Badass Churches

Bedhead · #1 Posted **Mar 16, 2011, 10:57 PM**

This thread is inspired by SkyscrapersOfNewYork's contribution to the tallest churches thread.

Use this thread to post images of churches that put the fear of God into all that lay eyes on them.

For ease of downloading, let's stick to one church per post. Here are a few for starters.

St Nicholas, Burnage, Geograph, S Parish, some rights reserved http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1584661

Bedhead · #2 Posted **Mar 16, 2011, 11:03 PM**

Pilgrimage Church, Neviges
Seier and Seier, Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/seier/3165564453/ Some rights reserved.

Bedhead · #3 Posted **Mar 16, 2011, 11:10 PM**

Christchurch Spitalfields, MSH* Mark Barker, Flickr Some Rights Reserved http://www.flickr.com/photos/69108241@N00/3051490374/

Bedhead · #4 Posted **Mar 16, 2011, 11:12 PM**

And the granddaddy of badass churches, Cologne Cathedral:

Thoschi, thoschi.net, some rights reserved, http://www.thoschi.net/gotham-city-p...ral-of-cologne

SkyscrapersOfNewYork · #5 Posted **Mar 16, 2011, 11:24 PM**

omg i feel so honored, thank you for creating this thread Bedhead!

heres my contribution

Dresden Frauenkirche (Berlin, Germany)

http://www.pension-bauer-heinemann.d...er/dresden.jpg

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (Liverpool, England)

http://fr.academic.ru/pictures/frwik..._Cathedral.jpg

Sagrada Família(Barcelona, Spain)

http://www.allfromweb.net/img/art/ba...-Barcelona.jpg

Las Lajas Sanctuary(Narino, Columbia)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J2dmJAnEC4...Kg/s1600/1.jpg

Hallgrímskirkja( Reykjavík, Iceland)

http://fuckyeahprettyplaces.tumblr.c...bwibXy71qa11my

United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel(Colorado Springs, USA)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...det_Chapel.jpg

Bedhead · #6 Posted **Mar 16, 2011, 11:28 PM**

Fantastic selection! That Columbian one is insane.

Trantor · #7 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bedhead

Fantastic selection! That Columbian one is insane.

err... ColOmbian

Bedhead · #8 Posted **Mar 19, 2011, 10:39 AM**

Fantastic selection!

SD_Phil, I love that badass scale.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trantor

err... ColOmbian

Oops! I was posting late - that's my only excuse

I think we can now assemble some of the elements of ecclesiastical badassery:

1. Outrageously unusual form Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles (the one that started this whole conversation) Colorado Springs Precious Blood, Winnipeg Mole Antonelliana St Mary's Tokyo Unity Temple Stave Churches Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut

2. Spires as sharp as needles Liverpool LDS Temple, San Diego Sweetest Heart of Mary St Louis Cathedral Oakland California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Mormon temples in Portland and Las Vegas St Patrick's, New York

3. Flagrantly minimalist fenestration MIT Chapel Church of the Light Donau City Church

4. Flagrant maximisation of fenestration Brasilia Sainte-Chapelle Crystal Cathedral

5. Overwhelming mass/soarSt Josaphat Hagia Sophia Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Atlanta St Louis Cathedral

6. Insane location Las Lajas Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki

7. Outrageously creative lighting Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA Madonna Della Strada Chapel MIT Chapel Church of the Light

8. Overwhelming, arresting and/or macabre decoration sedlec ossuary Sagrada Família St Peter's, Chicago São Francisco Ordem Terceira Church National Cathedral (Darth) St George Cathedral, Limburg The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg St Joseph, Chicago Chiesa di San Gennaro

9. Link to badass historical figure St Basil's

10. Ivy, to a ridiculous extent. "Hairy Church"

11. Badass colour/texture 19th Street Baptist Church

12. Any church whose name contains the word 'blood' The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg Precious Blood, Winnipeg

13. Waterfalls LDS (Mormon) Conference Center

14. Battle scared and mean-looking Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

13. Bruce Goff funk-tacularity St. John Brebuef Church in Niles, IL

14. Gas station in crypt

Cirrus · #9 Posted **Mar 16, 2011, 11:38 PM**

This one may be "badass" according to a different definition...

