Facts About Lake Norman Churches

By Angela Howard


A church is a sacred structure build for the purposes of Christian to meet and worship God. Although a church can symbolize many things depending on different denominations such as the catholic faith. To them a church is the body of Christ. Other than that it is simply a building built specially for purposes of worshipping God and bringing people of different backgrounds together. This is important information about lake Norman churches.

A church is dated back in the earliest times. According to the bible people did not build a church before they would gather in temples or synagogues to worship and pray. In Christianity a church is a house of God. Small cathedrals were built between the eleventh and fourteenth century which occurred in western Europe. Not only were they used for worship but also to handle community works.

Communities used then as meeting places among other functions. Changes in the designing of churches started long time ago and have spread into modern times. Among prominent styles is the Romanesque architecture. It was traditional Roman architectural styles that spread into Europe and became popular. Among its unique features is compactness and bulkiness. Other features include several octagonal towers or rough circular arches.

A new style replaced the popular Romanesque style, this new style was called gothic and in involved symbolic allegoric features. Gothic style had jagged arches, reinforcements and rib vaults. Unlike the Romanesque style this was less thick because new methods of construction had been invented. This form of architecture allowed the church structures to have large windows ensuring free flow of air inside creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Another style occurred during the renaissance period this was between the fifteenth and sixteenth century. During this period design of a church was greatly influenced. Some of the gothic churches were left unfinished for long period of times when the gothic era vanished. An example of renaissance church are the basilicas. This style is simplified and the main key feature was the classical arrangement of columns.

The most common architectural style of churches in the renaissance period was Baroque. This design was adopted so as to reflect developments in the building industry. During the renaissance period they acted as a reflection of affluence, influence and authority. The design was complicated as most of the common features were exaggerated as the demanded by the style. Decorations were done using either sculpture of moldings. Changes in roofing included shift from ordinary roofs to use of decorated capitals and domes.

After all these eras came to pass the modern era was introduced. In the modern era a common architecture for all church structures is the shape of the cross. This is represented in terms of a long rectangle with side rectangles. The traditional church is divided in to several categories. These are the nave, altar and sanctuary.

Each space has to be designed specifically for a function it is supposed to be used for. Nowadays there are different churches which include basilicas, cathedrals among others. Churches have grown in terms of design due to advancement of building technology.




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