Thoughts

by Chrissy Doughty (Temple University)
AS I WALK DOWN THE EMPTY STREETS of Armagh, I wonder why all of the stores have gates over their windows upon closing time. I've seen this in Philadelphia also, but in this city it seemed out of place. I had encountered this in Belfast too, so I begin to think of it as a European thing. Why are those bars there? Is it just to protect their store's goods? I consider the Troubles in this area and try to wonder whether or not that has something to so with it too. For such a small, quiet city they sure lock down at night. Walking through the town center feels similar to walking through a ghost town, or maybe exactly like it. I'm not saying that this feeling takes away from the beauty of Armagh, it adds to the rich history of it.

From our hostel you can see the two spires from the Catholic Cathedral. The size of the building dwarfs and dominates the rest of the small structures around it, not to mention that it's placed on a hill. I feel like such monstrous and elaborate designs are meant to intimidate people more than make them feel welcome to walk through the doors for daily and Sabbath mass. It's not only St. Patrick's Cathedral that does it, so does the Church of Ireland Cathedral on the opposite hill, numerous castles, jails and government buildings do it too. One time I was taking a walking tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and the tour guide said its walls were built to mimic those of a castle to remind civilians in surrounding areas of where they did NOT want to end up.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the beauty these massive cathedrals give to hills they sit on. I just think that they are indeed built so colossal to be a "subtle" reminder to folks in Armagh and other counties to keep their religious center in tune.