A baroque masterpiece: Fulda Cathedral

Leaving the playful rococo style seen in the last post, Amalienburg, we now visit Fulda, Germany, to tour the baroque masterpiece of Fulda Cathedral. The baroque style was a direct response to the rococo and was based on more serious Romanesque architecture. The ornament is restrained with lots of 'blank space' for contrast to let the eye rest.

My Australian penpal on his most recent European adventure had little to say about the cathedral, I think in part because this restraint in comparison to the over-the-top'ness of the profuse German rococo can be somewhat underwhelming. This architectural purity of the baroque style appeals to me personally though.

The Cathedral was designed in 1700 by the German baroque architect Johann Dientzenhofer after a visit to Rome.  Dientzenhofer was clearly inspired by St Peter's Basilica, a masterpiece from the Renaissance which every great architect and artist had worked on: Bernini, Michelangelo, Maderno, and Bramante to name a few. Who wouldn't be inspired?

 As with most churches, light is everything.

I think it's interesting to note that unlike both earlier and later churches, stained glass wasn't a feature -here the light, space, and the architecture itself are left to speak.

One of the most noted features of this Cathedral is the world famous pipe organ which you can read about here if you're interested. Personally I always think of music when I imagine the baroque period so having a masterful pipe organ in this church makes sense!

It may be baroque but the rococo qualities are still seen in the sculptures.

What I love about a baroque church is that the ornament is purposeful -one knows where to look during a service and also knows what is important. Everything isn't ornamented equally, rather the pulpit and the alter are given pride of place.

I hope you enjoyed this little architectural history lesson and visit to Fulda Cathedral. I've added Fulda to my travel wish list!

As always click on the images to view larger

Frank Lloyd Wright's First Christian Church

This past week I visited Phoenix, Arizona, and unexpectedly fell in love with the city. The desert landscape, friendly locals, warm winter weather, and dry air all impressed me.  Of course knowing me you know there was also a lot of architectural tourism going on!  Late in his life Frank Lloyd Wright moved to nearby Scottsdale to escape the cold winters in Wisconsin. His legacy is strong in Phoenix and many buildings bear his stamp.

One of these buildings designed by Wright was actually built more than a decade after his death. The First Christian Church was designed for another organization in 1949. 20 years later the church needed a new building and bought the plans from Mrs.Wright at his nearby camp and school, Taliesin West, where the plans were stored.

Finished in 1973 the church appears to be triangular from any angle to reflect the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), while in fact is not 3-sided at all. Stone, concrete, glass, and copper fit in well to the desert landscape.

This interesting concrete jungle near the entry provides a beautiful shaded outdoor spot to congregate away from the strong desert sun.

While I remain a classicist my rules soften in different climates. Don't you agree this is a more suitable style in the circa 1973 suburban desert than a Gothic cathedral?

Join me in the following weeks as I feature some of my discoveries in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona!

Cardboard architecture

This past weekend while reading the Wall Street Journal Magazine (Nov 2013) I noticed a short article on the demise of Gilbert Scott's neo-gothic Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand which had been decimated by many recent earthquakes.  The replacement (which the article failed to mention was temporary) was designed by architect Shigeru Ban completely out of cardboard! Ban, who has donated his services on similar churches throughout areas of the Eastern Hemisphere which faced similar acts of God, expects the cardboard cathedral to last 50 years if needed.

Above you can see Scott's stone ChristChurch Cathedral from 1904 before the damage and below the devastation numerous earthquakes in recent years had wrought.  The decision phase has been hard on the church as they decide whether or not to rebuild or if the damaged building was salvageable; turns out that sadly the existing church could not be saved. The city and preservationists were also involved as the Cathedral is a local landmark and a category #1 historic place ranking within New Zealand.

When I first read the article I was outraged at the current state of the architectural profession that a 50 year life expectancy was deemed an adequate replacement for such a structure - or in fact any structure. We talk so much about being 'green' but replacing buildings every 20-50 years is the anti-thesis to green. Buildings in Europe are in use that are a thousand years old which is a whole lot more 'green' than a lot of current building practices.....but that's a topic for another blog post. I was wrong in fact and the cardboard Cathedral is a temporary structure; crisis adverted.

Can you imagine such a tragedy to your own church or landmark? So sad.

Ban's design was a simple A-frame structure of huge cardboard tubes covered with a clear polycarbonate roof to keep off the weather. The ends are then infilled with stained glass with super-imposed photo images from the old Cathedral (see last few images). 

Above you can see the structure getting erected a few blocks away from the old Cathedral while it continues to be demolished and the site prepared for rebuilding.

The finished project is a beautiful example of modern ecclesiastic architecture in my opinion, and you know I'm primarily a classicist!

The finished space holds 700 parishioners.  I love that it includes something of the old Cathedral (the stained glass images) while leading the way for the congregation to the future and their rebuilding; hopefully a structurally sound replica of the old Cathedral.

What do you think of the temporary replacement and cardboard buildings in general? Could you worship here?

Images sourced from various news sources and not my own.

Bryn Athyn Cathedral

Located adjacent to Cairnwood is the Bryn Athyn Cathedral; Literally next door or if you want to be technical, in the side yard of the house. The Cathedral is the seat of the "New Church" and was donated by John Pitcairn and was mainly designed by his son Raymond Pitcairn. Of course the benefit to this location is that each room of the house (Cairnwood) is afforded picturesque views of a gorgeous cathedral. Plus the commute to chapel for the religious Pitcairn family was definitely convienent!The main bulk of the structure was started in 1913 and finished in 1919. Designed in an early Gothic style, later smaller additions (designed by Raymond) are in Norman Romanesque. Strangely enough, this style is historically earlier creating the impression that the larger main tower was built later.The design was based on Gloucestor Cathedral in England and is immense (the main tower rises 150 ft!), only plunked down in rural Pennsylvania.Beside the tower is a leg of a cloister which was designed to be fully enclosed (creating a square courtyard) but was never completed. Here you can see the beautiful detail to the stonework.The church sees a lot of active use as you can see by the furnishings and immaculate cleanliness.Stone as far as the eye can see.The superb craftsmanship of everything makes this building so special, just look at these door handles.Everything is as special as a Cathedral should be.I loved this little private side door off an intimate garden.No detail was overlooked.The details of this side exterior stair were really incredible.Ezekials Tower, seen here, was completed in 1926 and lies off to the side of the main structure.Again, I just couldn't get over the amount of detail.Even each little basement window grate was different and a work of art.Before going inside, lets take a look at the floorplan. If you look closely, you can see that nothing was built straight. This was purposeful and not a result of being done mainly without drawings (in the 20th century no less!). This mimic'd ancient cathedrals of Europe where it was also done intentionally. To the North of the church lies Michael's Tower (the main entrance) and the choir hall (seen above).I thought this was a shame as the main entrance to the chapel is this gorgeous metal door, facing a spectacular view.Can you believe this cathedral is in rural Pennsylvania?!All of the wood seen here is teak and the Pitcairn's bought an entire boatload of the wood which had been an order left by someone else (who doesn't love a deal). Teak is used for ceilings and doors here at the Cathedral as well as in Raymond's own amazing house which I will show you next week. The guide I spoke too said the family still has a barn full of the unused teak!Fittingly enough Raymond developed the techniques used in creating all of the stained glass on the grounds of Cairnwood. I say fitting as part of the families' fortune, if you will remember, came from the forming of PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass).Raymond collected and studied medieval stained glass to replicate the lost techniques used. The details on these windows are incredible and you would never guess many were created as late as the 1960s. Again, I urge you all to visit and support both Cairnwood and Bryn Athyn Cathedral!