Sacred Architecture

RESUMEN El lector tiene en sus manos una pequeña colección de textos académicos que intentan combinar el rigor científico con el interés de un artículo de divulgación. Todos ellos han sido publicados recientemente en journals o en actas de congresos especializados, o al menos, están en proceso de edición. Su hilo conductor es la arquitectura religiosa contemporánea.
La palabra «Precisiones» que encabeza el título tiene un evidente sabor lecorbusieriano, pero también latinoamericano. Si los textos de la primera mitad del libro giran en torno a diversos aspectos de la obra de Jeanneret —la dimensión cosmológica de la arquitectura, su fascinación por el ocultismo, Ronchamp y su influencia posterior—, los últimos reflejan el giro vital que en los últimos tiempos me ha llevado a visitar diversos países de Latinoamérica y a interesarme por sus arquitecturas y sus arquitectos.
Existe un esfuerzo por precisar los episodios que más han influido en la construcción de una idea de templo durante el siglo XX, manteniendo el foco del discurso centrado en el ámbito católico.
Pretendo así superar los análisis que reducen la arquitectura religiosa a ingeniosas soluciones formales, destinadas a conseguir un difuso ambiente espiritual. La realidad suele ser más rica y más compleja, y con frecuencia, el aspecto final de una iglesia tiene mucho más que ver con las condiciones programáticas y socioculturales que rodean a una comunidad que con decisiones estrictamente plásticas.
El libro se abre y se cierra con dos entrevistas en las que de una manera relajada —aunque no por ello menos precisa—, intento responder a los problemas que cualquier lector interesado en la arquitectura religiosa contemporánea se podría plantear, a la vez que se dejan en el aire nuevos interrogantes que acaso conduzcan a posteriores investigaciones.

SUMMARY The reader has in his hands a small collection of academic texts that attempt to combine scientific rigor with the interest of a dissemination article. All of them have been published recently in journals or in specialized conference proceedings, or at least they are in the process of being edited. Its common thread is contemporary religious architecture.
The word "Precisiones" that heads the title has an evident Lecorbusierian flavor, but also Latin American. If the texts of the first half of the book revolve around various aspects of Jeanneret's work - the cosmological dimension of architecture, his fascination with the occult, Ronchamp and its subsequent influence - the latter reflect the vital turn that in the recent times has taken me to visit various Latin American countries and to be interested in his architectures and architects.
There is an effort to specify the episodes that have most influenced the construction of a temple idea during the 20th century, keeping the focus of the discourse centered on the Catholic sphere.
I intend to overcome the analyzes that reduce religious architecture to ingenious formal solutions, destined to achieve a diffuse spiritual environment. Reality is usually richer and more complex, and often, the final aspect of a church has much more to do with the programmatic and sociocultural conditions that surround a community than with strictly plastic decisions.
The book opens and closes with two interviews in which in a relaxed - although not less precise - way, I try to answer the problems that any reader interested in contemporary religious architecture could pose, while leaving in the air new questions that may lead to further investigations.

Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a Roman Catholic church in Chartres, France, about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Paris and is the seat of the Bishop of Chartres. Mostly constructed between 1194 and 1220, it stands at the site of at least five cathedrals that have occupied the site since the Diocese of Chartres was formed as an episcopal see in the 4th century. It is in the High Gothic and Romanesque styles.

800 years later in 2020 we have Schumann Resonators which are little boxes you plug into the wall that produce electromagnetic radiation tuned to 7.83 Hz.
This is the frequency that the earth/atmosphere system “rings” at when the Earth is struck by lightning. It is also a common frequency your brain “ticks” at.
If we are out of sync with Earth's Frequency (Schumann Resonance) we begin to exhibit signs of discomfort that can range from anxiety, insomnia, illness, suppressed immune etc… Conversely we have discovered that when we humans are in sync with 7.83hz the body is able to heal and increase its vitality. I use PEMF (pulsed electro magnetic field) therapy devices by Swiss Bionics with Schumann resonators. 

It seems the ancients knew about this too.

The cathedral is known as "the high point of French Gothic art" and a "masterpiece" and is well-preserved for its age: the majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century.
The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 105-metre (349 ft) plain pyramid completed around 1160 and a 113-metre (377 ft) early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.


