St Michael's Church Ipoh

I learnt from the priest's eulogy that Uncle Michael worked for some 10 years at this church, doing admin and clerical stuff like collecting subscriptions, payments, keeping accounts and donations.  No wonder, most of the church members knew him and many turned up for his mass service.

 Beautiful church caught against the clear blue sky in the morning.  A google search revealed that it was built in 1890 making it 120 years old!  This is a refurbished and renovated facade. 

 The spacious car park and there is a graveyard behind the walls.  In front are niches for keeping ashes for those who chose cremation.

 See the huge carpark? In Kuala Lumpur you would not have this luxury of space because you will be helmed in by high rise and roads and buildings and and and....

 Closer to the building, I found an antique fountain with a statue, must be the patron saint of the church.

 I felt like I was in Italy or something and the people in the funeral parlour must be thinking we are some tourists taking photos of a cathedral! (The people in the parlour happened to be Meiko and Flo!)

 Right!!! This is the statue of St Michael, the archangel. Archangel? I have not heard this word since my childhood days in Catechism and I have forgotten what part St Michael played as an archangel or what is the difference between an angel and an arch one. Something like an archenemy?
you can read about St Michael here:
http://www.smcipoh.com/en/keysymbols.html

 You can see the driveway into the church compound marked by cones so this place has its own designated land and this church thankfully would not be demolished for some shopping mall, the fate which has befallen many a church/temple/missionary school in Malaysia.

In fact you can see some  huge ugly buildings opposite.

 Ipoh Parade!! and K Box, the ubiquitous karaoke joint.

 Hubby wants me take a photo of the window...the opposite of which  is a stained glass window, the kind you find in big churches.

 Nice and well-kept!

 like the courtyard of Romeo and Juliet! The part where the young Romeo quarrelled and fought with Juliet's brothers.

 Now I want to show you St Mary's pavillion.

 Statue of St Mary with a bird

 An interesting touch is that this pavillion is chinese inspired!

 The huge funeral parlour, my relatives are already seated there, having chicken rice.

These are called "niches" for ashes in urns.

 Lithogram effect of St Michael

 Black and white effect

 Night view with Nikon DSLR

The inside of the church....breathtakingly beautiful!!!!