What Makes a Church Beautiful?

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

blackforest

Well-known member
Architecturally, what makes a church beautiful to you? Are there any other special touches that add to that beauty? What kind of aesthetics inspire you?

Have you visited a church or cathedral that particularly inspired you? If so, where was it, and what was it like?

Answer from you heart. It’s subjective with no right or wrong answers.

No snobbery or negativity, please. This is a thread about what we love in churches, not dislike.
 
That is a great question. I tend to associate the beauty of churches I go to with what the crucifix behind the alter looks like. Not that other parts don’t add to it, that’s just what stands out in my mind.
 
St Wilfrid’s Jesuit church in Preston .

It is linked to the school I attended as a boy .

It’s the most beautiful church I know .

From the photo of the outside it doesn’t look much .

But I’ll let the photo of the inside speak for itself .

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
I love the history and evolution of Church architecture, so I like to see elements in a church which hearken back to an earlier time period and the symbolism and spirituality they represented at the time. Unusual things like a peristyle courtyard, triumphal arch, raised ambo, or confessio often strike me as beautiful in a more spiritual sense. With regards to aesthetic beauty, I lean to more mendicant designs as it appeals to my personal spirituality.

Baroque styles and beyond have a tendency not to appeal to me.
 
Last edited:
Externally I am attracted by an elegant spire, having said that there is a very small church nearby which is 1000 yrs old or more which has a very simple roman looking spire containing one bell, very attractive.
 
I tend to prefer a little more austerity, as well. I wish I could remember the Medieval church I visited in Florence. I wasn’t fully developed in my faith yet and still felt inspired to stop and pray. Something about the silent simplicity - stone walls and strategically placed windows to let in the light - seemed like a serene and beautiful void that only Holy Spirit could fill.

That’s not my only preference, though. I’m in love with the California missions, and I even appreciate the more modern churches that tastefully blend in with high desert surroundings. For instance, it is my goal to visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, AZ.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Last edited:
This is interesting. I’d never given the crucifix much thought, although I should have! Do you prefer the suffering Christ or the risen Christ?

Come to think of it, I love the icon, e.g. Byzantine, crucifixes in the Orthodox churches.
 
I think picking an elevated site for a church has a lot to be said for it.

This is the former St. Walburga Church here in Pittsburgh, which is now occupied by Cornerstone Baptist and is perched on a high hill.
 
I can’t view the photo but agree about the height considerations.

I think that light is a major factor that intrigues me. We take daylight for granted, but how the architecture plays with this light can be creative and inspiring. The best example is Tautra Mariakloster outside of Trondheim, Norway . . . also one that I find beautiful but have never visited.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
I think churches can be beautiful in different ways. Something like St. Peter’s Basilica will always be my reference point. So many little details, and each one planned and placed with love. 🙂

I do gravitate towards a lot of the more traditional architecture and furnishings. Marble and gold can make up for a lot of other deficiencies. 😜 My old home parish wasn’t necessarily a shining architectural achievement, but it had a beautiful gold tabernacle and marble altar. That definitely made a difference.
 
The crucifix needs to have a figure that defiantly looks like Jesus on it (I have been to churches that have stick figure or nothing at all on the cross). There needs to be some icons or at least a statue of Mary and Joseph. When I look at the altar I want to feel as if I am looking at the bridge between heaven and earth.
 
Last edited:
I guess my tastes are all over the map, lol! Here’s the Cathedral of St. Helena in Helena, MT if you want to get your Neo-Gothic fix.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
I prefer the suffering Christ. I just have noticed that I spend so much time in mass looking at the crucifix which is why I associate that with the beauty of the church.
 
As a non-Catholic who spends every Sunday morning at Mass with his Catholic wife, I have always had an appreciation for beautiful churches. I can’t really list the characteristics of what I consider to be a beautiful church, but in the words of Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it.”

Churches that I have visited and were very much impressed with: Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption (Covington, Kentucky), Cathedral of the Madeleine (Salt Lake City, Utah), Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (Rome, Italy), El Santuariò de Chimayó (Chimayo, New Mexico), and several old Spanish churches in Bohol, Philippines.
 
Marble. Marble, marble, marble. The more the better. Visited a church a while back, where the outside was of rescued chiseled red granite from an old Pittsburgh mansion of the 1800’s. Inside, it was beautiful marble everywhere. Whole front of the church, alter, the walls, the alter rails, the pagoda-like structure in the middle before the alter, the floors, the whole enchilada. It was all repurposed from the same mansion. All marble walls and floors going down to the basement, and in the basement activity hall, which they naturally named Marble Hall. It was wonderful! Marble overload!
 
Traditional architecture, Vaulted ceilings with arches, interior and exterior that draw the eye toward heaven. I have seen several old churches here in south Texas,some very small, that have all or most of the features and are beautifully decorated inside, usually by the locals that built them by hand.

For the most impressive I have seen personally, the Dom Cathedral in Cologne Germany.

I dispise modern church architecture.

Patrick
AMDG
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top