The Man Who Changed The World

 

While Michael and Marina decided to do the Gondola ride overlooking the vineyards and Rudesheim, I opted for the Mainz Walking Tour. Mainz is another ancient Roman city but it is also the birthplace of one of the most important men in our world's history.

I want y'all to know - this is SUNRISE!  Anybody who knows me, knows how rare this photo is.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1450s. Perhaps his most famous work was the publication of the Gutenberg bible.

“His work led to an information revolution and the unprecedented mass-spread of literature throughout Europe. It also had a direct impact on the development of the Renaissance, Reformation and humanist movements, as all of them have described as “unthinkable” without Gutenberg's invention.” Wiki

Guttenberg Museum

And the Great Man himself

An Alley

Mainz Cathedral

Germans do love their half-timbered houses

Current day Mainz was hopping. It was Farmer's market day in the town square. Many kiosks selling fruit, meat, pastries. It was a visual bonanza.

I had heard that St. Stephen's church had some Chagall windows. I left the official tour and went to the church. St. Stephen is located on top of a hill in the old city. It was built over a thousand years ago and like most of the churches and castles that I had seen, been blown up several times in it's history and rebuilt each time. WWII was the last big bang. During the restoration, Marc Chagall was asked to do some windows. Chagall refused. He was Jewish and did not want to have anything to do with anything German. He eventually relented and in 1978, at the age of 91, accepted the commission. The windows were completed in 1985 and now more than 200,000 people come to see the windows each year. 

 Fun fact: Chagall's left hand had seven fingers and number seven is meaningful, as he was born on the 7^th day of the 7^th month in 1887.

These are Not Chagall windows, but done by Chagall's apprentice

These are the Chagall windows

This was the church pulpit. 
I've never seen one like this before.