The Cathedral: Symbol of Paradise
The Cathedral is a figure of the City of God, the Celestial Jerusalem, an image of Paradise, as the liturgy of the consecration of churches affirms.
Its lateral walls are representations of the Old and New Testaments. Its pillars and columns are the Prophets and Apostles that sustain the cupola, where Christ is the center. The stained-glass windows that separate us from the storms and let the light pour over us are the Doctors. The threshold is the entrance to Paradise embellished by stone statues, painted and gold bas-relief sculptures, and rich bronze doors.
The House of God must be illuminated by the rays of the sun, resplendent with charity like Paradise itself, because God is Light, the light Who gives beauty to everything that exists. For this reason the internal illumination of the cathedral should be augmented, making the windows as large as possible, from the top of the great arches to the cupolas.
Hugh O’Reilly
#architecture #symbolism
The Cathedral is a figure of the City of God, the Celestial Jerusalem, an image of Paradise, as the liturgy of the consecration of churches affirms.
Its lateral walls are representations of the Old and New Testaments. Its pillars and columns are the Prophets and Apostles that sustain the cupola, where Christ is the center. The stained-glass windows that separate us from the storms and let the light pour over us are the Doctors. The threshold is the entrance to Paradise embellished by stone statues, painted and gold bas-relief sculptures, and rich bronze doors.
The House of God must be illuminated by the rays of the sun, resplendent with charity like Paradise itself, because God is Light, the light Who gives beauty to everything that exists. For this reason the internal illumination of the cathedral should be augmented, making the windows as large as possible, from the top of the great arches to the cupolas.
Hugh O’Reilly
#architecture #symbolism
Documentary
"The story of St. Mary's Altar"
St. Mary's Altar, stolen by the German occupier during the Second World War and hidden in Nuremberg, returned to Cracow in 1946. Thanks to conservators and filmmakers, we can see the beauty and majesty of the story of the Virgin Mary.
The Altar of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1498), known as the Altar of St. Mary, is the work of Veit Stoss, a sculptor who came to Cracow from Nuremberg in the late Middle Ages. It took him 12 years to complete the altar, the way it looked exceeded the wildest expectations of the residents of the city. The woodcarving masterpiece of late Gothic was stolen by the German occupier during the Second World War and hidden in the basement of the Nuremberg Castle. In 1946, the Poles recovered damaged sculptures and polychromy, repaired them and restored the former glory to one of the greatest sculpture monuments in Poland. The filmmakers introduced the viewers to the altar and some fragments of the biblical story. They used close-ups in order to underline the mastery of Veit Stoss in animating matter. The series of close-ups, portraits and long shots forms a visual narration that tells the story of Mary from the Annunciation to the Assumption. A musical composition by Stefan Skrowaczewski, an outstanding composer and conductor, accompanies the film.
https://35mm.online/en/vod/documentary/the-story-of-st-mary-s-altar
#history #architecture #documentary
"The story of St. Mary's Altar"
St. Mary's Altar, stolen by the German occupier during the Second World War and hidden in Nuremberg, returned to Cracow in 1946. Thanks to conservators and filmmakers, we can see the beauty and majesty of the story of the Virgin Mary.
The Altar of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1498), known as the Altar of St. Mary, is the work of Veit Stoss, a sculptor who came to Cracow from Nuremberg in the late Middle Ages. It took him 12 years to complete the altar, the way it looked exceeded the wildest expectations of the residents of the city. The woodcarving masterpiece of late Gothic was stolen by the German occupier during the Second World War and hidden in the basement of the Nuremberg Castle. In 1946, the Poles recovered damaged sculptures and polychromy, repaired them and restored the former glory to one of the greatest sculpture monuments in Poland. The filmmakers introduced the viewers to the altar and some fragments of the biblical story. They used close-ups in order to underline the mastery of Veit Stoss in animating matter. The series of close-ups, portraits and long shots forms a visual narration that tells the story of Mary from the Annunciation to the Assumption. A musical composition by Stefan Skrowaczewski, an outstanding composer and conductor, accompanies the film.
https://35mm.online/en/vod/documentary/the-story-of-st-mary-s-altar
#history #architecture #documentary
German-born Markus Brunetti’s portraits of European churches and cathedrals are the culmination of his photographic pilgrimage.
