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Gotta hand it to the Catholics......


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If you haven't seen it, The Midnight Mass with the Pope is worth watching for a while, just for the mere fact that they show lots of St Peter's Basilica. To me, its absolutely fuckin amazing that men 500 years ago built that massive structure. Hell, it be amazing even it was 10 years ago. It covers 23 sqaure kilometers, and its 430~ feet from the floor to the top of the dome. It seat 60,000 on one level, no stadium seating. Its like the Akron blimp hangar, but every inch is meticulously decorated.

http://jacinto.yi.org/italy/20011129/11290011-st-peters-basilica.jpg

http://www.debevec.org/FiatLux/media/images/st-peters-plan.jpg

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Guest jpurdy2003
It is an amazing engineering feat. It is my non-expert opinion that stuff like this outlasts modern structures because builders up until first half of the 20th century were willing to trade a little profit for a lot of durability. Also, I love this type of architecture. I'm disgusted by modern churches' blandness. Same goes for public buildings. Cleveland's city hall is a timeless work of art, while most suburbs have city halls that look more like a generic office building than a place designed to practice, celebrate, and honor democracy.
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Are you telling me New Rome's city hall wsn't a work of art? tongue.gif

 

The reason they last so long is, ironicaly enough, because they lacked modern building materials. They used rock, good rock, marble and lots of it. The Steel Building Depot mail order chapels are fuckin rediculous.

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Guest Crankshaft
<font color ="midnightblue"> Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in; but they cannabalized the Colloseum and Pantheon, to name but two of the many other magnificient Roman marvels to build it, so I vote tear it down and restore the countless other buildings the Catholics vandalized when they constructed it. One good turn deserves another. That makes me sick. graemlins/nonono.gif
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Agreed - it's a beautiful building. Everytime I'm in a church I'm amazed at how much money is dumped into a faith.

 

Originally posted by Buy Here Pay Here:

Cleveland's city hall...

I have concluded that you must include something about Cleveland in every post.

 

EDIT: Just saw your post on AIDS and diarrhea and something. I stand corrected.

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Guest jpurdy2003
Originally posted by Venomss:

I have concluded that you must include something about Cleveland in every post.

What can I say, I try to bring enlightenment to you cow-town folk. :D
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Guest Crankshaft
Originally posted by Tenzig:

They tore down a big circus built by Nero, and the Pantheon still stands. graemlins/wtf.gif

<font color ="midnightblue"> Not sure what you're trying to say in this post (supporting/refuting me), but yeah, the pantheon still stands... minus ALL of the former marble dieties that were housed inside, and much of the marble plating that covered the outside and front fascia.

 

Basically, my point was that we have enough churches in the world, but there's only one Colloseum (several, I know, but the one in Rome is the first to come to mind), and I think it is more important, in more ways than one, than yet another Catholic temple (splendid as it may be).

 

Cool anecdote: when I visited the St. Peter's Basilica, I was walking around inside (as most people who visit it do, I'm sure), and noticed a small boy standing infront of a tomb of some priest. He was gazing up at it, with a soft, innocent expression, and a shaft of light from one of the windows in the high ceiling was pouring down onto just him, just the circle where he stood. It was very touching. *fin*

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Originally posted by Folkvang:

...

Basically, my point was that we have enough churches in the world, but there's only one Colloseum (several, I know, but the one in Rome is the first to come to mind), and I think it is more important, in more ways than one, than yet another Catholic temple (splendid as it may be)...

Yeah, another sports arena, albeit an old one, is more important... :rolleyes:

 

This isn't "another catholic temple" (catholics don't do "temples" btw). This is THE Catholic Cathedral. So I wholeheartedly disagree. Of course, I got bored during the movie Gladiator, so what do I know? I mean, the Catholic religion only got its start 80 years before that thing was built and all...

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Guest Crankshaft
Originally posted by Mowgli:

Yeah, another sports arena, albeit an old one, is more important... :rolleyes:

 

This isn't "another catholic temple" (catholics don't do "temples" btw). This is THE Catholic Cathedral. So I wholeheartedly disagree. Of course, I got bored during the movie Gladiator, so what do I know? I mean, the Catholic religion only got its start 80 years before that thing was built and all...

<font color ="midnightblue"> Temple was a generalization... I'm aware that they don't have those ;)

 

And what if the Catholic religion got started 80 years before the Colloseum was built? The Roman Empire was around much longer, and earlier, than that. So by that line of reasoning, the Colloseum should still be up. smile.gif

 

My point is that Italy is FULL of marble, and that it was a shortsighted whim of pompous arrogance that robbed such beautiful structures as the Colloseum and the Pantheon, and Nero's circus, and that at the very least, the Catholic church's big pockets should fund a restoration of the Colloseum and Pantheon (the circus is burried now, is it not?)

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Folkvang, if you believe that St Peter's Basilica was built solely by taking down the Coliseum in Rome you've got more history to read. But yeah, its a travesty the church used any material at all from that structure of enlightenment which was a shining beacon glowing against opulences built on slavery, death, oppression, sloth, gluttony, abuse, torture, and any number of other excesses to un-earned wealth, cus if the Coliseum was anything, it was all about tasteful restraint...

