The history of art and architecture

The history of art and architecture

The history of art and architecture has put much emphasis on religious buildings more than any other kind of structure. This is owing to the fact that in variety of the previous cultures the exalted, as well as the universal religious appeal, has temples or churches to the most permanent, expressive, and influential architectural building in any given community. The structure of the religion architecture is very complicated since they do not have any definite basic requirements like for the domestic architectures share anything in common for all religion. This is also because there are various different forms of activities that are involved in each and every religion. Moreover, the various religious activities are subjected to change due to the evolutions of the cultural beliefs and patterns.

Moreover, Christianity has been tremendously religion since the beginning of the fourth century, especially in the cities of the Roman world. It has led to the attraction of converts from all corners of the world. The art and theology and theology of Christianity as a religion has been improved via cultural collaborations with the Greco-Roman world. Nevertheless, Christianity would have been radically transformed via a single man’s actions. The commencements of a recognizable Christian art can be traced to the end of the second century as well as the start of the third century. By putting considerations on the Old Testament, the graven images are strongly prohibited. It is, therefore, very crucial to understand why Christian art came to development before. Image usages will, therefore, be a non-ending history in Christianity history. Among the best explanations for the emergence of Christina art can be attributed to the significant role that the images played in the Greco-Roman culture.

With time as Christianity gains converts, new converts have gotten used to the values of the images from their previous cultural experience. They have seen the need to continue with the same in their current Christian experience. For instance, changes in the burial practices have been evident in the current Roman world apart from the cremation to inhumation. Adjacent to the main roads, on the outside parts of the Rome’s city walls, there were dug catacombs into the ground to bury the dead. This meant that families could have cubicula or chambers dug for burying their members. Affluent Romans would have marble or sarcophagi tombs engraved for their burials. This draws the attention of Christina converts, who wanted the same done for them. This made the Christian catacombs to be frequently dug adjacent to the non-Christian ones with sarcophagi characterized with imagery.

Early Christian art in Rome

The ancient Christian art remained comparatively sparse until when Christianity was legalized in 313. The art mostly included fresco paintings on some of the walls of the catacomb as well as the house church meeting areas. Some of the architectural designs place on the martyrs’ graves as well as certain sarcophagi, engraved with various reliefs of Mary, Jesus and some other prominent figures in the Bible. In those old days, Christians underwent persecution, making most of the Roman Christian art to remain part of the underground culture. This shows how Christianity, together with art and imageries that were used to illustrate it transformed from the to a public thing whose art and imageries became understood by everybody. Early Christian paintings made use of motifs from Greek and Roman art, for example, the “Christ in Majesty” image.  The need for religious art and architecture grew tremendously after the legalization of Christianity. Most churches have been built as worship centres. Their structures were designed based on the Roman Basilica architectural designs.  Basilica church is characterized by the existence of the central nave with aisles on either side as well as polygonal apse at the other end that is covered by a local vault. The apse then functioned as a presbytery and had an elevated section where priests and bishops sat. There were also various rites that are built and designed for the baptisteries. Furthermore, the non-baptized individuals were not permitted to gain access into the Basilica. Mosaic was used to perform interior decorations of most religious buildings despite the fact even mural paintings have also been seen. The sculptural sarcophagi’s decorations happened to be very intricate, mostly displaying various Biblical scenes. Most Christian religious buildings have embraced arts which are made of richer materials such as ivory carvings and relief sculpture.

Resurrection Themes

The most pronounced bit of the third-century Christian art is the non-existence of the imagery that might dominate later Christian art. It is difficult to get in the current era the images of Crucifixion, Nativity, or Resurrection of Christ.  While indirectly portraying the central images of the Christian, the theme of resurrection and death has been shown via a series of images. Most of the themes are derived from the Old Testament.  For instance, Jonah’s story as being swallowed by the big fish as and being vomited in the dry land after spending three days in the belly of the fish is displayed by Christians as a prefiguration or anticipation of Christ’s own story of death and resurrection. Various images such as for Moses striking the rock, images of Jonah, and Daniel in the den of the lion are some of the most popular arts in the Christian buildings both on sarcophagi and in paintings. All these paintings can be symbolically associated with the significant stories of Christ’s life.

The Basilica

Scholars claimed that the creation of the Basilica faced a lot of challenges as to what was supposed to be the right physical form of the Church. This was due to the inappropriateness of its association with the pagan cults as well as the variance in function. The temples double as both dwelling and treasuries for the worship. Major sacrifices were performed on the outdoors alters.  This had a meaning that the architecture of the Roman temple was majorly an exterior architecture.  Owing to the fact that it is a mystery religion that requires practical participation in religious practice, the architecture of Christianity puts more emphasis on the interior. This, therefore, means that more interior space is needed to accommodate the more congregation to bring a clear separation between the unfaithful and the faithful. The current Christian buildings further portray the authority of Christianity.