At least five cathedrals have stood on this site, each replacing an earlier building damaged by war or fire. The first church dated from no later than the 4th century and was located at the base of a Gallo-Roman wall; this was put to the torch in 743 on the orders of the Duke of Aquitaine. The second church on the site was set on fire by Danish pirates in 858. This was then reconstructed and enlarged by Bishop Gislebert, but was itself destroyed by fire in 1020. A vestige of this church, now known as Saint Lubin Chapel, remains, underneath the apse of the present cathedral.
It took its name from Lubinus, the mid-6th-century Bishop of Chartres. It is lower than the rest of the crypt and may have been the shrine of a local saint, prior to the church's rededication to the Virgin Mary.

In 962 the church was damaged by another fire and was reconstructed yet again. A more serious fire broke out on 7 September 1020, after which Bishop Fulbert (bishop from 1006 to 1028) decided to build a new cathedral. He appealed to the royal houses of Europe, and received generous donations for the rebuilding, including a gift from Cnut the Great, King of Norway, Denmark and much of England. The new cathedral was constructed atop and around the remains of the 9th-century church. It consisted of an ambulatory around the earlier chapel, surrounded by three large chapels with Romanesque barrel vault and groin vault ceilings, which still exist. On top of this structure he built the upper church, 108 meters long and 34 meters wide.
The rebuilding proceeded in phases over the next century, culminating in 1145 in a display of public enthusiasm dubbed the "Cult of the Carts" – one of several such incidents recorded during the period. It was claimed that during this religious outburst, a crowd of more than a thousand penitents dragged carts filled with building supplies and provisions including stones, wood, grain, etc. to the site.

In 1134, another fire in the town damaged the facade and the bell tower of the cathedral.
Construction was begun immediately on a new tower, the north tower, which was finished in about 1150. It was just two stories high and had a lead roof. The south tower, begun in 1144, was much more ambitious; it had a spire atop the tower, and, when finished in about 1160, it reached a height of 105 metres or 345 feet, one of the highest in Europe. The two towers were joined on the first level by a chapel devoted to Saint Michael. Traces of the vaults and the shafts which supported them are still visible in the western two bays.
The stained glass in the three lancet windows over the portals dates from some time between 1145 and 1155, while the south spire, some 103 metres high, was also completed by 1155 or later. The Royal Portal on the west facade, between the towers, the primary entrance to the cathedral, was probably finished between 1145 and 1245.

How does theological Metaphysics view small space ? And what link could be found between theology, Christology and Small spaces ? The aim will be to start our investigation at the figure of the "little ones"(mikroi),central to the narrative and theological construction of the first gospel and then analogically extending it to spatial matter.

Artykuł poświęcony jest czterem obiektom podworskim leżącym w obrębie miasta Lublina i będącym obecnie w posiadaniu lubelskich uczelni. Nieliczna grupa wybranych obiektów prezentuje różnorodność funkcji do jakiej zostały przystosowane. W artykule przedstawiono pokrótce historię każdego z dworskich założeń, koncentrując się przede wszystkim na ich losach współczesnych i przekształceniach związanych z przystosowaniem do nowej funkcji. Materiały stanowiące podstawę niniejszego opracowania pochodzą ze zbiorów Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków, Państwowego Archiwum w Lublinie oraz działów administracyjnych poszczególnych uczelni gromadzących dokumentację związaną zarówno z historią jak i bieżącymi modernizacjami i adaptacjami obiektów.

In the late 60s, the German architect Hans Walter Müller made a project for an extraordinary church in France, both due to the material used and due to its short life-span: the inflatable church at Montigny-lès-Cormeilles. That project simply reaffirmed the author´s anti-system attitude, certifying the huge interest raised by such structures back then, in particular, thanks to their eventual implementations in the field of architectural creation.

The paper responds to the idea that religious architecture can transcend the boundaries of the religion and act as an open, inclusive space for communities. The paper argues that in the flat world that we are living in, coexistence of different cultures and religions is inevitable and Architecture has a huge role to play in how seamless this coexistence is. The permeability of sacred architecture is explored in terms of its opacity. The paper argues that although we can say that we are a truly global world, the interactions within various communities are not as seamless as they could be and that Architecture has a potentially important role to play in enabling a more diverse and accepting sense of community. It is argued that Houses of Gods still stand as walls between different cultures, even though they exist in the same communities and that these opaque, rigid walls must evolve into translucent, semi-permeable membranes in order for communities to become more inclusive. Taking this one step further the paper also questions the possibility of a single architectural space capable of facilitating different religions and beliefs in the future.

