Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Mozarabic Potentialities for Contemporary Church Architecture?

Speaking more now on the subject of interesting architecture, sometimes when we post certain architectural examples, comments will be made by some of our readers about their potentialities for church design today. The idea is that some of the earlier styles might be both more achievable financially while still providing a Christian and liturgical ethos -- something which can be lacking in a certain forms of modern architecture, though certainly not all.

Typically these comments have come in relation to Romanesque architecture, however, on seeing this tenth century Mozarabic example -- that of the church of San Cipriano, San Cebrian de Mazote, Valladolid -- it struck me as having a simple and noble quality to it; one which could well serve as a source of inspiration for modern ecclesiastical architects.


(I would point you to this view and this view as well.)

Certainly there might be certain design elements we might like to see added or tweaked, but my focus here is the basic framework and "bones" (if you will) of this form of architecture.

Personally, I think it is a form of architecture which could work well if more decorated, but, importantly, also works well even in this relatively simple form.

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