Katie and I moved to Munich a couple of weeks ago and we’re spending all of 2012 here. We’ve lived through two German weekends and have gone to two separate churches. Both have been large, cathedral-style buildings, but last night’s was incredibly impressive — St. Michael’s near the town’s Marienplatz area. It was built in the late 1500′s and has a dome second in size only to Rome’s Vatican.
While I was reading about the history of the church — the cost, the time it took to build, the fact that people were forced out of their homes to make room for construction — I realized something. Such magnificent places of worship will never again be built — at least not in ordinary circumstances. People won’t stand for their cost or the time it would take to open the doors (“We’re going to build a church here.” “Great! When will it open?” “In 15 years.” “Oh.”) And people certainly wouldn’t allow citizens to be uprooted from their homes.
And while I agree with all of those sensible things, I couldn’t help but sit back and soak in the magnificence of what I was sitting in. Since I couldn’t understand most of what was being said outside of “Alleluia” and “Amen,” I had a lot of time to absorb the beauty of the church. It made me happy that there was a time when such monstrous churches were constructed. All places of worship offer the same promise — a chance to be close to God, to celebrate the Mass (or another service for another religion) — but these gorgeous churches in Europe seem to take worship to a new level.
You can’t sit in a place like St. Michael’s and not be in awe of the power of God — especially with beautiful organ music filling the space. So while my hometown of Milwaukee, Wis., likely won’t be bulldozing any neighborhoods in the near future to make way for a new cathedral — which, again, I think is a good thing! — I will make sure to soak in the European churches while I can.
- MW
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