User Reviews
Margaret Stevens (6 years ago)
Great service, such great staff. I will certainly return on my next holiday to Shetland. :) xx
Great service, such great staff. I will certainly return on my next holiday to Shetland. :) xx
Lunna Kirk (church) probably dates back at least in part to the 1100s and is by far the oldest building in use for Christian worship in Shetland. The church has an unusual structure, with both of the side walls supported by a series of massive buttresses. An unusual feature on the east side of the church, which is likely to date back to a major rebuild of the structure in the 1300s or 1400s, is a lepers' squint, designed to allow lepers to hear the service and see the altar without physically coming into contact with the congregation.
In 1701 the church was declared redundant following a reorganisation of parishes in Shetland and it was thereafter used as a burial place for the Hunter family, lairds of the area. It resumed duty as a parish church from 1753 and the interior and many of the details date back to what seems at least to have been a major renovation, if not a partial rebuilt, then.
The interior of Lunna Kirk is superb. A pulpit stands against the south east side wall, almost on a level with the gallery that extends around the other three sides of the church. At ground floor level wooden stalls are arranged so all eyes are on the preacher.
Access to the gallery is via an exterior stair on the south west end wall. The gallery itself fits within the sloping ceiling of the kirk.
References:The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.