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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture From: John Briggs <[log in to unmask]> >...in Europe, scant attention was paid by the Roman Catholic church to the question of orientation - it wasn't considered necessary to point to the east at all. mmmm.... my dim memory of a few hundred churches in France --big and small-- is that the overwhelming majority are (at least roughly) "oriented." i'd be hard pressed to expend more than the fingers of one hand to count the exceptions i know of, most of which can be explained by the exigencies of pre-existing structures, topography, etc. lessee..., there's the [present] cathedral of St. Lazare of Autun, originally a collegial dependent on the nearby [mostly destroyed] cathedral and, for reasons not clear (to me at least) "oriented" N-S, at right angles to its E-W orientation. then there's..... and.... >The post-Reformation Church of England, however, paid great attention to exact orientation, with the suggestion of advanced scientific techniques being employed for the laying out 18th-century London churches. that's probably because, being among the most ugly buildings ever constructed by human beings anywhere on the planet (save, perhaps, for 18th c. French churches), they had to have *something* going for them and, by shear default of imagination, "science" came to the rescue c ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html