Buildings and the Sense of the Mystical

Lent 2020: Day 13

I wrote yesterday about spirit of place; hilltops, water-meadows, forests, villages and cities. Today I'd like to to focus on buildings as a focus of worship, buildings as places where one can connect with the metaphysical; church as a place of prayer, of devotion, of meditation upon the sacred.

Contemplation, in awe of the Eternal and the Infinite, a space within which one can reach out and touch the sacred, experience moments of enlightenment and transcendent peace. Yet reality is often distracting - noisy children, tourists, a dull mass - and the moment has gone.

I have been to many churches across the UK and Poland, quite a few in other European countries, I've visited non-conformist chapels, Orthodox churches and synagogues, but the most profound impression has come from the great Gothic cathedrals of the high Middle Ages. Modern churches, even basilicas or abbeys of size, cannot inspire those same feelings of reverence that Winchester, Salisbury, Canterbury, York, Abbeville, Cologne have when I visited.

York Minister 

Another form of church that inspires me is the English parish church, often several hundred years old, sometimes newer, a smaller building but one that has served for centuries as the focal point for the village community. In both cases, the spiritual connection I experience is best felt alone, not with someone hurrying me along, nor in a service or Mass. Dusty hymnals, a verger pottering around in the background, sunlight streaming in through stained glass windows, the smell of incense and candle smoke. Knees on the kneelers, elbows on the pews, a well-thumbed hymnal, cover in black, navy or maroon. Flip those pages, hold your nose close, smell it...

St Mary's Church, Tissington, Derbyshire

Poland has its fair share of beautiful churches that have a profound effect on me as I visit, both the external architecture and the interiors. The older, the better. Imagine coming to church in the Middle Ages, once a week on Sunday - surrounded by works of art, polyphonic music, the incense, the magical words of the Latin liturgy.

Kościół Św. Idziego (St Giles' Church), Inowłódź. 12th century.

Silence helps with the ability to focus on higher thoughts, on the numinous and sacred.

Cathedral Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sandomierz, 1366

Building one's own religion today rather precludes the creation of marvels such as these, built at the high ebb of Christianity, a monopoly religion in pre-Reformation Europe, a multinational corporation with Salvation of the Soul as its mass-market product. Indeed, I am not a fan of post WW2 church architecture, inside or out; it moves me not.

How about this? A personal space for quiet contemplation of the Purpose of the Universe.

Backyard Pyramidion. 10m x 10m x 16.18m high. Polished black obsidian.

This time last year:
Face to face with Schrodinger's Cat

This time five years ago:
Opening of Line 2 of Warsaw's Metro

This time seven years ago:
A selfless faith

This time eight years ago:
Ul. Profesorska after the remont

This time nine years ago:
Lent kicks off again, for the 20th year in a row for me

This time ten years ago:
Half way through Lent

This time 12 years ago:
Spring much closer