Protestant Art

The protestants advocate for a kind of worship that emphasizes the direct connection between man and God without embracing the ideas of mediators like Bishops, popes and other employees of the Church. The protestants place minimal significance on religious ceremonial aspects as well as decorations. It is due to this that the arts associated with the protestants favour low-key moralistic portrayal of the normal daily life or just simple Biblical narrative scenes as opposed to resurrection and Crucifixion of the Christ. The protestant art is a reflection of a more personal and modest religion approach. This makes the protestants made use of prints and illustrations rather than the catholic counterparts which makes use of sculptures and paintings to illustrate various aspects of the religion. Despite everything, the protestants had an understanding of the power embedded in arts in influencing and educating worshippers. It is due to this that they made use of the various form of printmaking which enables the images to be extensively available at low costs to the public.

Shrines

Shrines are dedicated owing to its miraculous character or for its relationship with the life of saints of cult or founder. Because the significance of the structure of the Church is normally proportional to tradition’s antiquity as well as the relationships with the origins of the cult, the structure bears minimal significance in the earlier architectural history. Some of the most memorial Christianity architecture are the ones that are linked to the life of the Christ; early Church Furthers as well as the Apostles or ones which are characterized with the olden cult of relics.

`The church Design

The shape of the cross has become a prominent architecture of most Christina churches. It is normally placed in front of the altar region. Such churches also have a broad vaulted region or dome at the interior to draw the attention or symbolize heaven. Some other popularly use architectural shapes in the Christian churches consists of a circle to symbolize eternity or a start or octagon shapes to indicate that the Church lay the role of bringing light to the universe. Besides, a tall tower especially over the crossing or on the Church’s “west” end is another pronounced architecture in the Christian churches today. Furthermore, another popular architectural feature of most contemporary churches is the front altar’s eastward orientation. In most cases, the alter takes the orientation that is due east but in the direction where the sun rises. It is the 4^th century when this architectural practice originated in Byzantium and later became dominant in the West in the 9^th century.  This custom of the old Roman of placing the altar at the west end while placing the entrance at the east was followed till late in the 11^th century even the northern areas of Europe under the reign of Frankish.

Theological Tradition

The architectural design of the building of Christian churches brings forth some highlights on certain aspects of the theology of the Church. Just as somebody gets via the Church a distinct and

The beautiful building in which the Christ Church in Plano, Texas worships is a wonderful example of this theologically-driven architecture. Christian churches display their strong beliefs by developing a sanctuary that has s true reflection of the cross of Jesus Christ. The churches have the main space of prayers or worship is normally designed and structured to portray certain aspects of Christian belief. The pulpit, therefore, remains the primary focal point of worship. The sacred place has few decorations with the main aim of keeping the sacred region visible and hence being the central focus.

Community Space

            If one pays a close look at the architecture of the old Christian churches, there is no significant space for individuals to gather prior to moving into the area of worship. The community space in the modern churches assumes an architectural design that makes it be located where Christians can gather and conduct fellowship before getting into the Church. Most churches are designed in such a way that they have huge foyers and lobbies with seating and standing areas. Furthermore, some architectural designs of the modern Christian churches in such a way that there are specialized regions designed for coffee where congregations may get refreshments after and before the church service. For example, Saddleback has a section known as “The Patio” where congregation may get refreshments. The art and architecture of these churches allow for various sections for the meeting, greeting as well as having fellowship with others after and before the worship.

Connection Space

Connection space is another common region within the Church.  The architectural design of the common space designates it in a region where individuals may get information concerning the Church. This may span from the welcome desk, especially for guests who visit the Church for the first time to larger sections that may consist of youth ministries, mission opportunities and small group information. Furthermore, some churches have designed special sections where they display their galleries. The galleries are designated in a place where first-time visitors who are searching for more information about the Church may easily locate them. Trends records it that churches are universally having spaces designed to help enhance the community’s understanding of varied aspects of the Church.

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism refers to a ritual event where an individual is accepted and admitted to the membership of the Church. However, there are various beliefs associated with baptism across multiple denominations. Disparities usually emerge among various denominations as to whether there is any significance related to the act of baptism.  Some churches like Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglicans and Catholics have a strong belief towards the significance of baptism.   They maintain that the act of baptism helps in enhancing and strengthening an individual’ faith. They further claim that baptism has a direct relationship with salvation. On the other hand, some churches see the act of baptism as a mere symbolic act, which represents an outward declaration of an individual’s inward spiritual change. Moreover, there are varied views on the methodology of baptism. The baptism method usually is immersion.  The disparity in the ideology emerges as to whether the technique should be total, partial, or whether the baptism should be via aspersion. The Christina faithful who believe in total immersion my incline on infant baptism. For example, the Orthodox Church has a strong belief in infant baptism and hence practice total immersion. They normally practise total immersion by immersing the believers repeatedly three times.

Conclusion

Art and architecture have put much attention on religious structure more than any other kind of building. The role that art and architecture play displaying and conveying various rites and ceremonies conducted by various religion cannot be overemphasized. Most architectural designs are tailored in such a way to manifest various rights and ceremonies associated with various religious occasions. The structure of the religion architecture is very complicated since they do not have any definite basic requirements like for the domestic architectures share anything in common for all religion. This is also because there are various different forms of activities that are involved in each and every religion. Moreover, the various religious activities are subjected to change due to the evolutions of the cultural beliefs and patterns. Furthermore, the religious buildings and structure have a lot of information to display hence signifies social and cultural practices that are related to any given religion.