Elfin's Tuesday Architectural Appreciation thread!! This week- Religion.

Soz for the lateness this week, bin busy.

Right, seeing as how religion has bin a bit of a popular topic recently, how about an AA dedicated to religious buildings?

Not interest in your onions of religion, just examples of religious architecture. Religion has undoubtedly given the World some of it’s greatest and most iconic buildings, many of which have existed for bloody ages, and have bin built propply. Also, they can be some of the most ostentatious and flamboyant buildings around, as well as sometimes very modest and unassuming.

Obviously I’m going to start off with my local village, aren’t I?

St Mary + St Josephs, Poplar:

Westminster Cathedral; Stripy!

Wrenny weren’t mucking about, were he?

Fabulous city…

Amazing building. When I went to Barcelona I wished I’d been studying architecture and still do, great inspiration.

Peel Tower

Wren should really have a thread to himself

St Stephen Walbrook

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St Bride[/url] by stevecadman[/url], on Flickr

St Brides

A couple local to me:

Beaten to it by Sagrada Familia! It really is an incredible sight. Massively wasteful and OTT yet there’s something about it…

Actually I was more interested in the cranes around it than the building itself…
Oh and that photo above was used in an online tourist guide to Barcelona. 🙂
http://www.schmap.com/barcelona/toppicks_attractions/#p=72407&i=72407_150.jpg

Where is this wondrous, mystical place, I hear you ask? India, the Far East?

No, it’s in NEASDEN!!!!!

Yes, Neasden. I know, I know.

Sagrada Familia looks like it was poured out of a bucket.

Top tip – more is not necessarily better.

Anyone ever been to Roslyn Chapel?

Unfortunately when I went it was in the middle of renovation works so a lot of it was hidden behind scaffolding. It wasn’t long after The DaVinci Code had come out so the place was heaving. 🙁 Very impressive though. Quite a small place but there’s not an inch of it that isn’t ornately carved.

My mum likes this one.

http://citynoise.org/article/732

Would it be crass to post a picture of *insert sports stadium here*?

Religion! I read it as regional hence Peel Tower. 🙄

St Mary’s Prestwich as seen on Coronation Street.

The ship of the Fens.

Someone post a picture of Durham Cathedral please!

You should like this one Fred. My favourite building in the world. Truly Majestic. Even if it is in….. no, can’t even bring myself to say it 😀

Designed by a 22 year old and incorporating revolutionary engineering. The largest unsupported bell tower in the world. He never saw it finished. Does what a cathedral should do. Makes you feel tiny and insignificant. If you’ve never been there, you should. People rave about sagrada familia (and it is impressive), but he never got close to finishing it. This on the other hand is a polished masterpiece

the problem with Durham Cathedral is it’s hard to get a decent shot of it
best shot from the water IMO

That’s amazing, Don Simon. Fascinating story. Top stuff!

Those Scandinavians are good with churches:

Octagonal stone church, Ringebu, Norway:

Wooden church in Kongsvinger, Norway (unusual spire for a North Yerpean church I thought):

Those Icelandics are a bit odd I think, look at that Bjørk frinstance:

Round this way they mostly look like this:

But we also have one of these:

Helsinki has three cathedrals:

Inside, although this doesn’t show the fantastic ceiling

And they also have this cool rock church

the outside of St Peter’s Basilica is pretty damn impressive, but the inside is just, woah!

Cheers Brakes, I know what you mean about Durham. The best view is from the train when you arrive from the south, completely stunning.

If you have to listen to someone telling fairy stories then you just have to do it in the Crystal Cathedral

Binners; one day, I must steel myself for a trip up to Where There Be Dragons (North), to see such delights, and I’d love to have someone like yerself and Harry Spider as guides, as youse are clearly passionate about buildings and stuff like meself.

Oh, and those Muslamicals, you’ve got to watch out for them lot:

Isfahan, Persia:

Istanbul:

Mazer e Sharif, Afghanistan:

A few of my favourites:

Tadao Ando, Church of Light

Tadao Ando, Church on the water

And of course, Chapel of Nôtre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp

Look, they’re building mosques all over the place here! 😯 Thin end of the wedge…

Bradford:

Dalston:

Even bloody Regents Park for God’s sake! Is nothing sacred??

(Pic from Daily Mail. 😀 )

Prague Cathedral is very impressive too:

The whole complex of castle, cathedral and surrounding buildings all perched on that massive rock which dominates the skyline is just incredible, the size and scale and grandeur of it all.

I’m quite fond of Langley Chapel[/url], although I admit it’s not quite as grand as some.

Mont St Michel has a certain je ne sais quoi

Nick – Member

I’m quite fond of Langley Chapel, although I admit it’s not quite as grand as some.
For the Architectually appreciated aspect of the thread, it fits.

It definitely fits. Don’t matter how small or modest it is. It’s still significant.

Temple of Mithras in the City; bit broken, but still important:

St Paul’s church, Bow; don’t look too grand, but gets architects all excited:

hard to appreciate its architecture though eh?
especially when you’re distracted by the hideous stripey blamanche that is One Poultry

Thing I love about English churches is the real sense of antiquity that you get from them. Very little remains of the Norman world apart from these. My very most favouritist is Torbryan chuch in South Devon. No longer used as a working church which is a shame but you can hire it for weddings.

Sadly I can’t find any picturs of the south entrance. It bears the scars of the reformation as the heads of the cherubs have all been hacked off except one. I often wonder how that one survived. Were the soldiers interupted by the priest who recieved the treatment instead of the last cherub ?

Most unususal is the surviving rood screen. There can’yt be many places were medieaval art is unguarded and on show like this. Sorry that there’s not more detail in the image.

Miyojima Shrine.
Me and the missus went there a couple of years ago. Dusk ferry ride from mainland Japan across to the island, then a walk with the wild deer to see the shrine. One of the most peaceful places I’ve ever been.

Great flying buttresses on the cathedral at Prague.

My mum grew up in Neasden elf. Last year she asked me to show her where the mosque was on google earth on my laptop. I think that’s the only time she’s ever looked at a computer. She was fascinated looking around the area she hadn’t been to for over fifty years.

Vienna. I like the roof:

not too good from the outside

but I love the inside

Lille Cathedral

F’in love churches me

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heres me outside my family temple in India. I love it there.