Arlington Methodist, Arlington, VA:

Look closely. That's a gas station under it.

HomrQT · #10 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 12:21 AM**

St. Peters in Chicago. Located in the loop, it's situated between two skyscrapers. The rendering of Jesus on the front of the building always strikes me when I pass it. I can't walk to work without giving it a glance.

St. Peter's Church - Chicago by bachnin, on Flickr

St. Peter's Catholic Church, Chicago Loop, Chicago, IL by catholicsanctuaries, on Flickr

ardecila · #11 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 1:43 AM**

LDS Temple, San Diego

flickr/Wu Ching

amor de cosmos · #12 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:22 AM**

sedlec ossuary, prague

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbrard/4900446994/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrefranklin/3074267792/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/halvorbodin/3780821941/

KevinFromTexas · #13 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:34 AM**

Heh. Hearing "badass church" makes me think of 'Monsignor Martinez' on King of the Hill.

• Video Link

Trantor · #14 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:36 AM**

Brasilia Cathedral, by Oscar Niemeyer

http://www.chocolate-fish.net/img_-4240

http://www.brasiliabsb.com/photo_cathedral_wide.htm

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_P3BvaDvVAy...rasilia_01.jpg

http://www.portalbrasil.net/brasil/f...f_brasilia.htm

ChiSoxRox · #15 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:45 AM**

St. Basil's Cathedral says "Never mind stone or concrete colored churches, if you have any color paint it'll go somewhere."

(richard-seaman.com)

There's also the intimidating but probably false tale that Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who ordered the church, blinded the architect so he could never create something more beautiful.

Another, perhaps true, story is from the days when the Soviet Union was plowing huge avenues through old Moscow. City party boss Lazar Kaganovich was showing Stalin a model of the city, and took out the church to see how Red Square would look without it. Stalin immediately exclaimed, "Lazar, put it back!"

When Stalin wants to save a church, you know it's one badass church.

(I also associate it with this famous painting by Vasily Surikov, Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy, which is both a poignant image of Russia's often brutal history, and a vivid depiction of the severe consequences of crossing Peter the Great.)

(paintingspy.com)

KevinFromTexas · #16 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:39 AM**

^That is really strange looking. The ceiling looks animated.

ColDayMan · #17 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:46 AM**

That Brasilia Cathedral looks like Space Mountain.

LMich · #18 Posted **Mar 17, 2011, 3:52 AM**

It's no where near the biggest or baddest church in the world, but I've yet to personally visit a church as awe-inspiring as the upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle in central Paris:

Claudia

Locally, I like the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak in Metro Detroit:

Patricia Drury

Also, not necessarily huge, but I have a thing for the gothic and romanesque catholic churches in around downtown Detroit...

Sweetest Heart of Mary

catholicsanctuaries

St. Josaphat

gsgeorge

markh0421

St. Joseph

markh0421

Ste-Anne de Detroit

kdlmphoto

St. Mary

Patricia Drury

St. Florian (Hamtramck)

Rich-s

Detroit catholics really loved them some red-brick.

The North One · #19 Posted **Nov 8, 2011, 8:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LMich

It's no where near the biggest or baddest church in the world, but I've yet to personally visit a church as awe-inspiring as the upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle in central Paris:

Claudia

Locally, I like the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak in Metro Detroit:

Patricia Drury

Also, not necessarily huge, but I have a thing for the gothic and romanesque catholic churches in around downtown Detroit...

Sweetest Heart of Mary

catholicsanctuaries

St. Josaphat

gsgeorge

markh0421

St. Joseph

markh0421

Ste-Anne de Detroit

kdlmphoto

St. Mary

Patricia Drury

St. Florian (Hamtramck)

Rich-s

Detroit catholics really loved them some red-brick.

You're forgetting the one neer bloomfeild hills, I think its called the kirk?

Nowhereman1280 · #20 Posted **Nov 8, 2011, 11:57 PM**

LOL, Harry, I'm not at all surprised you were raised as a Unitarian. For some reason you just seem like one to me. Haha.