Ha transcurrido mucho tiempo desde que Adolfo González Amezqueta señaló que la arquitectura religiosa ocuparía un lugar de gran importancia cuando se escribiese la historia de «la lucha española de posguerra por la arquitectura moderna». Esta afirmación ha venido confirmándose con la reciente aparición, tanto de guías de arquitectura, como de textos críticos que se refieren a ese período.

Cabría sintetizar las razones de este momento de brillantez en el ilusionado encuentro de una generación de jóvenes arquitectos, artistas y eclesiásticos que, actuando en un contexto difícil, supieron entender —y asumir— su papel en la necesaria modernización de la arquitectura y las artes en general en nuestro país, con lo que unieron su excelencia con los criterios de participación y renovación tipológica y figurativa, apuntados por el llamado Movimiento Litúrgico, dentro de un proceso más amplio que culminó en las declaraciones solemnes del Concilio Vaticano II.

Description: This course explores the history of architecture and urbanism from a global perspective. Beginning with the first ritual centers and settlements to roughly 1700 AD, students will learn to analyze buildings and their surroundings through different methods of interpreting history. They will come to understand that architecture is the result of complex interrelationships and interactions dealing with contextual issues. These include shifting and ever changing design priorities dealing with aesthetic, cultural, symbolic, religious, social, economic, political, technological, behavioral, and ecological issues. This is the first of two courses in the History of Architecture sequence.

SALTO NEL TEMPO - "Il Giro del Castello di Serravalle (TI 626) è la nuova escursione illustrata da Svizzera Mobile. Percorribile nei due sensi tutto l’anno, conduce dal fondovalle al versante destro del Brenno. Punto saliente è la rocca di Serravalle, terzo complesso fortificato del Ticino. In cammino nel tempo, dal romanico al barocco."

Invited presentation, “Templum Dei: Exploring the Language of Sacred Architecture,” Evening Salon discussion hosted by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art – Utah Chapter, given at VCBO Architecture, Salt Lake City, UT (September 1, 2016). Presentation available online: https://youtu.be/4wFF9BHihf4

Addressing the voluminous and multifarious expressions of architecture and spirituality is a daunting task. Consequently, three focused perspectives inform our discussion. The first con­ siders the "objecthood" of architecture-the functional, typological, and material ways that buildings express and facilitate spiritualiry. Second, the phenomenological dimension of spiritual settings is addressed, including bodily experiences and feelings produced by. interactions with buildings. Third, are considerations of the cultural and social aspects of architecture, visa -vis spiritualiry, and its ethical, communicative, and symbolic fi.111ctions. These three positions align with the fundamental ways human reality unfolds: first person, individual, internal, or subjective reality (I, me); second person, collective, dialogical, or intersubjective reality (you, we, us); and third-person, empirical, external, or objective reality (it). A number of impulses define contemporary spirituaL...

RESUMEN  Una de las notas predominantes del periodo que nos ocupa fue la necesidad de construir gran cantidad de templos, a bajo coste y en un tiempo breve, debido a las inaplazables necesidades derivadas del intenso crecimiento demográfico que sufrieron las ciudades. Desde un punto de vista exclusivamente pastoral, se dio prioridad al hecho de disponer de un lugar cualquiera donde poder celebrar el culto —con tal de que fuese mínimamente digno— antes de que éste fuera tan bello y espléndido como correspondería a la casa de Dios. La situación era apremiante, y la arquitectura tenía de responder con seguridad y eficacia a las necesidades planteadas. Además, haciendo de la necesidad virtud, se pensaba que era incluso conveniente que el templo naciese pobre y desprovisto, para que los feligreses se implicasen en la edificación de su iglesia y la viesen como suya; los viejos templos, se argumentaba, también surgieron de esta forma, y habían ido enriqueciéndose con el tiempo.

