Favorite European church architecture?
 

An idle question--

Do you find you much prefer one or another style of church architecture to see on your travels? Does it affect your anticipation of the trip, or even your choice of destination (e.g., France over Italy, to see more Gothic churches)?

If it is important to you, then what is your favorite style or styles? Do you have a particular favorite church?

For myself, I've discovered over the past couple of years that I really like Byzantine architecture, and I've developed a new appreciation for Romanesque style.

Anticipation of seeing certain churches does affect the level of excitement I feel when planning a trip. Any fellow eccentrics out there?

While I do prefer Gothic Architecture or Renacimiento when in Italy, it is not important for me when travelling.
I leave myself to be surprised and St. Mark in Venice really make me WOW.
I do have a favorite, Seville's Cathedral.

Romanesque is probably my favourite, followed closely by early Christian, which could, I suppose, be described as Byzantine.

I wouldn't plan a trip around either style, but I'm happy if I find one or the other.

Perpendicular Gothic, which of course leads me to England.

I find this a fascinating question.
Initially, I really liked the Baroque and Roccoco styles (ie St Peter's Rome, Karlskirche Vienna, Salzburg Cathedral, Melk Abbey). But I grew to love the gothic churches and cathedrals even more through the years.
Some of my favorites: Chartres, Notre Dame-Paris, Cologne, Stephansdom-Vienna. Of course, no purely gothic cathedral really exists any longer, as they've all had Baroque and more modern alterations through the years.
Maybe the older I get, I'll start to appreciate even older structures.
So I suppose the Romanesque and Constantinian/Byzantine styles are next on the agenda!

Platzman, It's odd that you should say that. I know it's what happened to me: The older I got, the more the older, simpler styles appealed to me.

Platzman, I think you have a point. Like Eloise, I've gained appreciation over time for the styles that appeared earlier.

St. Mark's is one of a kind, isn't it, Kenderina? What about Seville Cathedral? Is it Gothic--Spanish Gothic? I'm embarrassed to say I don't even know what that would be like. My familiarity with Gothic style is limited to a few French and German churches. And the Milan Duomo, but to be honest, I don't remember that well at all. Mostly I remember a sculpture inside, of St. Bartholomew after he had been flayed, with his skin draped jauntily over one shoulder.

As to Perpendicular Gothic style, Underhill, I've only seen photos of King's College Chapel in Cambridge. So maybe I shouldn't so much focus on my favorite styles as try to expand my familiarity with different styles.

Sure it is, smalti :) Seville's Cathedral is the second biggest one of the Catholic World after St. Peter's in Rome. It's a mixture of styles. At first it was a muslim mosque and during the centuries different cultures shaped it as it is now. But the biggest part is spanish gothic, yes. I felt much more overwhelmed walking there than in St. Peter's, where only the Pietá, the Baldachino and the coppola impressed me, it seemed to me a bit empty :)

In March we went to Venice, and had a side trip to Ravenna. The thought of seeing St. Mark's, San Vitale, etc., made me excited as a child for weeks beforehand. Actually, the prospect of seeing the mosaics was more exciting than the architecture per se, and indeed the mosaics were absolutely glorious.

Now we're planning a trip to Munich for this fall, and while I'm certainly looking forward to it, it's not with the thrilling anticipation of last spring. I'm reading about the Frauenkirche, the Asamkirche (as well as the palaces and castles), and looking forward to seeing them, but not champing at the bit, as I was with Ravenna.

The Frauenkirche in Munich was a bit of a disappointment for me; they rebuilt it quickly and not very carefully after it was badly damaged in World War II.

The Baroque churches like the Asamkirche and the Theatinerkirche, in a somewhat more restrained style, are more interesting.

For real, wonderfully lighthearted Bavarian Baroque, do try to drive out to the Wieskirche (often just called "die Wies"; appropriately enough, as it sits alone in the middle of a meadow).

The Wieskirche--from the map, it looks as though it could be combined with a day trip to Oberammergau/Neuschwanstein. Thanks!

