Religious I am not.

I wanted to post a few pictures of crosses that I saw while in Germany.  I am not religious but I happened to enjoy the geometry of the cross (in all variations).  It's amazing to see the variations in crosses and uses for them.  I hope you enjoy the ones I was able to photograph.  I will have to give fair warning, many of the places I visited did not allow flash and were dimly lit.  So some of the pictures don't look so great and I don't have the steadiest of hands.  I guess you can say that these photos are pretty much fail.  But they are part of a memory for me since it was part of my experience while I was in Germany.

 The above photograph was from Dachau Concentration Camp there was a walk way behind the Crematorium where they had disposal areas for people during the time the concentration camp was in operation.  Right where I was standing to take the picture is a plaque that reads: "FOSSE COMMUNE GRAB VIELER TAUSEND UNBE KANNTER     GRAVE OF MANY THOUSANDS UNKNOWN"

The above cross was a donated piece of art that is on display as part of the permanent exhibit in Dachau.   It is located in the former maintenance building of the concentration camp located by the entrance.  There are other bits of art at the end of the exhibit, you could spend hours walking through the historical part of the exhibit. 

These last two crosses were erected after the close of the concentration camp.  The top one is located near the Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel.  The lower one is also located near there.  Below is the Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel.  As well as the Russian Orthodox Chapel.

The above six photos were taken at The Residenz in Munich.  The crosses were photographed in the room where they kept religious relics.  If you look closely at the picture up above; the two grey things on either side of the center piece are skulls.  This room had the bones of saints worked into several ornate relics.  The skulls pictured above are wrapped in what appears to be silk and then lace.  But you can still see the skull through the thin veil of fabric.  In the center piece there are other random chunks of bone.

I found this on a HUGE door to a church in Cologne.  I am unsure of what church this was as we happened to stumble across it while wandering/exploring Cologne.  I will have to post a picture of the entire door on my blog entry about our adventures in Cologne.

The above crosses were photographed in the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin.  I highly recommend this museum to anyone that is interested in German history.  The museum is housed in a building that was built between 1695 and 1730!  You can see some damage to the outside of the building from bombing during WW2.

 The Cross of Nails was made out of three nails from the ruins of the destroyed Coventry Cathedral in England.  It represents peace and reconciliation.

The above three pictures were taken in the Memorial Hall of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.  The ones below were in the church but it was under construction so it was hard to get good pictures.  It was also REALLY REALLY dark.

 This statue of Christ is in the church directly across from the entry way.  It's huge!!! The tour guide mentioned that the statue is made out of a special kind of brass.  You can get an idea of how big the statue is on the lower left of the picture, after the third candle in, that's a man's head.  His head is so tiny compared to the statue (and the candles too).

I don't really know too much about this cross.  It was kinda of far to get a good picture of because of all of the construction equipment.  Sorry for the terrible quality.  Next time I go hopefully I will be able to get some better pictures from inside the church.