Many kind of victories and The Wounded Angel

My photo of the day doesn't reflect today's feelings, this has been a good good day.

Finland got a first medal at Sochi today! A snowboarder Enni Rukajärvi won a slopestyle silver medal. Her performance is made even more special by the fact that she has struggled with a knee injury.

Emma had a basketball tournament in Tampere today (in my old school, the school of Tammerkoski). Pirkkala's girls won both their matches!

Pyrintö Pink - Pirkkalan Viri 25 - 68 (Emma scored 14 points)
Pirkkalan Viri - Korihait 87 - 47 (Emma scored 20 points)

Next to the school of Tammerkoski lies one of Tampere's most important cultural attraction, the Tampere Cathedral. It's among the most significant National Romantic buildings in Finland which is a combination of beautiful architecture, skilled craftsmanship and priceless art. The Cathedral is very familiar to me since we visited it often when I was in upper secondary school.

During Emma's second match I went to see if the doors of the Cathedral were open. They were, so I went in to shoot some pictures.

There is a very famous painting in the Tampere Cathedral called The Wounded Angel (Haavoittunut enkeli). It's a painting made by a Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg, who painted it in 1903 after a long, difficult illness. That’s why the painting had a great significance for Simberg himself. He hoped, that the painting would touch people’s innermost feelings. The work has been seen the artists allegorical story of victory through hardship. Perhaps the angel symbolises Simberg himself; he had problems with his health at the time he was painting it. The angel may also symbolise Finland under Russian rule. Another explanation is that the angel is a symbol of faith.

The Wounded Angel is located in the balcony, but was closed. I had to seek a member of staff and ask if she could open a door for me for a couple of seconds so I could take a photo of the famous Wounded Angel. The lady protested a bit but promised to take me to the upstairs. Quickly I took couple of pictures under the supervision and didn't have an opportunity to shoot those special stained glass windows - maybe some other time then. --- I just had to choose the Wounded Angel to be the picture of the day because of the special effort needed in order to get the picture.

set

Now off to the sauna and after that some silver medal celebration with ice cream.


+2° C, cloudy


P.S. Many congratulations Britons for the first ever Winter Olympics medal on snow!! Well done Jenny Jones!