Nah, there are tons of protestant churches in Germany that fit the description. They are not ugly, but they tend to be a less flashy and more modern (for obvious reasons) than catholic churches. There are nicer ones of course, but often you can tell on first sight that a church is protestant. The ones I have been to did have benches at least in the main hall tho
Almost any beautiful church in Scandinavia is Lutheran and therefore protestant. Is this also your definition?
It looks like in Sweden some Churches remained Catholic but the nice ones didn’t.
Idk man the Turku Cathedral for instance definitely wasn’t Lutheran when it was built in the 1300’s, as Martin Luther lived in the 15th century.
I think the Turku Cathedral is pretty flashy, especially compared to the bleak wooden churches that were built a few hundred years ago. Just… the wooden ones are not impressive as the stone churches.
I guess yeah, but I for one think it’s okay. They’re literally awesome. As in, generate awe. Can’t help but to feel awe whenever I stand by the Cathedral of Turku. It doesn’t relay well with images. Which is why I’d like to see the Sixtine Chapel someday myself. Also definitely the Pantheon. Such a marvel.
So, powerful people spending exuberant amounts of money on building institutions to enforce their power, is alright
I never said nor implied that.
I’m just saying I can appreciate the feelings of awe. Awe isn’t always just a positive thing, it’s just a powerful thing. And it’s obvious to me that those ill-gotten gains that were used to build the massive cathedrals actually did also serve a purpose. Since an institution which can generate awe like that is obviously going to be more influential than one which doesn’t. Especially in the middle-ages with a poorly literate population.
I’m interested in reading about WWII. I’d like to one day visit Holocaust museums to actually understand the scale of the horror. It too, would be a type of powerful feeling, kind of like awe, but I I’d hate to use the word in this context, as it’d be like awe at the horrendous things humans can become. But because “awesome” has such a positive connotation in modern parlance, I emphasise that I wouldn’t use the word in that context. Impactful. Yeah. That’s what I expect it would be. Staring at churches isn’t impactful to me, but since they do generate feelings of awe, I can understand that they must have been impactful to a lot of people throughout history. That’s not me defending the morality of said impacts. Just talking about them existing.
Ah ok so your thesis is that after the reformation the Catholics build more beautiful churches than the Lutherans?
My guess would be that this is mostly wrong. It definitely is in Germany. Both churches get their taxes collected by the state but modern churches are mostly pretty ugly anyway.
Ah ok so your thesis is that after the reformation the Catholics build more beautiful churches than the Lutherans?
No. I’m saying protestant churches built like 200 years ago are much more barebones than the ones preceding the great reform. Protestantism also values humility, which is sort of why. But I can see value in awesome places despite them also signaling probably quite a corrupt clergy usually.
But in Finland we have quite a lot of stone churches built before the reform and while they’re not exactly flashy papidt churches, they’re clearly a bit flashier than the lots of wooden churches we have, and I just think the impressive stone ones are much more effective at generating awe. Which I feel is kind of a function of religion, if you’re into that. And I’m not and I still enjoy being awed, for whatever reason.
The written Finnish language is literally from the same time as the reformation, so I don’t think we can be considered to have ever really been properly catholic in the first place. The first ever Finnic text of any sort recorded is from the 13th century and the first ever recorded Finnish is apparently this:
The first known written example of Finnish itself is found in a German travel journal dating back to c. 1450: Mÿnna tachton gernast spuho sommen gelen Emÿna daÿda (Modern Finnish: “Minä tahdon kernaasti puhua suomen kielen, [mutta] en minä taida;” English: “I want to speak Finnish, [but] I am not able to”).
I just wanted to put that here for any Finns who might be reading. It’s like reading Old English. Weird, but ~readable. Sorry for the tangent.
In Germany Protestant churches are among the most beautiful. All of Switzerland or the UK and most of Skandinava is Protestant, with absolutely stunning churches.
I even think this post is only valid in the USA.
Nah, there are tons of protestant churches in Germany that fit the description. They are not ugly, but they tend to be a less flashy and more modern (for obvious reasons) than catholic churches. There are nicer ones of course, but often you can tell on first sight that a church is protestant. The ones I have been to did have benches at least in the main hall tho
The US have made religion even more fucked up than it already was. And as usual, they believe they’re the norm.
Meh I’m fennoscandian and I can see the difference in style. Sure our churches aren’t as bleak as the meme makes out, but… compared to catholic ones…?
Almost any beautiful church in Scandinavia is Lutheran and therefore protestant. Is this also your definition? It looks like in Sweden some Churches remained Catholic but the nice ones didn’t.
Idk man the Turku Cathedral for instance definitely wasn’t Lutheran when it was built in the 1300’s, as Martin Luther lived in the 15th century.
I think the Turku Cathedral is pretty flashy, especially compared to the bleak wooden churches that were built a few hundred years ago. Just… the wooden ones are not impressive as the stone churches.
The more corrupt a religion is, the prettier their building are 🤷♂️
I guess yeah, but I for one think it’s okay. They’re literally awesome. As in, generate awe. Can’t help but to feel awe whenever I stand by the Cathedral of Turku. It doesn’t relay well with images. Which is why I’d like to see the Sixtine Chapel someday myself. Also definitely the Pantheon. Such a marvel.
So, powerful people spending exuberant amounts of money on building institutions to enforce their power, is alright as long as it generates awe?
Fascism through beauty i guess.
I never said nor implied that.
I’m just saying I can appreciate the feelings of awe. Awe isn’t always just a positive thing, it’s just a powerful thing. And it’s obvious to me that those ill-gotten gains that were used to build the massive cathedrals actually did also serve a purpose. Since an institution which can generate awe like that is obviously going to be more influential than one which doesn’t. Especially in the middle-ages with a poorly literate population.
I’m interested in reading about WWII. I’d like to one day visit Holocaust museums to actually understand the scale of the horror. It too, would be a type of powerful feeling, kind of like awe, but I I’d hate to use the word in this context, as it’d be like awe at the horrendous things humans can become. But because “awesome” has such a positive connotation in modern parlance, I emphasise that I wouldn’t use the word in that context. Impactful. Yeah. That’s what I expect it would be. Staring at churches isn’t impactful to me, but since they do generate feelings of awe, I can understand that they must have been impactful to a lot of people throughout history. That’s not me defending the morality of said impacts. Just talking about them existing.
Nice. I am going to start thinking of going to church like going to the Holocaust museum from now on. I like that.
Ah ok so your thesis is that after the reformation the Catholics build more beautiful churches than the Lutherans?
My guess would be that this is mostly wrong. It definitely is in Germany. Both churches get their taxes collected by the state but modern churches are mostly pretty ugly anyway.
No. I’m saying protestant churches built like 200 years ago are much more barebones than the ones preceding the great reform. Protestantism also values humility, which is sort of why. But I can see value in awesome places despite them also signaling probably quite a corrupt clergy usually.
But in Finland we have quite a lot of stone churches built before the reform and while they’re not exactly flashy papidt churches, they’re clearly a bit flashier than the lots of wooden churches we have, and I just think the impressive stone ones are much more effective at generating awe. Which I feel is kind of a function of religion, if you’re into that. And I’m not and I still enjoy being awed, for whatever reason.
The written Finnish language is literally from the same time as the reformation, so I don’t think we can be considered to have ever really been properly catholic in the first place. The first ever Finnic text of any sort recorded is from the 13th century and the first ever recorded Finnish is apparently this:
I just wanted to put that here for any Finns who might be reading. It’s like reading Old English. Weird, but ~readable. Sorry for the tangent.