The artist has been travelling around the continent in a truck since 2005, capturing the continent’s sacred spaces for his Facades series
•https://www.markus-brunetti.de/
•https://www.yossimilo.com/artists/markus-brunetti
•https://thespaces.com/markus-brunetti-captures-europes-sacred-spaces/
Brunetti’s quest for sacred architecture is now moving on to Eastern Europe. ‘The journey continues and we will be pleased to share our own cultural fascination with the views of every finished facade,’- he told.
Brunetti's digital map of churches and cathedrals – May 2005 until today – The journey continues:
•https://www.markus-brunetti.de/grand-tour.html
#architecture
The artist has been travelling around the continent in a truck since 2005, capturing the continent’s sacred spaces for his Facades series
•https://www.markus-brunetti.de/
•https://www.yossimilo.com/artists/markus-brunetti
•https://thespaces.com/markus-brunetti-captures-europes-sacred-spaces/
Brunetti’s quest for sacred architecture is now moving on to Eastern Europe. ‘The journey continues and we will be pleased to share our own cultural fascination with the views of every finished facade,’- he told.
Brunetti's digital map of churches and cathedrals – May 2005 until today – The journey continues:
•https://www.markus-brunetti.de/grand-tour.html
#architecture
Ecce Verbum
The Precious Medieval Symbolism of the Mass Emile Mâle,The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the 13th Century (In describing the importance of symbolism to the medieval man, Emile Mâle gives the example of how the medieval man saw the liturgy of the…
symbolismofchurc00dura.pdf
17.1 MB
'The Symbolism of the Church and the Church Ornaments'
A translation of the first book of the "Rationale Divinorum" written by Bishop William Durandus
The Rationale Divinorum Officiorum is arguably the most important medieval treatise on the symbolism of church architecture and rituals of worship. Written by the French bishop William Durand of Mende (1230-1296), the treatise is ranked with the Bible as one of the most frequently copied and disseminated texts in all of medieval Christianity. It served as an encyclopedic compendium and textbook for liturgists and remains an indispensable guide for understanding the significance of medieval ecclesiastical art and worship ceremonies.
Online version:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43319/43319-h/43319-h.htm
#symbolism #architecture
A translation of the first book of the "Rationale Divinorum" written by Bishop William Durandus
The Rationale Divinorum Officiorum is arguably the most important medieval treatise on the symbolism of church architecture and rituals of worship. Written by the French bishop William Durand of Mende (1230-1296), the treatise is ranked with the Bible as one of the most frequently copied and disseminated texts in all of medieval Christianity. It served as an encyclopedic compendium and textbook for liturgists and remains an indispensable guide for understanding the significance of medieval ecclesiastical art and worship ceremonies.
Online version:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43319/43319-h/43319-h.htm
#symbolism #architecture
BBC Documentary 2017 - Great Cathedral Mystery: Santa Maria del Fiore | HD Documentary"
Santa Maria del Fiore's construction was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.
It is the third largest church in the world (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London) and was the largest church in Europe when it was completed in the 15th century. It is 153 metres long, 90 metres wide at the crossing, and 90 metres high from the floor to the bottom of the lantern. The third and last cathedral of Florence, it was dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, the Virgin of the Flower, in 1412, a clear allusion to the lily, the symbol of the city of Florence.
It was built over the second cathedral, which early Christian Florence had dedicated to St. Reparata.
The numerous different styles that we encounter in the building bear witness to changing tastes over the long period of time that elapsed between its foundation and its completion.
Santa Maria del Fiore was a clarion call to the worlds of art and architecture that the glories of the Roman past, one of the largest inspirations for the Italian Renaissance, could be achieved once again.
Serving as an inspiration, Roman ruins also acted as blueprints for ancient architectural forms. Two forms mastered by the Romans yet lost after the collapse of the imperial world were the arch and the dome. Essential components of Roman architecture, these structural forms confounded many medieval architects and designers.
This was until geniuses like Brunelleschi restored the ancient Roman forms through mathematical and design insights that endure even now. Of course, aiming for a different, more ancient architectural style also has its roots in Florence’s competition with Milan to be the preeminent city in northern Italy.
The signature cathedral in that city featured the Gothic style with flying buttresses. Herein was Brunelleschi’s challenge: Constructing a domed cathedral capable of supporting masonry without collapsing in Florence.
Whereas Gothic cathedrals could rely upon the strength of buttressing to achieve height, a dome would have to use other mechanisms to remain freestanding.
Construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore began on the 7th August 1420 after a public competition in which Brunelleschi and his rival Lorenzo Ghiberti were commissioned with the work. Immediately, the team was faced with a challenge and that was the construction of the scaffolding necessary to shape the masonry of the dome.
Unfortunately, timber supports were ruled impractical.
Instead, the dome would need to support itself during construction. He decided upon an octagonal structure with lightweight materials tapering as it reached the apex.
Exemplary of the ideal Golden Ratio, Brunelleschi and his team achieved what is considered a perfect balance of form and function with the structure’s own architecture supporting itself through its very layout.
The egg-shaped dome was so spectacular, in fact, that the people of Florence wondered among themselves about what sort of trick Brunelleschi employed to make it happen. While well known for his ability to transform illusions into reality, the dome on the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is a product of mathematical genius.
https://youtu.be/f_3DTSyuJlQ
#architecture
Santa Maria del Fiore's construction was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.
It is the third largest church in the world (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London) and was the largest church in Europe when it was completed in the 15th century. It is 153 metres long, 90 metres wide at the crossing, and 90 metres high from the floor to the bottom of the lantern. The third and last cathedral of Florence, it was dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, the Virgin of the Flower, in 1412, a clear allusion to the lily, the symbol of the city of Florence.
It was built over the second cathedral, which early Christian Florence had dedicated to St. Reparata.
The numerous different styles that we encounter in the building bear witness to changing tastes over the long period of time that elapsed between its foundation and its completion.
Santa Maria del Fiore was a clarion call to the worlds of art and architecture that the glories of the Roman past, one of the largest inspirations for the Italian Renaissance, could be achieved once again.
Serving as an inspiration, Roman ruins also acted as blueprints for ancient architectural forms. Two forms mastered by the Romans yet lost after the collapse of the imperial world were the arch and the dome. Essential components of Roman architecture, these structural forms confounded many medieval architects and designers.
This was until geniuses like Brunelleschi restored the ancient Roman forms through mathematical and design insights that endure even now. Of course, aiming for a different, more ancient architectural style also has its roots in Florence’s competition with Milan to be the preeminent city in northern Italy.
The signature cathedral in that city featured the Gothic style with flying buttresses. Herein was Brunelleschi’s challenge: Constructing a domed cathedral capable of supporting masonry without collapsing in Florence.
Whereas Gothic cathedrals could rely upon the strength of buttressing to achieve height, a dome would have to use other mechanisms to remain freestanding.
Construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore began on the 7th August 1420 after a public competition in which Brunelleschi and his rival Lorenzo Ghiberti were commissioned with the work. Immediately, the team was faced with a challenge and that was the construction of the scaffolding necessary to shape the masonry of the dome.
Unfortunately, timber supports were ruled impractical.
Instead, the dome would need to support itself during construction. He decided upon an octagonal structure with lightweight materials tapering as it reached the apex.
Exemplary of the ideal Golden Ratio, Brunelleschi and his team achieved what is considered a perfect balance of form and function with the structure’s own architecture supporting itself through its very layout.
The egg-shaped dome was so spectacular, in fact, that the people of Florence wondered among themselves about what sort of trick Brunelleschi employed to make it happen. While well known for his ability to transform illusions into reality, the dome on the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is a product of mathematical genius.
https://youtu.be/f_3DTSyuJlQ
#architecture
YouTube
BBC Documentary 2017 - Great Cathedral Mystery: Santa Maria del Fiore | HD Documentary
BBC Documentary 2017 - the edge of space - bbc documentary 2017. full documentary 2017 - anonymous chasing edward snowden - hacker documentaries bbc. The world's greatest free documentary.
Great Cathedral Mystery Pbs PBS Documentary 2017 Great Cathedral…
Great Cathedral Mystery Pbs PBS Documentary 2017 Great Cathedral…
"Chartres Cathedral - Medieval Cathedrals of France - Documentary"
The Chartres Cathedral is a milestone in the development of Western architecture because it employs all the structural elements of the new Gothic architecture: the pointed arch; the rib-and-panel vault; and, most significantly, the flying buttress.
The cathedral is also celebrated for its many stained-glass windows and sculptures. Because most of its 12th-and 13th-century stained glass and sculpture survives, Chartres Cathedral is one of the most completely surviving medieval churches.
Its spiritual intensity is heightened by the fact that no direct light enters the building. All the light is filtered through stained glass, so that the whole experience of visiting the Chartres Cathedral seems out of this world
The interior of the Chartres cathedral is remarkable. The nave, wider than that of any other cathedral in France (52 feet, or 16 meters), is in the purest 13th-century ogival style.
In its center is a maze, the only one still intact in France, with 320 yards (290 meters) of winding passages, which the faithful used to follow on their knees.
The Chartres Cathedral was built following a fire that largely destroyed the previous church in 1194, the new choir being complete by 1221 and the whole building consecrated in 1260 as one of the most compelling expressions of the strength and poetry of medieval Catholicism.
The city of Chartres owed its prosperity to its bishop and chapter, who had established four annual trade fairs on the feasts of the Virgin Mary, to whom the cathedral was dedicated – her Nativity, Annunciation, Purification and Assumption.
Chartres Cathedral ranks as a triple masterpiece. Equally superb are its architecture and sculpture, survivors of two major fires and numerous wars and revolutions.
Its last narrow escape from total destruction occurred on a warm June night in 1836, when an unexplained fire destroyed the roof timbers and melted the lead.The timbers over the nave were replaced by an iron structure and then roofed over with copper.
Chartres has become the focus of a new type of pilgrimage dedicated to the preservation of the Latin Mass, which, following the Second Vatican Council, was replaced in 1969 by the graceless new liturgy. Thousands of pilgrims travel to it on foot, saying the rosary, to hear the timeless words of the old Mass in this darkly glowing interior.
read more:
https://chartrescathedral.net/
architectural analysis (short video):
https://youtu.be/Jk3VsinLgvc
sacred geometry of the cathedral (2 min clips):
https://youtu.be/XzqVxU6jVPc
https://youtu.be/1uktDIrFTMg
documentary:
https://youtu.be/AgICy_RHFaY
#architecture
The Chartres Cathedral is a milestone in the development of Western architecture because it employs all the structural elements of the new Gothic architecture: the pointed arch; the rib-and-panel vault; and, most significantly, the flying buttress.
The cathedral is also celebrated for its many stained-glass windows and sculptures. Because most of its 12th-and 13th-century stained glass and sculpture survives, Chartres Cathedral is one of the most completely surviving medieval churches.
Its spiritual intensity is heightened by the fact that no direct light enters the building. All the light is filtered through stained glass, so that the whole experience of visiting the Chartres Cathedral seems out of this world
The interior of the Chartres cathedral is remarkable. The nave, wider than that of any other cathedral in France (52 feet, or 16 meters), is in the purest 13th-century ogival style.