 

Now the Circus Gaii et Neronis, where many of the Christian martyrdoms occurred - sure. Tear it down, build on its spot, and don't forget to spit and take a shit on it while you're at it. But that wasn't even this building you're ragging on. St. Peter's Basilica was constructed about 500 years ago over the foundations of the old St. Peter's Basilica, which was built in the 4th century to house the tomb of St. Peter.

 

But I'm probably full of crap - the Coliseum is more important, after all Gladiator was such a cool movie. And its not like the coliseum raided other venues for its material. Its not like the Romans cannibalized material all the time thruout their entire history. Its not like all europeans were dragging looted crap all over hte continent.

 

 

Lets talk about Napoleaon's and his arch...

 

Originally posted by Avenger:

This is what you can accomplish when you have 2 billion or so credulous people who believe that they can buy their way into a good afterlife.

Spoken like a good protestant what'd make Martin Luther proud. *looks around* Oh wait, the Reformation ended four hundred years ago...

 

Wow, just think how many poor/sick/homeless people could've been helped by those tithings!
As opposed to that other religious organization thats given many times more money to feed the poor sick homeless and starving. The, um, whats its name again? The, uh... Oh right, there is none.

 

[ 26. December 2004, 07:46 PM: Message edited by: Mowgli ]

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Guest Crankshaft
Originally posted by Mowgli:

Folkvang, if you believe that St Peter's Basilica was built solely by taking down the Coliseum in Rome you've got more history to read. But yeah, its a travesty the church used any material at all from that structure of enlightenment which was a shining beacon glowing against opulences built on slavery, death, oppression, sloth, gluttony, abuse, torture, and any number of other excesses to un-earned wealth, cus if the Coliseum was anything, it was all about tasteful restraint...

 

Now the Circus Gaii et Neronis, where many of the Christian martyrdoms occurred - sure. Tear it down, build on its spot, and don't forget to spit and take a shit on it while you're at it. But that wasn't even this building you're ragging on. St. Peter's Basilica was constructed about 500 years ago over the foundations of the old St. Peter's Basilica, which was built in the 4th century to house the tomb of St. Peter.

 

But I'm probably full of crap - the Coliseum is more important, after all Gladiator was such a cool movie. And its not like the coliseum raided other venues for its material. Its not like the Romans cannibalized material all the time thruout their entire history. Its not like all europeans were dragging looted crap all over hte continent.

 

 

Lets talk about Napoleaon's and his arch...

 

Spoken like a good protestant what'd make Martin Luther proud. *looks around* Oh wait, the Reformation ended four hundred years ago...

 

As opposed to that other religious organization thats given many times more money to feed the poor sick homeless and starving. The, um, whats its name again? The, uh... Oh right, there is none.

<font color ="midnightblue"> My, someone's edgy...

 

Mowgli my point was, and is, simply this: they shouldn't have done it. That's it. We marvel at the colloseum today because it was a tremendous feat of engineering - for any time - and it is of immense historical significance. And I am aware that the marble did not only come from the Colloseum, but so what? They took most of what's missing today.

 

I'm not mad at the Catholics now for doing that any more than I'm mad at the whites today for slavery years ago. No one today is accountable for what happened centuries ago. But that still doesn't make it right.

 

And my comment about tearing down St. Peter's Basilica to restore the Colloseum was only cynnicism; I would be just as outraged if anyone tore that marvelous piece of architecture down today to build something else (like it's going to happen, but still).

 

And finally, if you wanna play your trump card and make the Catholics out to be saints and the Roman's out to be gluttonous heathens, might I point you to the reference section concerning the Inquisition? Ah, what gloriful piousness brought that movement about. And have you heard of Foxe's Book of Martyrs? It's a great read, if you would care to learn a bit about the extent of 'righteousness' the Catholics are capable of.

Neither side is without indemnity, but I think you should be aware of just exactly how tainted and corrupt the Catholic church has been from its very inception, before you cast such a shadow upon the Empire that created the Colloseum. If St. Peter's Basilica is worthy to stand, then by the same means of judgement, so too is the Colloseum.

 

Are we clear now? smile.gif

 

[ 27. December 2004, 01:37 AM: Message edited by: Folkvang ]

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I'll explain myself then wish you happy holidays: I'm making no excuses for the catholic church at all. I'm well versed in its sordid history. I pointed out the coliseum was no better. I then pointed out that, in knee-jerk balance to the overwhelming rhetoric catholics are deluged with daily on the failings of their religion both historical and present day, voiced here by Avenger's quip, that in fact the catholic church is the biggest philanthropic organization in the history of mankind. A little reminder of goodness in the mountainslide of mudslinging catholics tire so much of.

 

So since we actually seem to agree, lets let it drop here. Happy New Year to you. (seriously)

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Guest jpurdy2003
Originally posted by iwishiwascool:

So... we're not talking about the colleseum in Cleveland that they have been thinking about knocking down?

 

/ ;)

Never forget the Miracle in Richfield.
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