Churches are the original skyscrapers, at least in England, with some regions such as the East Midlands still boasting medieval places of worship as their tallest buildings, but just how does one understand them in a secular age?
Based on the popular architecture book, How To Read A Church, a new six-part tv series of the same name will be shown on BBC Four with Richard Taylor explaining just what is what in a church.
To put simply, medieval churches were built not just as places of worship, but also to illustrate biblical stories and explain theology in an era where few people could read properly, and when in any case, the Bible was not available in English.
The aim of the programme is to make modern viewers realise that churches and cathedrals are not just places with pretty sculptures and stained glass windows but that they have messages which are being communicated and can be understood. These need not necessarily be religious - instead many tell us about the eras in which they were built.
For example, a pelican sculpture is usually shown pecking itself and drawing blood as a result because medieval people believed pelicans did this rather than to prune their feathers. This in turn relates to the line in Psalm 102:6 where the bible says, "I am like the pelican of the wilderness" and the pelican is seen as an analogy of the sacrifice made by Jesus.
These days thanks to a dozen David Attenborough documentaries, such a modern reference would be lost on the people of today, as few realise 800 years ago we believed pelicans pecked and drew blood.
Peppered with facts such as this How To Read A Church starts airing for six weeks in September on BBC Four.
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