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This is the St. Giles Cathedral located in Edinburgh, Scotland. This cathedral was built when the ties between Rome and the Scotland church were growing. It is probably best known, however, because of John Knox. John Knox was a big name in the reformation, a protestant who at one time worked closely with John Calvin in Geneva. After going in to hiding, he came back and preached his teachings in this Cathedral. The building then was then reestablished as no longer catholic. This was a significant part of the reformation, especially for Scotland.

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For my wildcard, I am choosing the city of Munich. The reason I chose this is because though we were only able to spend a couple hours in Munich, I could tell this city was rich in culture and history, and learned that it also played a part in the reformation. After looking into it more, I learned that this city was part of the "catholic resurgence" part of the reformation. After Luther's execution, they constructed these double domes in one of their buildings. You can see one of these domes in the background of the 3rd photo posted. One thing or fun fact that was surprising to me about this city was that one of the cathedral's, St. Peter's Church, contained the dead corpse of a catholic martyr, Munditia, and is on display in the church. We were able to go in, and it was definitely an experience. It creeped me out a little bit, but I can still say it was neat to see.

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This is the Beguinage in Bruges. I chose to do this place because we explored it in Bruges one day and it was very scenic and beautiful. A beguinage was a place where women came together and lived together, focusing on religious stuff but also keeping their freedom in their personal lives. So almost like an abbey, but not completely. During the reformation, some reformers saw these places as a threat, because they were afraid they were being used as outposts by the catholic church. This place was so peaceful and gorgeous in my opinion, and the idea behind it is beautiful.

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This is the Basilica of St. Servatius and Church of St. John located in Maastricht. St. Servatius is a catholic cathedral, and St. John is protestant. Before the reformation, the building that is now St. John was the baptistry of St. Servatius. However, after the reformation, it became a protestant church. The interiors of these two cathedrals were very different to me. St. John's interior, though beautiful, was pretty plain in my opinion, compared to St. Servatius. St. Servatius's interior just blows it out of the water, it is so detailed and beautifully crafted, as most catholic cathedrals are. It really surprised me that these two churches, one catholic and one protestant, were beside each other. With how high tensions were during the reformation, it seemed very unusual. We were also able to climb up to the top of the Church of St. John, which led us to a beautiful view of the city, though climbing the small and steep spiral stairs was not fun.

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This is the Aix-la-Chapelle Cathedral located in Aachen, Germany. I chose this cathedral because it was one of the first ones that we saw at the beginning of this trip, and it was so beautiful and awe-striking. This cathedral was built by and belonged the Charlemagne, a very important person in Catholicism's history. Charlamagne took influence from the eastern part of the Holy Roman Empire while designing this cathedral. Under Charlemagne, the Roman Empire was unified for a short bit and he was named the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne made his cathedral and Aachen in general a hotspot where people could come to learn, and it's popularity continued in the reformation era. One thing that surprised be about this cathedral is it's dome-shaped ceiling in the middle of it, which seemed like a very unique layout for this kind of building.