I’m not a particularly religious person, I was raised with a background in Catholicism, but as I got older my religious roots fell by the wayside. Especially in this day  in age I think it’s easy to be cynical about religion. However, being here, surrounded by all this work and a culture that was heavy-handedly shaped by religion, it forces you to view religion in a very different way. It’s made me ask a lot of questions about myself and my beliefs and about humanity in general. And all of these thoughts stemmed from one art history class.

This week we started classes and one of the classes I am taking this semester is High Renaissance and Mannerism, an advanced art history course that includes site visits every week. For the first site visit, we visited the Church of Santa Maria Novella, a magnificent church that sits in this open and sunny piazza. When I arrived for class outside the steps of the church I was immediately taken aback. The church itself is almost designed to perfection. There was balance in the green and white stone; in addition there was a juxtaposition of rounded Roman arches with straight columns and a contrast of hard and strong pillars with delicate and elaborate designs of the Dominican Pediment. This design is only a small part of it’s beauty. I could honestly talk about this church forever.

In short, I was struck in awe just looking at the thing. Then inside the church, I was absolutely spellbound. You walk in and feel a wash of calmness as you enter the dimly lit, open space. Then you look at the art and architecture and it takes your breath away. This church was especially more Gothic- so there was a lot of elaborate decoration. You also look at the pieces, and hear about how and why they were made, and you think to yourself, this piece, at the time it was made was a work of perfection. No wonder people feel spiritual in these spaces. And as you walk around and feel this work surround you, you can only feel like something more than just human could make these pieces.

     And then you think, humans did make these works though. These walls of stories and fables were painted by the hand of a skilled artist and brought to life by the countless efforts of followers and artists. And that in it of itself I think is spectacular. Regardless of what you believe, there is something so magical and compelling about the fact that humans are able to create works of art and architecture that makes you feel.

Then I visited a church in Assisi. It was the same exact experience. The moment I walked in I felt the same atmospheric shift. The calmness and freeness of space is something I really can’t express adequately over text. All I can really understand is that, people, thousands and thousands of years ago had such a mastery of space, design, architecture, lighting and artwork, that they were able to create a space with a zen quality that transcends the everyday life.

Don’t even get me started on the mosaics in Ravenna… I can’t even describe how magical they looked, how much detail they had. I could almost feel every hour spent the artists and workers spent pressing the golden tiles into the walls.

    It finally made sense to me why religion was something that was so pivotal to life then and how much religion has played a part in the history and architecture of Italy. If I, as a contemporary critic, growing up in a cynical and skeptical world can be spellbound in these spaces and compelled by the stories told in these churches, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a common person centuries ago.