Mosque vs. Church

Mosque and church had more or less the same purpose.

But then again, there are different styles of mosques and churchs. The Baroque/Byzantine and comparable styles look for decorated churchs while gothic churchs are definitivly huge in size. I'll devellop the gothic here.



And then, even in the gothic style you have different substyle.

The French style (the first one) try to make them huge inside. I mean with a very tall nave and choir. Beauvais and Narbonne are mosters in this style. They also often have two towers in front (when finished) and sometime more. Narbonne is an expection because it's not finished and has no nave because it was only made for the clergy and not for the people. Beauvais isn't finished either. For typical French gothic look for Amiens, Reims or Bourges.

The English style wanted them tall outside, with huge spires. See Salisbury and Lincoln for this (before the spires collapsed). Though they are often smaller than the French one (outside). Built in different proportions. For typical British gothic, Salisbury and Norwich the two tallest English gothic cathedrals. Some French cathedrals also have this still, the Norman and Angevin one especially, Rouen, Clermont Ferrand (106m tall) are the most repsentative, but the spire on Rouen was added in the 19th century. Chartres also have big spires but is a different style.

The German style was first inspired by the French style but develloped a different style mixing the two (two towers in front of the cathedral with huge spires, see Cologne). But this is then more gothic revival than gothic. Of the three big styles, it's the tallest one (outside, not inside) but also the youngest (there are often several centuries between French and English cathedrals and the German ones). Look for Cologne and Mageburger Dom for examples.

Then, other countries have other styles, but the big 3 are France (northern mainly, but southern has some good examples too), UK (mainly England) and Germany.

Some French gothic samples:

Beauvais: this one isn't finished.





Narbonne, also unfinished





Rouen, 153m tall





Amiens, this one is really stunning





Bourges, same style.






Reims:





And of course Chartres.






There are many other examples of French gothic: Laon, Montpellier, Tours, Angers, Bordeaux, Orleans, Paris (Notre Dame and the Saint Chapelle), Saint Nizier (Lyon), Saint Denis, Metz, Saint Remi (Reims), Strasbourg ect........ the list would be just too long.

it is funny how Orthodox churches and monasteries can differ greatly from Catholic ones even though it is the same religion.    Here are some Bulgarian ones

 

Edited by Thracian

We cannot compare in Spokane but we have two interesting churches- Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox and St.John Episcopal
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http://www.holytrinityspokane.org/photos/tn_dome1a.jpg




St Johns

I am not Mormon but they are part of American culture. In fact, it is a home spun religion based on Christianity. The main stream churches like the Protestants, Orthodox or Catholics look at them as a cult. On the most part they are good moral people. Only Mormons of good standing are allowed in the temple. No offense to any Mormons on this site meant,



Mormon Temple looms over what was Main Street in Salt Lake City, Utah, as construction continues on underground parking garage yesterday. Garage will be topped with pedestrian mall, which Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints promises to keep open 24 hours a day.

I think Churches and Mosques are both beautiful in their own ways,

but i dislike Gothic style altogether, it looks so evil and ugly that its hard to believe it would be have connection to God, it looks like the Devils architecture! what is the western obsession with gothic stuff?

but at the same time i think orthodox christian churches are amazing, as are some synagogues and mosques.

 

btw Cyrus what is the that Mosque (the first one posted at the top of the page) ?

Edited by wiseking

Then there is this modern work by the New Age Rev Schuler in California!! The Crystal Cathedral!!!!

 simply inhuman. this is incredible, the complexity of geometry is astonishing. I wonder ifit  is possible to apply such a design with glasses and steel yet at a modest price. modern architecture is not very complaex in shape but advance in term of technology and engineering. Now this in glass and steel and other modern material will be so unbelievable.

The most striking thing about churches I think, is that their core design was never meant for religious purposes, but for trade or at least jurisdiction. I don't know alot about mosques, but I expect they were designed for it's religious purpose right from the start.

Al-sayeeda Zainab , Syria