The reading for today says that we are a temple built by God. So if you were a Catholic Church would you be Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Neo Classical, Neo Gothic, Eclectic, or Modern?
I'm not asking which style you like, but which style reflects your personality.
Answers in the combox and why.
I guess I would have to say I am eclectic. From a personal spirituality, I tend to be inspired by simplicity, but in church worship, give me the high gothic style :).
ReplyDeleteI would say Romanesque - something solid and steady ...
ReplyDeleteneo-gothic. modern industry tied to ancient aesthetic sense. and so so happy in the sunlight.
ReplyDeleteBaroque
ReplyDeleteMost certainly, I'm Gothic. It is the paradox outlined in stone, converging upwards towards Heaven, yet forcing two opposing forces to meet so as to support its endeavour. Action or contemplation? St. Francis or St. Thomas Aquinas? Poetic or scientific? This form says I needn't choose. :)
ReplyDeleteByzantine or Romanesque, both have the heaviness of a God who has come down to dwell with his people. Transcendence is there, but so is immanence.
ReplyDeleteI like the early Baroque (and rather dislike high Baroque). But I would have to say that I am Romanesque .. direct and simple.
ReplyDeleteEarly Christian
ReplyDeleteNothing means more to me than Jesus, the Atonement, Pentocost (coming of the Holy Spirit).
I love the beauty and majesty of the old churches and cathedrals, but I think my personality type is more of a "home church". Simple, friendly and dedicated.
Which style reflects me:
ReplyDeleteBaroque, along the lines of the Gesu in Rome: a logical, clean-lined exterior with a riot of passion and splendor on the inside.
Closely following that, though, I would say that Spanish Baroque of the Empire, i.e., Churrigueresque-style Baroque: extreme passion, twisting and turning, riotous colors and soaring up to the very heavens themselves.
Whatever Sagrada Familia is, that what I hope I am.
ReplyDeleteJedesto
Byzantine, for Hagia Sophia and other like churches; and for the Greek sense of Mystery.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Byzantine because I'm Russian and I have a Russian soul.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little country parish church, Gothic, with a simplicity and warmness that only closeness and familiarity can provide, a few cracks in the plaster, paint slightly dulled from decades of candles and incense, the foundation just as solid as the day the massive flagstones were laid by hand by my own forefathers and their neighbors, the floors creak just slightly from the use and weight they bear, reshingled by the men of the parishes own hands, all farmers, not contractors, The interior lovingly cleaned and polished by the ladies and the grounds trimmed and mowed by a high school kid hired for the summer with the cemetery committee standing watch with a weed eater to make sure it is mowed correctly. Warm and secure in my faith but with a few leaks and cracks and creaks squeaks and dulled paint, just like my old home parish
ReplyDeleteEarly-zaftig.
ReplyDeleteThat isn't a choice? Okay...
Byzantine. The outside never prepares you for the glorious interior.
Like Gormenghast, a clashing eclectic and random mix of styles that looks like it is ever ready to crumble to dust but is surprisingly resilient.
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't happen to have a link to brief descriptions of each of these kinds of architectures, would you?
ReplyDeleteSan Damiano, before Saint Francis fixed her up.
ReplyDeleteSomething along the order of the monastery at Senanque. Romanesque, I'd imagine
ReplyDeleteGeeklady: I resemble that remark!
ReplyDeleteI'd be an eclectic wreck myself, Romanesque nave surrounded by flying buttresses, an altar rail like is found here, plentiful mosaics, abundant side altars, lots of dark confessional boxes . . .
as to why:
ReplyDeletelots of confessional boxes 'cause I need lots of confession;
plenteous side altars to call to mind the need to invoke the saints and angels;
stout Romanesque foundation due to attachment to tradition;
flying buttresses for the aspirations of things above;
altar rail because of my obsession with proper distinctions;
mosaics to remind us that we only get the whole picture with the proper perspective.
Modern, because often my intentions sound good to myself, but the results are questionable to ugly. Yet the Lord comes by anyway...
ReplyDeleteThis is what I was talking about,
ReplyDeletehttp://germanegyptian.blogspot.com/2007/12/home-church.html
however the new all white paint job saddens me, it use to be shades of rose in the sanctuary shadowed to give the impression of niches and pillars, the body of the church was a light grey with white and rose accents, the other pictures are much older turn of the century before the new sanctuary was added, the cheap suspended ceiling was done after some plaster fell from the flat coved ceiling and it was decided that a modern ceiling was more in the spirit of V2, enjoy
Romanesque--traditional, love for pretty things, but not too fussy or delicate, a little cool unintentionally at times on because I'm distracted trying to keep the ceiling from crashing in.
ReplyDeleteModern.
ReplyDeleteNo sense of style and have worn badly.
Baroque. Definitely. Get every little detail in there that you possibly can, that's me.
ReplyDelete