Paper short abstract:

The paper looks at church architecture from a praxeological point of view. Churches will be focussed not only as spaces of symbolic representation, but of negotiation and cultural reproduction of social relations. Some problems of cultural analysis in architecture will be discussed.

Paper long abstract:

Catholic churches - as well as Protestant ones - are a big topic in academic research and reflection in theology, religious studies and history of art. From these disciplinary points of view, they are scenes of divine presence, of liturgical practice, and of astonishing works of art in architecture, painting and sculpture. But what are catholic churches if consequently interpreted as spaces of social practice? The paper underlines the necessity of thematizing sacred architecture as a material "medium" shaping the social (Heike Delitz). Catholic churches will be read not only as spaces of symbolic representation, but of negotiation and cultural reproduction of social relations. Situated in the contexts of recent material religion studies, historical anthropology and empirical cultural analysis, the study will show that catholic sacred spaces are important catalysators for political culture as well in history as in the present. In my presentation, I will suggest a theoretical framework for the cultural analysis of sacred space. This framework considers four dimensions: the church as 1) a space of symbolic order, 2) a space of cultural memory, 3) a space of sensuality and emotional practice, and 4) a space of social interaction. These four analytic dimensions are also relevant with regard to a general perspective on architecture and built space. Finally, there will be pointed out some methodological possibilities and problems of cultural analysis in architecture. Three major approaches will be discussed: symptomatic reading, praxeological analysis and ethnographic study of architecture.