The Doors of Ljubljana Cathedral

Halfway walking down from the Castle, climbed up on the railing to catch this shot of the Cathedral with the snowcapped Alps beyond.

The Ljubljana Cathedral right underneath the "Grad" (Castle) has two doors that are massive and cast from bronze, then cut into doors. They were installed in 1996 for the 1250th anniversary of Christianity's arrival in Slovenia, and also to celebrate Pope John Paul II's visit.

To say that they're stunning is quite the understatement. The "front" door is called the Slovene Door, and recounts the history of Christianity's arrival to Slovenia. There is so much detail in the door. One of the things I'm learning from photography is to slow down and really pay attention to both my surroundings, the neat little details I otherwise usually overlook, and of course the intricacies of light.

The door is even sculpted in a way that the woman's head on the right picture is perfectly placed as a door handle, as you can tell from the shininess. The priest's hands have obviously been rubbed quite a bit for luck. Notice the faint relief of the Grad too to the left of the priest? That's the kind of cool detail you don't notice until you really pay attention for a while. I pretty much spent 30 minutes or so just admiring the doors and taking pictures, of course regularly interrupted by old ladies coming and going from prayer.

The side "Bishops Door" has these massive 3D reliefs of different Bishops of the area from the 20th Century.