While in Portugal a month ago, I discovered an architectural style that I had never even heard of, much less seen that I fell in love with called Manueline. The Belem Tower and the monastery of St Jerome in Lisbon and the Battle Abbey in Batalha are some the most important examples.

Keith

smalti, my wife and I both have a preference for Romanesque architecture, and it has indeed influenced our travel plans.

We were in Auvergne last month, which is a treasure-trove of Romanesque design. There is a group of five churches there that show remarkable similarity of style, and we made a point of seeing all five.

There is a sub-set of Romanesque architecture that we find hauntingly beautiful. The early Cistercian churches followed a simple style established by Saint Bernard. They are unadorned, but beautifully proportioned. We have been able to visit the abbeys of Sénanque, Silvacane, and Fontfroide, and hope to visit both Fontenay and Le Thoronet as well.

Anselm

I don't plan trips around churches or other religious architecture, but I usually find myself wanting to visit the great cathedrals of Europe as well as chapels and synagogues and mosques wherever I find them.
I've definitely simplified my tastes over the years, to the point where I'd almost say "stark" defines what impresses me the most. One of the simplest, and most sublime, buildings I've ever been in is the abbey in St-Guilhem-le-Desert in the Languedoc. Another one I love is the tiny chapel on the Route de Compostelle in St-Léon-sur-Vézère in the Dordogne.

Most of the church architecture mentioned is of massive stone buildings and I will add one of my favorites, the essentially Norman Durham Cathedral.

But there are many other unique churches to celebrate: the Church in the Rock in Helsinki was built in 1968/69, Eglise Ste-Catherine in Honfleur, built entirely of timbers by shipbuilders in the 15thC and, finally, the Norwegian staved churches of which the one in Borgund built around 1250 is a perfect example. There is a great website for the staved churches at:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/lo...hp/t11013.html

Be sure to scroll down for photos and descriptions.

Manueline style--I've never heard of that, either. Is it like another style, Keith, like Gothic or Baroque?

Anselm, your description of Cistercian abbeys sounds very appealing. And I'd like to see Auvergne's Romanesque churches.

St. Cirq, does your preference for pared-down styles lead you to like church ornamentation less? That is, do you find that the little tortured figures over Romanesque doors, or the stiff saints on Gothic columns, interfere with your appreciation of the architecture? Or is it that you just don't find that sort of thing on the churches you prefer?

Jsmith--Those staved churches look like nothing I've ever seen! Those are amazing! Quite aside from the style, I wonder how wooden structures can survive for centuries without eventually catching on fire.

Your question was to StCirq but I'll take the liberty of answering from my own point of view. If anything, those strange little figures that can be either very naive (in a positive sense) or positively daring -- I'm thinking of some that have been removed from the cathedral in Modena and are shown in a tiny adjoiniing museum -- are as much a part of what I like so much about Romanesque architecture as the straight and simple lines. It's really the combination that I find so fascinating.

Among my favourites I would have to mention Sant'Antimo near Montalcino in Tuscany; it's a jewel from every point of view: the lovely proportions, the wonderful stone, the fascinating small sculptures, the site in the middle of a meadow.

smalti:

I used to be very impressed with ornate churches - loved to "read" the typanums and stained glass windows (à la Malcolm MIller), admire the gilt and the velvet drapings and the imposing organs, gape at the jewels in the treasuries, etc. Now I like them simple and spare, without ornamentation/ostentation.

I'm not a religious person by any stretch, but as I get older simplicity and harmony seem more spiritual to me than a display of intricate carvings or gilded altars.

And then there's the fact that as I get older I just don't like "stuff" and clutter - I'm really working at paring my own possessions down, so I truly appreciate clean lines, lack of clutter, and nice proportions.

Thanks smalti for your 'idle question' - this is an interesting thread...

Without having a preference for one style over another, I do like those structures that fall earlier in the style period rather than later, a time when the ideas are still simple and pure and before they become affected and mannered.

BTW has anyone been to one of my favorites, Ronchamp?

http://www.demel.net/fs-ronchamp.html