Abstract
Buildings interact with, influence, and are influenced by other adjacent and nearby buildings and landscape features. Whether intentionally or not, complex spatial, architectural and experiential relationships were created when early churches were built adjacent to non-Christian religious buildings. The cathedral at Gerasa, in northern Jordan, was built adjacent to a Temple of Artemis complex and can only be satisfactorily understood by exploring both the architecture of each complex and the relationships that existed between them. This is achieved through architectural analysis in combination with a user experience-led method, focussing upon how users experienced each complex in light of the other and by considering the impact of civic and religious memory on user understanding. The comparative architectural experiences impacted user understanding of each complex and the institutions represented, while knowledge of the past was appropriated to create bridges between known non-Christian and less well-known Christian contexts and hierarchies.
Highlights
The cathedral at Gerasa, in northern Jordan, was built adjacent to a Temple of Artemis complex and can only be satisfactorily understood by exploring both the architecture of each complex and the relationships that existed between them. This is achieved through architectural analysis in combination with a user experience-led method, focussing upon how users experienced each complex in light of the other and by considering the impact of civic and religious memory on user understanding
Throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, examples can be found where early Christian church builders utilized temple remains in various ways, ranging from churches inserted within standing temple cellae, to churches constructed adjacent to temple remains without any physical interaction (Bayliss 2004 and Hahn et al 2008 demonstrate the broad scope of temple-church conversion study and the variety in how this was expressed architecturally)
These created and appropriated experiences were dissimilar to those created at Gerasa, where experiences of approach and entry were created that contrasted strongly with those of the adjacent Temple of Artemis complex, but this further demonstrates the importance of applying a user experience-led approach when analysing appropriated and adjacent architecture
Summary
To cite this article: Ian Elliot McElroy (2021) Constructed contrasts and manipulated experiences: the cathedral at Gerasa and its relationship with the adjacent Temple of Artemis complex, Levant, 53:1, 92-106, DOI: 10.1080/00758914.2021.1935096 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2021.1935096
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