In its center is a maze, the only one still intact in France, with 320 yards (290 meters) of winding passages, which the faithful used to follow on their knees.
The Chartres Cathedral was built following a fire that largely destroyed the previous church in 1194, the new choir being complete by 1221 and the whole building consecrated in 1260 as one of the most compelling expressions of the strength and poetry of medieval Catholicism.
The city of Chartres owed its prosperity to its bishop and chapter, who had established four annual trade fairs on the feasts of the Virgin Mary, to whom the cathedral was dedicated – her Nativity, Annunciation, Purification and Assumption.
Chartres Cathedral ranks as a triple masterpiece. Equally superb are its architecture and sculpture, survivors of two major fires and numerous wars and revolutions.
Its last narrow escape from total destruction occurred on a warm June night in 1836, when an unexplained fire destroyed the roof timbers and melted the lead.The timbers over the nave were replaced by an iron structure and then roofed over with copper.
Chartres has become the focus of a new type of pilgrimage dedicated to the preservation of the Latin Mass, which, following the Second Vatican Council, was replaced in 1969 by the graceless new liturgy. Thousands of pilgrims travel to it on foot, saying the rosary, to hear the timeless words of the old Mass in this darkly glowing interior.
read more:
https://chartrescathedral.net/
architectural analysis (short video):
https://youtu.be/Jk3VsinLgvc
sacred geometry of the cathedral (2 min clips):
https://youtu.be/XzqVxU6jVPc
https://youtu.be/1uktDIrFTMg
documentary:
https://youtu.be/AgICy_RHFaY
#architecture
Chartres Cathedral
Chartres Cathedral - Chartres Cathedral
Chartres Cathedral is probably the finest example of French Gothic architecture. said by some to be the most beautiful cathedral in France.
Ecce Verbum
"Chartres Cathedral - Medieval Cathedrals of France - Documentary" The Chartres Cathedral is a milestone in the development of Western architecture because it employs all the structural elements of the new Gothic architecture: the pointed arch; the rib-and…
Lecture
"The meaning of the Chartres Cathedral"
by prof. Edward Tingley
Chartres Cathedral, south of Paris, is revered as one of the most beautiful and profound works of art in the Western canon.
But what did it mean to those who constructed it in the 12th and 13th century- and why was it built at such immense hight and with such glorious play of light, in the soaring manner we now call gothic?
Objectives:
- appreciate the beauty and the meaning of the Cathedral
-examine the way in which the medieval relate to the world
- understand the culture of the 12th century, including philosophy, science, technology, politics and religious debates
https://youtu.be/uqaPpos9T9M
#architecture
"The meaning of the Chartres Cathedral"
by prof. Edward Tingley
Chartres Cathedral, south of Paris, is revered as one of the most beautiful and profound works of art in the Western canon.
But what did it mean to those who constructed it in the 12th and 13th century- and why was it built at such immense hight and with such glorious play of light, in the soaring manner we now call gothic?
Objectives:
- appreciate the beauty and the meaning of the Cathedral
-examine the way in which the medieval relate to the world
- understand the culture of the 12th century, including philosophy, science, technology, politics and religious debates
https://youtu.be/uqaPpos9T9M
#architecture
YouTube
Stone Bible: the Cathedral of Chartres
This lecture by Edward Tingley was part of our 2013 Summer conference: The Roots of Medicine | Module IV - The Late Middle Ages.
Chartres Cathedral, south of Paris, is revered as one of the most beautiful and profound works of art in the Western canon.…
Chartres Cathedral, south of Paris, is revered as one of the most beautiful and profound works of art in the Western canon.…
Roger Scruton: “Architecture and Aesthetic Education”
The value of building simply cannot be understood independently of its utility. It is of course possible to take a merely ‘sculptural’ view of architecture; but that is to treat buildings as forms whose aesthetic nature is conjoined only accidentally to a certain function. Texture, surface, form, representation and expression now begin to take precedence over those aesthetic aims which we would normally consider to be specifically architectural .. Consider, for example, the Chapel of the Colonia Guëll, Santa Coloma de Cervello by Gaudí. Such a building tries to represent itself as something other than architecture, as a form of tree-like growth rather than balanced engineering. The strangeness comes from the attempt to translate a decorative tradition into a sculptural principle ..the accidental has become the essential, and what purports to be architecture can no longer be understood as such, but only as a piece of elaborate expressionist sculpture seen from within.
The Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton (pp. 7-8) link to pdf
Our sense of the beauty of an object is always dependent on a conception of that object, just as our sense of the beauty of a human figure is dependent on a conception of that figure. Features that we could consider beautiful in a horse – developed haunches, a curved back and so on -- we would consider ugly in a man, and this aesthetic judgment would be determined by our conception of what men are, how they move and what they achieve through their movements. In a similar way, our sense of the beauty in architectural forms cannot be divorced from our conception of buildings and the function that they fulfil.
ibid. (p.10)
One might say that, in proposing an aesthetics of architecture, the least one must be proposing is an aesthetics of everyday life. One has moved away from the realm of high art towards that of common practical wisdom.
ibid. (p.16-17)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJrCn-y16Vs
#architecture
The value of building simply cannot be understood independently of its utility. It is of course possible to take a merely ‘sculptural’ view of architecture; but that is to treat buildings as forms whose aesthetic nature is conjoined only accidentally to a certain function. Texture, surface, form, representation and expression now begin to take precedence over those aesthetic aims which we would normally consider to be specifically architectural .. Consider, for example, the Chapel of the Colonia Guëll, Santa Coloma de Cervello by Gaudí. Such a building tries to represent itself as something other than architecture, as a form of tree-like growth rather than balanced engineering. The strangeness comes from the attempt to translate a decorative tradition into a sculptural principle ..the accidental has become the essential, and what purports to be architecture can no longer be understood as such, but only as a piece of elaborate expressionist sculpture seen from within.
The Aesthetics of Architecture, Roger Scruton (pp. 7-8) link to pdf
Our sense of the beauty of an object is always dependent on a conception of that object, just as our sense of the beauty of a human figure is dependent on a conception of that figure. Features that we could consider beautiful in a horse – developed haunches, a curved back and so on -- we would consider ugly in a man, and this aesthetic judgment would be determined by our conception of what men are, how they move and what they achieve through their movements. In a similar way, our sense of the beauty in architectural forms cannot be divorced from our conception of buildings and the function that they fulfil.
ibid. (p.10)
One might say that, in proposing an aesthetics of architecture, the least one must be proposing is an aesthetics of everyday life. One has moved away from the realm of high art towards that of common practical wisdom.
ibid. (p.16-17)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJrCn-y16Vs
#architecture
YouTube
Roger Scruton: “Architecture and Aesthetic Education”
124: What the Bleep Happened to Architecture?—Dr. E. Michael Jones
Patrick Coffin: Author, Speaker, and Culturepreneur
What Happened to Architecture
Dr. E. Michael Jones
Socrates said that the order of the city was the order of the soul writ large. That observation is all the more true today—and not a compliment to the modern soul or the modern city. Most people simply don’t advert to the quiet influence the surrounding architecture has on their psyche: the shape and scale of buildings, the order and proportion (or lack thereof).
The father of modern Bauhaus architecture is the German Walter Gropius, a promiscuous cad who married a promiscuous shrew named Anna Mahler, wife of composer Gustav Mahler.
Dr. E. Michael Jones, editor of Culture Wars magazine says that Gropius painted into his architectural vision a radically new kind of building and with it, a revolution in urban planning.
source
#architecture
Dr. E. Michael Jones
Socrates said that the order of the city was the order of the soul writ large. That observation is all the more true today—and not a compliment to the modern soul or the modern city. Most people simply don’t advert to the quiet influence the surrounding architecture has on their psyche: the shape and scale of buildings, the order and proportion (or lack thereof).
