What One Should Know About Lake Norman Churches

By Angela Howard


Depending with the denomination a church represents various things. According to the Roman Catholic it is seen as a symbol of the body of Christ. Generally a church is basically a structure used for worshiping and considered sacred by Christians. People come from different cultural backgrounds to meet and worship God thus promoting unity and understanding. This is worth knowing about Lake Norman churches.

The practice of building special structures for worship began long time ago. The history of churches as contained in the Bible indicates that ancient people worshipped on synagogues and in temples. To a Christian a church is simply the house of their God. History points out that earlier church were built in Western Europe before they spread to other places. Back then they not only served as places of worship but also as meeting points. Several community functions were conducted from churches.

They were used as meeting places for the community, banquet hall among others. Their design has really evolved from medieval times to the modern times. The styles include the Romanesque architecture. This become very popular in Europe during the Romanesque era which was a form of traditional Roman architecture. It is marked with bulkiness and compactness. It is dominated by circular arches with rough or octagonal towers.

Then came the gothic style, this were less compact compared to the Romanesque style. They always contained symbolic and allegoric features. They utilized pointed arches, rib vaults and buttresses. They were less bulky due to invention of new ways of building that improved the structural system. The structural this made it lighter and less bulky hence it gave space to build large windows hence a friendlier atmosphere inside the church.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth century a lot of styles emerged. This was still within the renaissance era and different churches adopted varying architectural designs. The gothic era assured in a new style which was also adopted by the church. However, most of them remained unfinished for a long time. The style featured exaggeration of classical columns.

During the renaissance era another style of architecture took over the Baroque architectural style. Inspired by the growth and increase of the building industry. This design was complex due to the fact easier forms of the renaissance era used to be heavily exaggerated creating the baroque architecture. The church was heavily decorated with ceiling rose and sculpture works. The simple roofs used in renaissance period were substituted by highly decorated domes and capitals. This era allowed most churches to display wealth, influence and authority through their building designs.

Despite all these, the modern era managed to overshadow all the previous eras. The shape of the cross is used by all church buidlings as a customary architecture characterized by a long rectangle with side rectangles. Traditional churches were split into different categories which included an altar, nave and sanctuary.

Each space has to be designed specifically for a function it is supposed to be used for. Nowadays there are different churches which include basilicas, cathedrals among others. Churches have grown in terms of design due to advancement of building technology.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment