Las Lajas Cathedral, Columbia, South America

Las Lajas Sanctuary or Las Lajas Cathedral (El Santuario de Las Lajas or Cathedral de Las Lajas in Spanish) is a remarkable and an impressive cathedral built over a river gorge inside the canyon of the Guaitara River from January 1, 1916 to August 20, 1944. This cathedral is a neo-gothic sanctuary which is located in the southern Columbian Department of Nariño near Ipiales (close to Columbia’s border with Ecuador) and it is named after a type of flat sedimentary rock called Laja which is similar to the floor tiles found in the Andes Mountains.

According to the local legend, in 1754 a woman who called herself Maria Mueces was carrying her deaf-mute daughter, Rosa on her back while walking near Las Lajas or The Rocks. They were caught in a very big storm. Maria then found a shelter in a cave above the Guaitara River, where she began to pray. To her surprise, Rosa spoke “the mestiza is calling me….” while pointing to the lightning illuminated painting over the Laja. An image of Virgin Mary was seen on an enormous vertical rock on one side of the gorge, 45m above the river. Over time this cave and the image became the site of numerous miraculous healings. Thereafter, every holy day of September 16, pilgrims particularly from Columbia and Ecuador come to visit this place.

Hallgrimskirkja, Iceland

The Hallgrímskirkja (the church of Hallgrímur) is the most famous, striking and largest church situated at the top of shopping street of Skolavordustigur and in the centre of Reykjavík, Iceland. It is 74.5 meters in height and thus it has the privilege to be the tallest building in Iceland. Its architecture is as similar as the style of Grundvig’s of Copenhagen, Denmark, which was completed in 1926. This modern Nordic design of the church is the work of State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson who also designed Landakotskirkja in Reykjavík and Akureyrarkirkju in Akureyri. The church took 38 years to completely construct (1945-86) while the landmark tower took longer period to be completed before the church’s actual completion.

This Lutheran parish church is named after the Icelandic famous poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614- 1674) who is also popular for his artistic works of the Passíusálmar. Not only this man was a well-known poet and clergyman, but also he was popular as one of the most influential pastors during the Age of Orthodoxy. He was said to contribute significant efforts to the Lutheran hymnody.

At 74.5 metres (244ft), Hallgrímskirkja is the fourth tallest building in Iceland after the architectural buildings of Smáratorg Tower, Eiðar Longwave Transmitter, and Longwave Radio Mast Hellisandur. The tower which provides excellent views all over Reykjavík can be seen from almost everywhere in the city. Hence, it has become one of the best known and main landmarks of Reykjavík. Despite of this, it has become a must visit place of Iceland.

In front of the church is a statue of Leif Eríkson, aka “Leif the Lucky”, an Icelandic/Norwegian explorer and who is believed to be the first European to discover America around 1,000 A.D. This statue was a gift from the United States on the 1930 Althing Millennial Festival of Iceland’s parliament, which marked the 1000th anniversary to the oldest Free Governmental Assembly in the world, Iceland’s Althing.

Inside, the church houses a huge pipe organ (1992) by the German organbuilder Johannes Klais of Bonn. It has mechanical action, four manuals and pedal, 102 ranks, 72 stops and 5275 pipes. It is 15 metres tall and weighs 25 tons. As recorded by Christopher Herrick in his Organ Fireworks VII, this 15-meter-tall and 25-ton-heavier construction was finished in December 1992. There is also an eight-floor bell tower with some of the city’s best views. A visitor can access to the observation deck by taking an elevator to view Reykjavík and the surrounding mountains.

Jubilee Church, Rome

The Jubilee Church (formally known as Dio Padre Misericordioso) is a new paradigm for an international church and community center designed by Richard Meier & Partners. According to Richard Meier, its American architect, it is “the crown jewel of the Vicariato di Roma’s (Archdiocese of Rome) Millennium project.” The Jubilee Church is not a traditional church but it is always thought to be an iconic landmark of contemporary architecture in one of the world’s most historic cities of Rome. “With the Jubilee Church, we have worked to create a new Roman Catholic church for the 21st century – a landmark that upholds and builds upon the city’s rich architectural tradition,” says Richard Meier, FAIA. The Jubilee Church, known in Italian as La Chiesa del Dio Padre Misericordioso (God our merciful father), is always regarded as one of the 50th new churches with community centers constructed throughout the suburbs of Rome as part of the Vatican’s Millennium project.

The Jubilee Church sits on a flat, triangular site in Tor Tre Teste (named for a bas relief of three heads carved in a medieval guard tower dating back to the 4th Century) about six miles east of central Rome, which is adjacent to a lower/middle-income housing complex built in the 1970’s. This church provides a new focal point for 8,000 residents of the Tor Tre Teste area who live in the 1970’s ten-storey apartment blocks with the paved courtyard (sagrato) on the east as a public meeting space for social, educational, and recreational activities. The church is meant to socially “revive” Tor Tre Teste. The Church and its Community Center could accommodate more than 8,000 residents with a spacious space for ritual, play, celebration and church activities. The community center also encourages parishioners to gather in the piazza as was done in the sagrati of medieval Italy.

The Jubilee Church is constructed from traditional Roman travertine and white, marble-like concrete, which was invented by Pier Luigi Nervi in 1960 for the Olympic stadium in Rome. A weekday chapel and baptistery have their own entrance each. There is a large door with a glass façade leads to the entrance to the church, with the altar located at the west end. The western part of the church is laid out as two courts separated by a walkway between the church to the south and the four-level community center to the north. The northernmost court has a recreational garden with a terrace while the second court features a reflecting pool symbolizing the baptismal ceremony and is also as a space for meditation.

The most distinctive feature is the south side of the Jubilee Church which features the three large curved shell walls or “sails” which are made from concrete shells. These large thermal mass of concrete walls were designed to minimize thermal peak loads by controlling heat gain inside the church in order to promote more efficient use of energy. The walls also contain titanium dioxide to keep the white appearance of the church. According to Borgarello,

“When the titanium dioxide absorbs ultraviolet light, it becomes powerfully reactive, breaking down pollutants that come in contact with the concrete. It is particularly good at attacking the noxious gases that come out of a car’s exhaust pipe.” All the shell walls have an equal radius (57ft- 90ft), with the tallest at the center of the building that soar to a height of about 87.5 ft (26.66m) above the building. The freestanding sails symbolising the Holy Trinity were designed to withstand wind, heat and earthquakes. There is a space in each of the main “spine” wall on the right, or north. The three circles of equal radius that generate the attribute of the three shells, together with the spine-wall have made up the body of the church nave, discretely implying the Holy Trinity.

The notable feature of this church is that direct sunlight does not enter the church. However, there are a series of glass skylights between the shells and over the main space, which are lit by sidelights and light also penetrate from below through a narrow slot opened at floor level. People in the atrium are always enveloped with mystical light.

The church has glass ceilings and skylights span the entire length of the building filling with natural light. Meier expressed his ideas by saying: “In the Jubilee Church, the three concrete shells define an enveloping atmosphere in which the light from the skylights above creates a luminous spatial experience, and the rays of sunlight serve as a mystical metaphor of the presence of God.” At night, light emanates from within creating an ethereal presence and animating the landscape. That means the artificial lights gently illuminate this church at night. The nave, altar, side chapel and confessional booths can accommodate about 264 parishioners, with the main nave seats 240, and a day chapel seats 24. The altar plinths, baptismal font, nave floor and altar are all made from travertine, while the roof of the nave and eastern and western façades are made from glass.

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Rome

St. Peter’s Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri) is regarded as the most magnificent and impressive building in Vatican City, an enclave of Rome. It was the largest church ever constructed (it occupies an area of 23,000 meter square or 5.7 acres and has a capacity of over 60,000 people) and it remains as one of the holiest sites in Christendom. Its space is enormous enough to take in up to 20,000 worshippers. It is not a cathedral but it is termed as a basilica. Like other earliest churches in Rome, it has the entrance to the east and the apse at the west end of its building. From a distance, St. Peter’s appears to be ten times as big as what its appearance should be.

Saint Peter, who was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus, and he was tapped as the first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome by Jesus because he was destined to be the foundation “stone” (in Italian “Pietra”) on which the St. Peter’s Basilica was built in the Christian world. During the fierce persecution of Nero, Peter was imprisoned with millions of other condemned Christians and died by crucifixion between 64 and 67 A.D. on the Vatican Hills. In A.D.64, the apostle Peter was arrested and brought to one of the great imperial circuses in Rome, and then he was martyred on an inverted cross. Rumor has it said that Peter wanted to be put on the cross head-down as he did not feel worthy of being crucified in the same manner as Jesus Christ. His body was later taken outside the walls of the arena to be buried in a small roofed grave on the Vatican Hill.

According to Catholic tradition that St. Peter’s was built at the place where Saint Peter, the first apostle and who is regarded as the first pope was crucified and buried and thus his tomb is placed under the main altar. This is followed by other popes who are also buried in and below the basilica.

Many well-known artists involved in the construction of the St. Peter’s. Michelangelo for instance, designed the parabola shaped dome with a vertical thrust while Bernini designed the huge elliptical St. Peter’s square (Piazza San Pietro) and which was built between 1656 and 1667. The open arms outlining the square symbolises “welcoming the world into the Catholic Church.” There are also two beautiful fountains in the square, with the northern/ right one by Bernini (1675) and the south/ left one by Carlo Maderno (1613). A 25.5-meter-tall obelisk dating from 13th century BC Egypt brought to Rome in the 1st century was situated in the center of the square. The obelisk reaches 40m if the cross on top and the base is included. Between the obelisk and each fountain is a circular stone which marks the focal points of an ellipse. There are 140 statues of saints on top of the colonnade, which were crafted by several sculptors between 1662 and 1703.

An inscription of Matthew 16:18-19, in letters 8 ft. (2.5m) can be seen along the base of the inside of the dome: TV ES PETRVS ET SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM. TIBI DABO CLAVES REGINI CAELORVM (You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.). There is another circular inscription near the top of the dome: S.PETRI GLORIAE SIXTVS PP. V.A.M.D.XC.PONTIF.V. (To the glory of St. Peter, Sixtus V, pope, in the year 1950 and the fifth year of his pontificate.)

St. Peter’s façade is topped by 13 statues made with travertine. From left, the statues are Thaddeus, Matthew, Philip, Thomas, James the Elder, John the Baptist, Christ the Redeemer, Andrew, John the Evangelist, James the Younger, Bartholomew, Simon and Matthias and St. Peter’s. Stretching across the façade is the dedicatory inscription: IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII (In honor of the prince of apostles; Paul V Borghese, pope, in the year 1612 and the seventh year of his pontificate).

Left door into the basilica is the Door of Death which was traditionally used as exist for funeral processions. Large relief of panels depict the death of Jesus, death of Mary; violent death of Abel, serene death of Joseph, death of first pope, death of Pope John XXIII, death of first Martyr Stephen, death of Gregory VII (in exile defending the Church), death improvised in space and death of a mother at home.

Right to the entrance, there located major sight of Michelangelo’s beautiful Pietà, depicting the sculpture of Virgin Mary cradling the dead Jesus in her lap after the crucifixion. The monument up to the aisle is Queen Christina of Sweden, who abdicated in 1654 in order to convert to Catholicism. Further up are the monuments of popes Pius XI and Pius XII, as well as the altar of St Sebastian. It is also well worth visit the crypt underneath the church as it contains architectural fragments from earlier churches on the site and the tombs of many popes, including the simple tomb of John Paul II.