The Mysterious Green Flash at Strasbourg Cathedral
People throng into the Strasbourg cathedral twice a year for an amazing equinoctial light phenomenon.
The green flash is an optical phenomenon taking place just after sunset or before sunrise. It has become a myth and a novel by Jules Verne in 1882. If you happen to see it, you will always be sure about your love feelings. That is for the legend.
Twice a year, for the Spring and Autumn equinoxes, crowds throng into the Strasbourg cathedral. A mysterious light phenomenon appears at 11:38 on March 20, and September 21, it lasts several days. The patriarch Judah, an ancestor of the Christ, is featured in one of the South triforium windows and will be our guide. He looks towards the sun above his right shoulder whilst his index shows his left foot, thus indicating the sun goes through his green foot at a determined moment and from a certain angle. This stained glass window dates back to 1876 and the sun crosses the nave of the cathedral via this beautiful window on every sunny day and particularly on these dates. The green beam reaching the pavement in the Spring creates an oval that moves with the sun, reaches the 15th century pulpit and lights the head of the Virgin, runs along the Christ’s right and left arm, then above his head and finally down to Saint-John’s head. The same phenomenon appears in Autumn, the beam is then white, from another part of the stained glass window, the sun being lower over the horizon.
The show is lovely and attracts many enthusiasts each year. According to the Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, this occurred accidentally following the restoration of the window in the ’70s.
If there is an intention, the tradition was then respected. The Strasbourg green flash symbolically is a tribute to the Sun, to the solar Christian religion. The green color is linked to Nature and Hope and white to Pureness. Various similar phenomena do exist in other sanctuaries in France and other countries. The Strasbourg cathedral is also famous for its astronomical clock.
Strasbourg, façade of the Gothic cathedral.
Image source: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/11/04/cathc3a9dralestrasbourg_1.jpg
The Judah stained glass window on the right. This is where the phenomenon comes from.
Image source: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/11/04/judarayonvertstrasbourgjpeg_1.jpg
The green flash lighting the pulpit in the Spring.
Image source: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/11/04/rayonvert2009_1.jpg
Astronomical clock in the Strasbourg cathedral.
Image source: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/11/04/cathedraledestrasbourgimg1231_1.jpg
West façade main portal at Strasbourg cathedral.
Image source: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/11/04/cathedraledestrasbourgimg4240_1.jpg
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Excellent!!! What an interesting article with stunning images. I wish I could witness the Strasbourg green flash :|... I am sure that must be out of this world.