Pages

Monday, January 11, 2010

TEN MOST UNIQUE CHURCHES

I've never been to any of these places, so I have no proof of their existence, but aren't these amazing structures???
enjoy...
Ten Most Unique Churches


Harajuku: Japanese Futuristic Church


This futuristic non Catholic church is located in Tokyo and it was first unveiled by the design firm of Ciel Rouge Creation in 2005. The ceiling is specially made to reverberate natural sound for two seconds to provide a unique listening experience for worshipers and tourists.


Saint Basil's Cathedral: The Red Square's Colorful Church

The St. Basil's Cathedral is located on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. A Russian Orthodox church, the Cathedral sports a series of colorful bulbous domes that taper to a point, aptly named onion domes, that are part of Moscow's Kremlin skyline. The cathedral was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of the Khanate of Kazan. In 1588 Tsar Fedor Ivanovich had a chapel added on the eastern side above the grave of Basil Fool for Christ, a Russian Orthodox saint after whom the cathedral was popularly named.


Hallgrmskirkja: Iceland's Most Amazing Church

The Hallgrmskirkja (literally, the church of Hallgrmur) is a Lutheran parish church located in Reykjavk, Iceland. At 74.5 metres (244 ft), it is the fourth tallest architectural structure in Iceland. The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrmur Ptursson (1614 to 1674), author of the Passion Hymns. State Architect Gujn Samelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937; it took 38 years to build it.

Cathedral of Braslia: The Modern Church of architect Oscar Niemeyer


The Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida in the capital of Brazilis an expression of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. This concrete framed hyperboloid structure, seems with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven. On 31 May 1970, the Cathedral's structure was finished, and only the 70 m diameter of the circular area were visible. Niemeyer's project of Cathedral of Braslia is based in the hyperboloid of revolution which sections are asymmetric. The hyperboloid structure itself is a result of 16 identical assembled concrete columns. These columns, having hyperbolic section and weighing 90 t, represent two hands moving upwards to heaven.

The Cathedral was dedicated on 31 May 1970.


Borgund Church: Best Preserved Stave Church


The Borgund Stave Church in Lordal is the best preserved of Norway's 28 extant stave churches. This wooden church, probably built in the end of the 12th century, has not changed structure or had a major reconstruction since the date it was built. The church is also featured as a Wonder for the Viking civilization in the video game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.


Las Lajas Cathedral: A Gothic Church Worthy of a Fairy Tale



The Las Lajas Cathedral is located in southern Colombia and built in 1916 inside the canyon of the Guaitara River. According to the legend, this was the place where an Indian woman named Mara Mueses de Quiones was carrying her deaf-mute daughter Rosa on her back near Las Lajas ("The Rocks"). Weary of the climb, the Mara sat down on a rock when Rosa spoke (for the first time) about an apparition in a cave. Later on, a mysterious painting of the Virgin Mary carrying a baby was discovered on the wall of the cave. Supposedly, studies of the painting showed no proof of paint or pigments on the rock - instead, when a core sample was taken, it was found that the colors were impregnated in the rock itself to a depth of several feet. Whether true or not, the legend spurred the building of this amazing church.


St. Joseph Church: Known for its Thirteen Gold Domed Roof



The St. Joseph The Betrothed is an Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Chicago. Built in 1956, it is most known for its ultramodern thirteen gold domed roof symbolizing the twelve Apostles and Jesus Christ as the largest center dome. The interior of the church is completely adorned with Byzantine style icons (frescoes). Unfortunately the iconographer was deported back to his homeland before he was able to write the names of all the saints as prescribed by iconographic traditions.


Ruica Church: Where Chandeliers are made of Bullet Shells

Located over the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia, the Ruica Church is a small chapel decorated with trench art! Its chandeliers are entirely made of spent bullet casing, swords, and cannon parts. The space the church now occupies was used by the Turks as gunpowder storage for over 100 years and it had to be largely rebuilt in 1920 after WWI. Though damaged by bombings there was an upshot to the terrible carnage of The Great War. While fighting along side England and the US, Serbian soldiers on the Thessaloniki front took the time to put together these amazing chandeliers. It is one of the world's finest examples of trench art.


Chapel of St-Gildas: Built into the base of a bare rocky cliff
 

The Chapel of St-Gildas sits upon the bank of the Canal du Blavet in Brittany, France. Built like a stone barn into the base of a bare rocky cliff, this was once a holy place of the Druids. St. Gildas appears to have traveled widely throughout the Celtic world of Corwall, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. He arrived in Brittany in about AD 540 and is said to have preached Christianity to the people from a rough pulpit, now contained within the chapel.

14 comments:

  1. Wow! Really Cool! Thanks for Sharing. I'm your new blogging buddy from Georgia. Thanks for your sweet post and email. I don't know about you~But,I'm COLD! Not use to this weather! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those are so neat! I don't know which one is my favorite as they're all so wonderful.

    Manuela

    ReplyDelete
  3. all very cool and worth a visit someday. hope arrived today. my daughter thinks she is very pretty. i think she wants to steal her from me.. LOL ill fight her for it.. just kidding. she is really perfect. ill post about her this week.. yay!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love it!, beautiful churches and interesting pics, thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's amazing!!! And hooray for a Chicago church making your top 10! Not that I'm biased or anything. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for sharing this! The unique churches are so awe-inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Darling, you have a lovely blog and a new follower….me. I will return often.

    Love & Hugs
    Duchess

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those are wild! And to think I thought our building projects were complicated....lol!
    -Tara

    ReplyDelete
  9. How fun it would be to get to take a tour of each of these!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi there! I have been in the cathedral in Brasilia. It really does exist and yes it is totally amazing. It would be really wonderful to see these others too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Some very interesting and beautiful structures. Thanks for the history/architectural lesson...I enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete

I love your sweet comments and read them all. Please let me know you were here!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails