V--2nd, Chapter 9

[Mark Kohut]

"Two things made Foppl's a fortunate place to be carrying on sferic
    research. First, the farmer had given Mondaugen a room to himself in a 
turret
    at one corner of the house; a little enclave of scientific endeavor, 
buffered by
    number of empty storage rooms and with access to the roof through a
    stained-glass window portraying an early Christian martyr being devoured by
    wild beasts."----V. p. 251

Have just read about when prose was first referred to as a 'verbal 
painting'..Maybe later
than you think....anyway, look at the verbal painting above. 

"scientific endeavor" == a little enclave..its proportional space? 

Empty storage rooms  =  why? 

And, not least, maybe most  =  
access through an iconic Christian image.....to the roof!

Through which Galileo crawled when The Church excommunicated him?