Church Building

A church is a religious edifice whose role is to facilitate the gathering of a Christian community. This is the main building of this type of parish in Christianity. Buildings classified as chapels are usually private, as the chapel of a castle, or reserved for a religious community, such as a monastery. The church is a building devoted to prayer and the cultural practices of Christians. In particular, the mass is typically called in a church by the priest in Catholicism and Orthodoxy. In Protestantism , the same building with the same utility is historically known as the temple and not the church, the term (" Church "is capitalized) is primarily utilized to describe the institution or the Christian community (in some exceptional cases, particularly in the context Lutheran institutional church is the word used to describe a building).

Summary 1 The functions of the Catholic and Orthodox churches 2 Architecture 2.1 "Orientation" 2.2 Place of manufacture 2.3 The Romanesque 2.4 The Gothic 2.5 The contemporary architecture 3 The future of churches in France 4 Conversion of churches 4.1 Conversion into flats 4.2 Conversion into libraries 4.3 Conversion to performance hall or meeting room 4.4 Change of Worship 5 Notes and references 6 See also 6.1 Linkages internal 6.2 External Links

The functions of the Catholic and Orthodox churches

According to its importance and function in steady Roman Catholic church may be:

• Cathedral (adjective and name) if she has a cathedra , a seat where Bishop.
• primate (adjective and noun) if it is home to a primate , Bishop having precedence over others.
• Basilica (adjective and noun)
  • if it is built according to a plan told the old " basilica. "
  • or if it was built by an emperor.
  • or if she received the special title of the pope by his office of pilgrimage.
• college (adjective and noun) if, without being cathedral, it is served by a college (the chapter ) of canons secular.
• parochial (adjective only) if it is the seat of a community of Christians.
• Abbey (name and adjective) if it is the main church of an abbey.
• Priory if she is the church of a priory.
• A chapel is a place of worship Secondary
  • if it is part of a larger church, then it is for the worship of a saint, a family, a brotherhood.
  • bailey is nosocomial or if it belongs to a house or hospital (civil building another chapel).
  • if it is commemorative mark a particular place (miraculous spring, site of a miracle, a holy shrine isolated).
  • cimetriale if it is it is built in a cemetery.

In the Eastern Orthodox world:

• A metropolis is a cathedral (the seat of an archbishopric).
• A catholicon (or katholikon) is the principal church of a monastery monastic East.
• A kyriakon (a word that gave Kirche and church) is the principal church of a hermitage or laure.
• The biggest church in town, if not cathedral is called in Greece "Katholik" unrelated to Roman Catholicism.

The generic term or saint (s) (x) what (s) the church is dedicated is the word or dedication.

Architecture

"Orientation"

Since the origins until the ^fifteenth century , in all Christian countries, the building of the church was adapted to a community prayer directed to the is (the so-called orientation - c is where the origin of the word). Because the expectation of sun rising (symbol of Christ risen) is an essential feature of prayer and Christian spirituality. Today this tradition is maintained in the Eastern Church. Similarly, "the sun light means first and supreme light (...) and according to Saint Eusebius of Alexandria , the Christians until ^the fifth century worshiped God with their faces turned towards the rising sun. The rising sun is also often compared to a bird. The Mazdaism sun equates to a rooster announced sunrise, and our Christian steeples still bear the bird that symbolizes the vigilance of the soul until the second coming of Christ, the birth of the Greater Aurora ^{Place of construction}

The first churches in the days of hiding, that is to say, before the ^fourth century , were house-churches, that is to say a special room in the house of a wealthy Christian. Sometimes, the catacombs , where they began to be built, including Rome.

In Roman cities, after the fall of polytheistic religions, the bishops tried to establish places of worship to Christ at the location of temples or fanatic. In larger estates, chapels gradually became parish churches.

Traditionally, when we decided to build a church:

• we chose a saint protector of this building (the patron saint ), this choice was often the result of temporal pattern of the church, on the field where the church would be built: Bishop, owner, and abbeys;
• for the largest churches in the middle of the Middle Ages, the place would be the transept crossing, they planted a large mast at sunrise on the day of the feast of the patron saint (though this festival was celebrated before the summer solstice), otherwise at sunset on the day of the same party (if the festival was celebrated after the summer solstice), there was the shadow cast by the mast: the direction of this shadow defined east-west, called decumanus the Romans. Other operations would follow; layout would fit the circle in which the four pillars of the transept, traced the circle defining the sanctuary, definition of the nave.

In Western Europe , the architectural style of churches is illustrated by several successive periods, the main ones:

The Romanesque

It is distinguished primarily by the use of the arch , which forms a half circle. He often uses the techniques and sets, inherited from antiquity, hence its name.