Článek se věnuje okolnostem přesunu dřevěného kostelík sv. Paraskevy a jeho stavebnímu vývoji. Tento kostelík marmarošského typu stál původně v obci Nižné Seliště na území dnešní Ukrajiny v blízkosti hranic s Rumunskem. Vystavěn byl v 1. polovině 17. stol. Ve 30. letech 20. stol. byl přemístěn do města Blansko v Jihomoravském kraji. Kostelík byl slavnostně vysvěcen 23. května 1937, oproti původní lokaci zaznamenal na novém místě řadu stavebních úprav, které se promítly do celkové podoby kostelíka. Výrazné stavební úpravy na něm proběhly především po bombardování Blanska spojeneckými vojsky v květnu 1945, kdy byl značně poškozen. Stavbu spravuje církev Československá husitská, i přes řadu zásahů si dodnes zachovala svůj historický ráz a představuje jednu z nejvýznamnějších kulturních památek v regionu. / The article pays attention to the circumstances connected with transfer of the small wooden church of St Paraskevi and its building development. Originally, this church of Marmaros type used to stand in the village of Nižné Seliště in today's Ukraine. It was built in the mid- 17th century. In the 1930s, it was transferred to the town of Blansko in the South-Moravian Region. The church was ceremonially consecrated on 23 May 1937. As compared to its original location, remodelling made in the new place influenced the appearance of the church. Significant constructional changes were made especially after the Allied bombing of Blansko in May 1945 when the church was significantly damaged. The building is administrated by the Czechoslovak Hussite Church and despite many interventions, it has kept its historical character. The church is one of the most important cultural monuments in the region.

B.O.A is one of the honorable mentioned projects in Arch Out Loud- Tokyo Vertical Cemetery 2017 -

The design approach is merging the spiritual part of the traditional funeral with the practicality of the modern way.
This is conveyed through the ritualistic symbolic modernized program. In order to make an intimate visual connection between the live city and death; a flip is in order. The project’s vital parts (Wake, Funeral and Cremation) will be rooted under the soil turning the entire entity upside down.
The ashes will stay in the erected urned columns for seven days, until transferred into the roots of the centered Bodhi tree to help the human spirit reach Buddhahood.

Nella seconda metà degli anni cinquanta, Gio Ponti riceve incarico di costruire un nuovo convento di clausura per le monache di Saint-Elie, francesi ma insediate poco fuori Sanremo da inizio Novecento. Il risultato è una delle architetture sacre più sofisticate del Novecento italiano.

RESUMEN  https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/cronicas/cronicas-cielo-290517/4040519/ Documental televisivo de 42', emitido por La 2 de RTVE el 29 de mayo de 2017, acerca de la construcción de edificios sagrados. La proporción, la geometría y la relación del ser humano con el cosmos, se han utilizado a lo largo de la historia para conectar el cielo con la tierra.
ABSTRACT. https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/cronicas/cronicas-cielo-290517/4040519/ TV documentary of 42 ', issued by La 2 de RTVE on May 29, 2017, about the construction of sacred buildings. Proportion, geometry and relationship of the human being with the cosmos have been used throughout history to connect Heaven and Earth.

Can the history of sacred architecture be summarized in universal principles? They would need to be ones to which the builders of early Christian basilicas, Gothic cathedrals, and baroque chapels could accede. In previous ages, these principles were tacitly understood and did not need to be articulated. In this paper, I propose five universal principles that apply to sacred architecture of all times, all places, and all styles, with examples from the great buildings of history and my own creative work. I also propose that while fundamental to the revival of sacred architecture, they are not a formula, and must still be applied by a talented architect.

Автореферат на соискание учёной степени доктора философии (PhD) по архитектуре.
DISSERTATION ABSTRACT
OF THE DOCTOR OF PHILISOPHY (PhD) ON ARCHITECTURE
18.00.01 – Теория и история архитектуры.
Реставрация памятников архитектуры
The influence of sufism on the architecture and décor of cult buildings
of Middle Asia in IX-XVI centuries.
IX-XVI асрлар Ўрта Осиё маданий иншоатлари архитектураси
ва безакларига  тасаввуфнинг таъсири.
Защита диссертации состоялась 13 июня 2020г. на заседании Научного совета DSc. 03/30.12.2019.А.11.02 при Ташкентском архитектурно-строительном институте (Адрес:100011, город Ташкент, улица А.Кадыри, дом 7Б. Архитектурный факультет, зал заседаний.

