Romantic Expressionism and the Modern Church

Abstract

In The search for a new style to house the physical and spiritual activities of modern man, ecclesiastical architecture faces a serious dilemma. In the Medieval period an unconscious integration existed among congregation, church building, and its builders. While modern scholarship does not support the romantic theory of “collective creation” of the Medieval church buildings, undoubtedly there was a high degree of communal expression. During the Renaissance and Baroque periods ecclesiastical architecture depended upon professional architects who were fully conscious of the historicity of ‘style’ and of their own profession. What coherence there was among congregation, Church, and architect was achieved through the arbitrary action of the Church, the courts, or the academies and can not be regarded as a true communal expression. The historical consciousness of the Renaissance period remained to the present day, and paved the way for the revivals of modern times. Of these the Gothic revival was the most imp...