Its appearance is often massive, with small enough apertures and thick walls because the Roman church is designed to be covered with frescoes, to be used at night (many monastic vigils not only but also parochial) and to be informed of lamps.

Byzantine art in the East, is a variant of the Romanesque that favors plans focus inspired by the Great Church (Hagia Sophia in Constantinople). He ignores the ambulatory.

• 

  Romanesque basilica of Paray-le-Monial

The Gothic

It is distinguished by the use of the arch , whose keystone is at an angle between two arcs that compose it. It was mainly used for the reconstruction of cathedrals.

Its appearance is more slender and streamlined through the use of flying buttresses , which permit deferred thrust away from walls, which are then hollowed out to make way for large picture. The facades are decorated so splendid stained glass windows as the Sainte Chapelle , or in the Cathedral of Beauvais , higher keystone Gothic, with 48 meters characterized by its form a Greek cross (the transept and the nave have the same length).

• 

  Gothic arch of the abbey church of Fecamp

Contemporary architecture

It calls the contemporary church built in France from the 1920s , following the destruction of the First World War in particular. Architects renew the subject, offering innovations while ensuring observance of liturgical norms. Some churches are moving from the urbanization of cities, the Catholic Church hope that the buildings of worship are closer to the people: the Church of Our Lady of Raincy by Auguste Perret is one of them.

From the 1950s , following the destruction of the Second World War , most important, reconstruction of buildings will accompany the liturgical movement that precedes the Second Vatican Council and introduced many innovations, including France and Germany , nations hardest hit. The Journal of sacred art it will resonate especially careful.

In the 1960s, contemporary churches are a part in the Catholic reconquest of neighborhoods and suburbs, on the other end of the period of reconstruction.

They have signature architecture: Le Corbusier , Claude Parent , Paul Tournon. They usually abandon the crosshair Roman (nave and transept). Headquarters of the Diocese of Evry - Corbeil , the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Evry is the only one to have been consecrated in France in the ^twentieth century.

• 

  Church of St. Bernadette Banlay (Nevers) by Claude Parent (1966)

• 

  Cathedral of the Resurrection in Evry by architect Mario Botta

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  Church of St. Casimir of Poland , Police (Poland)

The future of churches in France

Without sufficient maintenance of the municipalities who are responsible, thousands of churches on 40 000 of France 'would run a significant risk of being razed in the coming years . It should be noted that the villages do not always have financial means to support their church, even if it is not very impressive. Similarly, some large cities with dozens of beautiful buildings, often can only ensure the maintenance and construction. France is one of the countries with the largest religious buildings, and it is so comprehensive that the restoration cost is very high. This problem applies equally to many castles and manors.

There is no real census of religious buildings in France. The observatory's religious heritage estimates the number to 100 000 based on an average of 2.5 buildings in each of 36 000 common .

Nevertheless, many common dramatically restore their churches. One example is the Municipality of couen who in 2010 completed the major renovations inside the church of Saint Acceul , building known for its architecture ( Jean Bullant ) but mostly for his windows. The cost of the project is estimated at around 1, 5 million (funded in part by the State).

Some municipalities are organizing their church, in addition to religious, secular events, such as organ concerts or other period instruments.

These little celebrations can often attract new audiences in churches and even finance part of the interview. These uses are frequently diverted to France, some cities that even the decision to convert the religious buildings into a cultural center.

Churches known for their architecture or interior design can generate tourism, and therefore a dynamic economy, able to facilitate maintenance. But all religious buildings can not claim a major tourism, which complicates their recovery.

Conversion of churches

Following the lack of financial means or political grounds, churches are sometimes converted into buildings with different functions or a different religion, one can count notable examples of church converted into a mosque in Bulgaria during the Ottoman conquest and library or apartment in Quebec.

Conversion to apartments

• Condominiums, 6651, boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Canada (formerly Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix)

Conversion Library

• Bibliothque Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Quebec, Canada (St. Matthew Anglican Church)
• Library Old Quebec, Quebec, Canada (Old Wesley Temple)
• Library of Mile End, Montreal, Canada (Old Church of the Ascension)
• Library around 1925, Tbilisi (Norashen old church, it will be converted into a church later)

Conversion into a theater or meeting room

• Old Steeple UdeS , Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
• Old Steeple Magog , Magog, Quebec, Canada
• Temple Saint-Georges de Montbeliard , Montbeliard, Doubs, France

Change of Worship

• Hagia Sophia (Constantinople) , Turkey

References

See also

Internal Links

• Gothic Revival
• Cathedral
• Collegiate
• Church
• Chapel

External Links

• An interactive CD with several churches in Canada
• The website of the French Observatory of Religious Heritage
• Video documentary on the Church of St. Rictrude , classified by the Historic Monuments arrested Oct. 12, 1920 and offering traces successive periods mentioned above.