Автореферат диссертации на соискание ученой степени кандидата искусствоведения: "Архитектура современных православных храмов Беларуси: традиции и мировой контекст" / Abstract of PhD thesis "Contemporary Belarusian Orthodox Christian Church Architecture: Tradition and Global context" (Written in Russian. Short abstract in English is on the last page)

The collaboration between the architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni (1913-2016) and the artist Francesco Somaini (1926-2005) began
in the mid-Fifties. They met in 1955 on the occasion of a work entrusted to the architect by the Somaini family. From that occasion
a close collaboration was born between the two masters characterized by the sharing of a meticulous artistic research. The floor
mosaics designed by Somaini, as well as the numerous sculptural works, find their place within Caccia Dominioni’s projects in a
harmonious and complementary way. The motifs designed by Somaini for spaces and paths are characterized by curved and
sinuous lines, full of tension and dynamism, which enrich the organic and “human” layouts designed by the architect. Between
Somaini and Caccia Dominioni works there is an almost symbiotic relationship: the sculptor works on the basis of the architect’s
drawings and the architect makes the sculptor’s work an integral part of the architectural space.

Widespread architectural and artistic changes to the interiors of Catholic churches in the United States, commonly attributed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, are in fact traceable to the foundational principles of the American Liturgical Movement.

RESUMEN  A finales de los años sesenta, el monasterio benedictino de Santa María de la Resurrección, situado en Ahuacatitlán, cerca de Cuernavaca (México), hizo correr ríos de tinta debido a sus novedosas terapias, en las que los monjes se sometían a procesos psicoanalíticos grupales. El revuelo que ello supuso, motivó que en 1967, la comunidad monástica decidiera disolverse, después de que su prior, el sacerdote belga Gregorio Lemercier, fuera repetidamente amonestado por las instancias vaticanas. El arquitecto fray Gabriel Chávez de la Mora fue uno de los pocos monjes que sobrevivió — desde un punto de vista religioso — al cierre del monasterio. Partiendo de la múltiple, fragmentada y dispersa documentación existente, y de abundante material inédito, este artículo se propone, en primer lugar, reconstruir los hechos acaecidos en el monasterio de Ahuacatitlán. En segundo lugar, poner de manifiesto las implicaciones arquitectónicas que tuvo el proceso, algo en lo que nadie ha reparado hasta la fecha. Y finalmente, subrayar el papel que jugó fray Gabriel como arquitecto del monasterio y, especialmente, de su capilla circular , muy novedosa y polémica para aquella época.

ABSTRACT  At the end of the sixties, the Benedictine monastery of Santa María de la Resurrección, located in Ahuacatitlán, near Cuernavaca (Mexico), caused rivers of ink to flow due to its novel therapies, in which the monks underwent group psychoanalytic processes. The uproar that this caused, motivated that in 1967, the monastic community decided to dissolve , after its prior, the Belgian priest Gregorio Lemercier, was repeatedly admonished by the Vatican authorities. The architect fray Gabriel Chávez de la Mora was one of the few monks who survived — from a religious point of view — the closure of the monastery. Starting from the multiple, fragmented and scattered existing documentation, and abundant unpublished material, this article aims, in the first place, to reconstruct the events that occurred in the monastery of Ahuacatitlán. Second, to highlight the architectural implications that the process had, something that no one has noticed to date. And finally, to underline the role that Fray Gabriel played as the architect of the monastery and, especially, of its circular chapel, very novel and controversial for that time.

The phenomenon of migration has also influenced the approach to architecture, in particular the character and language of the buildings. A theme, very complex, which is suitable to prove this thesis is the theme of the mosque. E 'must first be clarified that the mosque is not a public building, but a collective building, linked to the ritual. The mosque is in fact representation of Islamic religious precepts. The knowledge of the Muslim ritual leads us to reflect about strong connection between the ritual process and disposition of the architectural elements that define the spaces of the mosque. Religious architectural tradition provides many examples. It leaves from ancient mosque, the house of Muhammad in Medina and it develops over time through two typological groups: hypostyle and aula.In the contemporary, the frequent migration, the multiplicity of cultural identity and the presence of Muslims in Western cities have first raised the issue of the construction of Islamic religious spaces, and along with an update provided to the times (higher tolerance to share space for prayer men and women together, the elimination of the minaret in some mosques) opened the issue-which now seems clear for a change of the architectural language in the design of such buildings, which often overcomes the geographical limits and find references to different cultures. Examples of mosques with "Western" language built in the East, and mosques that refer to Islamic tradition, built in the West, are the proof. The reflection about the theme. The rite The sacred architecture always deserves a special reflection on the theme. A sacred building is primarily a place of prayer, and this unites such a church, a mosque, a synagogue. These buildings take shape by the rite-in Latin ritu(m) from the same linguistic root of the greek arithmos (number)and of the sanskrit rtám (order, according to what requires religion). The differences between the rites distinguishe sacred buildings. One of the first religious buildings does not provide for a ritual. The temple in fact, in the classical world, is not built for the celebration of a rite but to worship one God. It is not a place to host the "staging" of a celebratory ritual but it is God's abode. Precisely in the ritual lies the original core of many activities such as religion, the game, the spectacle.The first building constructed for the celebration of a rite is the telesterion at Eleusis, which were held mythological eulesinian mysteries. Devoted to Demeter and Persephone , these initiation ceremonies were the most sacred and ancient of all the religious rites celebrated in Greece. This theatricalisation of

