In the Cathedral #1

For this social lens series we are looking at religious sites and how people relate to these places.

Being in a cathedral invokes quite a special kind of atmosphere. There are the large halls and columns, the big statues and strange symbols, and of course the people who enact rituals and special kind of rites here.

Religious places can differ from culture and country, but even within a religion the religious sites and buildings can vary just as much. In Europe there is a strong influence of Catholicism and Protestantism and this is revealed in the churches, cathedrals and chapels which are found all over the cities, villages and even in nature.

They are the outcome of human thought: humans have built them, sometimes painstakingly over years, decades and even centuries! There are examples in which it took several generations to complete a such a master piece (which was almost always the case for Gothic architecture).

The cathedral pictured here is the product of different architectural styles. While the exterior has quite a few Gothic elements, the interior is heavily dominated by techniques from the Romanesque era. While the building itself therefore feels rather massive, the hall inside it feel very open and wide.

When rituals are enacted here, smoke may permeate the air and is sometimes illuminated by radiant sun rays. The product is rather stunning. One has to catch the right time of day and even the right season to witness this and I have speculated in the past post that this is probably the outcome of intentional design.

In fact the builders were very well aware of how architecture influences human consciousness. Depending on one's faith these halls can evoke certain states within oneself, but a general sense of reverence is probably quite common. In fact the relationship between architecture and human consciousness is a topic I want to further explorer in future posts...

How do you feel when you enter a religious site?