The father of modern Bauhaus architecture is the German Walter Gropius, a promiscuous cad who married a promiscuous shrew named Anna Mahler, wife of composer Gustav Mahler.
Dr. E. Michael Jones, editor of Culture Wars magazine says that Gropius painted into his architectural vision a radically new kind of building and with it, a revolution in urban planning.
source
#architecture
Ecce Verbum
symbolismofchurc00dura.pdf
On the Significance of the Church Building
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
“Turning toward the east…signifies that cosmos and saving history belong together. The cosmos is praying with us. It, too, is waiting for redemption. It is precisely this cosmic dimension that is essential to Christian liturgy. It is never performed solely in the self-made world of man. It is always a cosmic liturgy. The theme of creation is embedded in Christian prayer. It loses its grandeur when it forgets this connection. That is why, wherever possible, we should definitely take up again the apostolic tradition of facing the east, both in the building of churches and in the celebration of the liturgy.
In the synagogue the worshippers looked beyond the ‘Ark of the Covenant,’ the shrine of the Word, toward Jerusalem. Now, with the Christian altar, comes a new focal point. Let us say it again: on the altar, what the Temple had in the past foreshadowed is now present in a new way. Yes, it enables us to become the contemporaries of the Sacrifice of the Logos. Thus it brings heaven into the community assembled on earth, or rather it takes that community beyond itself into the communion of saints of all times and places. We might put it this way: the altar is the place where heaven is opened up. It does not close off the church, but opens it up—and leads it into the eternal liturgy…
The Liturgy of the Eucharist is celebrated as we look up to Jesus. It is our looking up to Jesus. Thus, in the early church buildings, the liturgy has two places. First the Liturgy of the Word takes place at the center of the building. The faithful are grouped around the bema, the elevated area where the throne of the Gospel, the seat of the bishop, and the lectern are located. The Eucharistic celebration proper takes place in the apse, at the altar, which the faithful ‘stand around.’ Everyone joins with the celebrant in facing east, toward the Lord who is to come.”
Part Two, Chapter Two of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy. San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2000. Geist der Liturgie: Eine Einführung. Freiburg, Verlag Herder, 2000.
#architecture
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
“Turning toward the east…signifies that cosmos and saving history belong together. The cosmos is praying with us. It, too, is waiting for redemption. It is precisely this cosmic dimension that is essential to Christian liturgy. It is never performed solely in the self-made world of man. It is always a cosmic liturgy. The theme of creation is embedded in Christian prayer. It loses its grandeur when it forgets this connection. That is why, wherever possible, we should definitely take up again the apostolic tradition of facing the east, both in the building of churches and in the celebration of the liturgy.
In the synagogue the worshippers looked beyond the ‘Ark of the Covenant,’ the shrine of the Word, toward Jerusalem. Now, with the Christian altar, comes a new focal point. Let us say it again: on the altar, what the Temple had in the past foreshadowed is now present in a new way. Yes, it enables us to become the contemporaries of the Sacrifice of the Logos. Thus it brings heaven into the community assembled on earth, or rather it takes that community beyond itself into the communion of saints of all times and places. We might put it this way: the altar is the place where heaven is opened up. It does not close off the church, but opens it up—and leads it into the eternal liturgy…
The Liturgy of the Eucharist is celebrated as we look up to Jesus. It is our looking up to Jesus. Thus, in the early church buildings, the liturgy has two places. First the Liturgy of the Word takes place at the center of the building. The faithful are grouped around the bema, the elevated area where the throne of the Gospel, the seat of the bishop, and the lectern are located. The Eucharistic celebration proper takes place in the apse, at the altar, which the faithful ‘stand around.’ Everyone joins with the celebrant in facing east, toward the Lord who is to come.”
Part Two, Chapter Two of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy. San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2000. Geist der Liturgie: Eine Einführung. Freiburg, Verlag Herder, 2000.
#architecture