Beautiful Churches and Their Meaning

WirSindBettler · Mar 15, 2015

I've been thinking of starting a thread like this for a while. Post photos of your favorite Churches, and reflect on what you believe the relationship might be between that denomination, the architecture, the architecture and the liturgy, the architecture and theology, &c.

Here are a few of my favorites (all are Lutheran unless otherwise noted):

Oslo Domkirke, Norge

Berliner Dom, Deutschland

Frederiks Kirke, Danmark

Tigger45 · Mar 15, 2015

These photos are of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

barryatlake · Mar 16, 2015

Your churches are beautiful, I appreciate the old Catholic churches, not only for their beauty but also for the lead painted windows, windows that the early peasants, that couldn't read but were able to read the windows on the life of Jesus.

WirSindBettler · Mar 16, 2015

barryatlake said:
Your churches are beautiful, I appreciate the old Catholic churches, not only for their beauty but also for the lead painted windows, windows that the early peasants, that couldn't read but were able to read the windows on the life of Jesus.

The best of those, in my opinion, is the Great East Window of the York Minster. There aren't any great photos of it on the internet that can truly capture what it looks like in real life, but here's one:

barryatlake · Mar 16, 2015

WirSindBettler, really amazingly beautiful, Thank You for that photo.

tz620q · Mar 16, 2015

WirSindBettler said:
I've been thinking of starting a thread like this for a while. Post photos of your favorite Churches, and reflect on what you believe the relationship might be between that denomination, the architecture, the architecture and the liturgy, the architecture and theology, &c.

You know I live in prosper and these churches awe me with their beauty. I can't imagine what the people of that time felt when going from their meager homes to such a wonderful and worship-inspiring place.

Eretria90 · Mar 16, 2015

The Hagia Sophia, especially with Christ icon.

Too bad the Muslims turned it into a mosque in the 15th century. And even now more a slap in the face in the fact that it's a museum, as if Byzantine Christianity is a fossilized museum piece.

Long live Constantinople, not "Istanbul." If I'm going to have to make it to one place before I pass on, Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is worth seeing and being there.

WirSindBettler · Mar 16, 2015

Eretria90 said:
The Hagia Sophia, especially with Christ icon.

Too bad the Muslims turned it into a mosque in the 15th century. And even now more a slap in the face in the fact that it's a museum, as if Byzantine Christianity is a fossilized museum piece.

Long live Constantinople, not "Istanbul." If I'm going to have to make it to one place before I pass on, Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is worth seeing and being there.

Holy moly that's beautiful.

I always got angry that the Muslims destroyed most of the mosaics in the building, especially since they could have preserved it while primarily using the neighboring Blue Mosque for worship. They need to restore most of the Byzantine aspects, in my opinion, get rid of the Muslim additions, and reconsecrate it.

WirSindBettler · Mar 16, 2015

St. Thomas' Episcopal in Manhattan. The reredos is amazing.

A view of the nave.

The reredos.

The top of the reredos with stained glass.

GratiaCorpusChristi · Mar 17, 2015

WirSindBettler said:
Holy moly that's beautiful.

I always got angry that the Muslims destroyed most of the mosaics in the building, especially since they could have preserved it while primarily using the neighboring Blue Mosque for worship. They need to restore most of the Byzantine aspects, in my opinion, get rid of the Muslim additions, and reconsecrate it.

Actually, the Blue Mosque was not built until the reign of Sultan Ahmed, around 150 years after Constantinople was taken and Hagia Sophia turned into the mosque of Ayasofia.

That said, yes, it's a tragedy. Fortunately, many of the icons were covered over rather than destroyed. Modern archaeologists and art restoration specialists have uncovered the images of Christ and Mary in the dome, the Pantokrator posted, and the images of seraphim in the large round discs (two out of four; the two pictured still have the shahadah written over them). Some of the restored icons had the faces rubbed around before being covered over, some were simply covered.

Of course, I'd love to move the Muslim elements into the nearby Topkapi Palace or the Istanbul Art and Archaeology Museum and reconsecrate it, too.

GratiaCorpusChristi · Mar 17, 2015

The Anglican Cathedral of St. George in Jerusalem is one of my favorites. There's a lovely combination of Anglo-Gothic austerity with accents of Byzantine warmth.

GratiaCorpusChristi · Mar 17, 2015

The Armenian Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem is also a sight to behold:

And really, most Armenian churches are absolutely stunning. Here is the Armenian chapel inside the Holy Sepulchre:

And here is a really unique Armenian church in Lviv, Ukraine, with Islamic-style colors and decorative motifs and a strangely large amount of Masonic imagery:

Eretria90 · Mar 17, 2015

I always found the painted cave churches of Goreme (in Cappadocia, Turkey) interesting and beautiful. Plenty of icons and frescoes.

Citizen of the Kingdom · Mar 17, 2015

My daughter was yesterday at the cathedral of Malaga

Her words were "Oh mom you would love it here, the cathedrals give me goose bumps, to see that I now understand how the power of Christ spread over Europe, I was in awe"

WirSindBettler · Mar 17, 2015

Another beautiful, beautiful church is the Церковь Спаса на Крови, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg. Many often mistake it for St. Basil's (The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed) in Moscow, but I believe it to be more beautiful.

Exterior shot for reference.

With people for scale:

I'll do another post with some of the Mosaics.

WirSindBettler · Mar 17, 2015

Here are some of the Mosaics and Paintings from the Church in my last post:

If you look at the previous post for comparison, you can see that most of the people represented in these mosaics are far larger than life size. Amazing.

George95 · Mar 17, 2015

I'm with you on this one. However, the fear of attacks should it be reconsecrated as a church is major.

These are from the Holy Cross Cathedral, Cathedral of the GOA.

GratiaCorpusChristi · Mar 18, 2015

Wow, I can't wait to get to Cappadocia. My wife and I are going the last week of April.

And yes, the Church on the Spilled Blood is gorgeous. Got there about ten years ago. Really quite beautiful.

Of course, my wife is Ukrainian, so I doubt I'll be getting back to Russia anytime soon.

ChristsSoldier115 · Mar 18, 2015

Truly beautiful. I am always amazed by old churches with stuff like this. You can feel the passion in the artists in wanting a beautiful image of Christ in the church.

bbbbbbb · Mar 18, 2015

Sainte Chapelle, Paris

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