Quali sono le conformazioni dell’urbano che concorrono a creare un ambiente di vita capace di far maturare nei suoi abitanti un senso di appartenenza e creare occasioni di scambio comunitario? Individuando come cardini di un discorso sulla città contemporanea i tre temi delle centralità urbane, dei luoghi di identità e degli spazi del sacro, si approfondiscono le realtà di alcuni contesti urbani europei sorti nella seconda metà del Novecento quali il quartiere Savena di Bologna, Évry, Cretéil, Vaulx-en-Velin, queste ultime 'villes nouvelles' delle banlieues francesi.

In 1995 flyers carrying the strange message “Svábhegy Reformed worship! Every Sunday at the St. Ladislaus Parish Church” appeared. A Roman Catholic Church helped in establishing a Reformed Church. Following discussion of architectural style it was decided to take inspiration from Mathew 7:24-27 and to build a house upon a rock, working in brick and stone, to form an inner sanctum based around a cave-like place of worship.

ABSTRACT: Space, time, cosmos, and architecture are interconnected with the realm of the sacred. At present the modern world and its architecture of newness, speed, information, and consumerism appears to be losing its sense of sacredness or the experience of sacred time. While this may be the case, I would argue that the experiential space of time – its depth and plasticity – can be regained through design principles such as the proper orientation, alignment, and replication of the cosmic order in architectural form, space, and details. The objective of this study aims to help the discipline address the ‘terror of time’ by (re)gaining an existential understanding of key architectural design principles that restore sacred, cyclical time to human experience. Based on the comparative framework and methods of an earlier study published in Harvard’s Journal of Comparative Theology, the scope of this paper continues its focus on architectural works found within Mormonism, Judaism, and Christianity by asking the following questions: 1) How is the cyclical pattern of sacred time experienced mythically through the narrative of sacred history? 2) How is sacred time conveyed astronomically through the revolutions of the cosmos? 3) How is cyclical time encountered spatially in the architecture of the temple? and 4) What parallels exist in the mapping of cosmos and sacred history onto the spatial frame of temple architecture throughout the religious traditions? The paper concludes by demonstrating the relationships that exist between religions on architectural, spatial, ritual, astronomical, and mythicohistorical levels. Since the cyclical and chiastic pattern of sacred time is present in temple, cosmos, and history, our understanding is improved of how the plan of salvation may be read as 'one eternal round'.

This work was originally written as my doctoral dissertation in Budapest, Hungary. It was supervised by Zorán Vukoszávlyev, and was defended successfully at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Budapest in 2014. My years of research were highly inspired by the theoretical works of Pope Benedict XVI, Uwe Michael Lang and Miklós Földváry. I was most encouraged when the Centre for the Study of Religion at Eötvös Loránd University, together with the fellows of Juventutem, took note of my works and requested me to publish the dissertation in book form. This turning point in my decade of research has led to this current endeavour to share my findings with a wider audience.
“The Lord enters His Sanctuary”: Contemporary Roman Catholic Church Architecture in the Light of the Liturgy concerns contemporary church architecture mainly in Southern, Western, and Central Europe, and focuses on the studies of this architecture over the past twenty five years. Although the scientific publications together with the architectural case studies were integral parts of my research, this book—going off the track of descriptive architectural analyses—concentrates on the raison d’être of church architecture: the liturgical space. This method is grounded in the contemporary approach to discussing architectural concepts in international circles, and is also influenced by the seminal work of Rudolf Schwarz (German architect, 1961–1987), which unified design praxis and scientific agency with religious confession. A church may only be understood through an ongoing liturgy, and consequently, we may get a deeper insight into the spatial concepts of some notable architects only in the light of the 20th century reform movements, wherewith the architects—consciously or not—were undoubtedly affected by the salient achievements of these movements.
One of the greatest challenges of today’s church architecture is the re-authentication process, which following the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI (2005–2013) and the spread of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, has ended an uncertain epoch after the Second Vatican Council. The re-invention of the energising power of the sacrificial act, the inner dynamism of the liturgy and its hierarchic structure have inspired new spatial models; church-complexes extended with new social functions have gained a new urban importance. Such dynamism, the play of blocks and voids, or the alteration of colours and textures, derive from the essence of liturgy, whilst the static spatial concept comes from two sources: the monastic traditions, and the ressourcement’s ideals on puritanism. Balance and tradition prove to be the greatest ordeals of the present times: a synthesis of, or choice between, the architectural analogies of longitudinal and central spaces, devotion and community, hierarchy and equality.

