of a city rebuilt.
Comment by kiwidutch — October 7, 2012 @ 4:03 pm