RESUMEN  A mediados de los años cuarenta, las peculiares circunstancias históricas posibilitaron que, tras muchos años de desinterés general, en toda Europa se redescubriera el arte sacro. La conciencia de la debilidad de la especie humana y su gran capacidad de destrucción encaminó a muchos artistas hacia campos cercanos a lo religioso.

RESUMEN  Este libro presenta veintiséis espacios para el culto realizados en España durante los primeros años del siglo XXI.
Durante las dos últimas décadas, la arquitectura religiosa contemporánea ha gozado de una particular atención en nuestro país. El foco se centró, principalmente, en los años cincuenta y sesenta del siglo XX, cuando las iglesias se situaron por méritos propios en el primer plano del debate. Sin embargo, el periodo que siguió al Concilio Vaticano II (1962/65) todavía no ha sido estudiado en su conjunto.
Entre las obras seleccionadas para este volumen se encuentran veinticuatros iglesias católicas, una iglesia evangélica y otra levemente interconfesional.
Es difícil saber si estos edificios son realmente significativos de la reciente arquitectura religiosa española; en cualquier caso, su selección responde a una elección personal del autor, cuyo criterio se ha apoyado exclusivamente en valores arquitectónicos. Y aunque no se hayan incluido mezquitas, sinagogas o templos de religiones orientales, podemos pensar que este conjunto de iglesias nos dice algo acerca de la situación actual de las religiones en España.
La arquitectura religiosa permite tomar el pulso de la sociedad en general, ya que condensa en sí misma una serie de valores que la hacen especialmente sensible para captar las sinergias de cualquier tejido social. Y esto por varios motivos: por su escala singular, porque apenas tiene programa y porque para mantenerla a lo largo del tiempo es necesaria la confluencia de muchas voluntades; porque trabaja con grandes vacíos, porque para formalizarla se requieren recursos constructivos no habituales y porque en ella la luz es el tema; porque comunica; y porque —en definitiva— aspira a ser sagrada.
Con obras de AGi architects, Alejandro Beautell, Chérrez y Cantera, Eduardo Delgado Orusco y Javier Viver, Elesio Gatón, Elisa Valero, Erithacus arquitectos, Fernando Menis, Funcionable, Gimeno-Guitart, IMB arquitectos, OAB/Office of Architecture in Barcelona, Otxotorena arquitectos, Pablo Guillén, Pablo López Aguado, Pablo M. Millán, Rafael Moneo, Rubén Labiano y Jesús Bazal, T113 arquitectos, Tabuenca y Leache, Vicens + Ramos, VZ arquitectos.

Conference Track 1: Mosque Architecture: Between Global Contexts and Local Traditions
• Bridging the gap between mosques and communities
• Compatibility of Mosque architecture with urban tissues worldwide
• Charity mosques: implications of prototype mosques 
• Challenges of mosque architecture in western (non-Muslim) contexts
• Regional variants in mosque architecture
• Beyond the mosque: diverse spaces of worship
• Transformation of churches into mosques and vice versa
Conference Track 2: Spirituality in Mosque Architecture
• Impact of design elements on worshipper’s experience
• Sensorial aspects of spirituality in mosque design
• Historiography of spirituality in mosque architecture
• The effect of Covid-19 social distancing in mosque spiritualty
• Location context and spirituality
• Role of the Quran in mosque spiritualty
Conference Track 3: Mosque: Multiple Design and Construction Techniques:
• Mosque interiors and ornamentation
• Sustainability regulations and policies for mosque design and construction
• Eco- Mosque design
• Mosque architecture and design in post-Covid-19 pandemic era
• The future of mosque design