A Russian Cathedral for Paris
An interesting piece of news, architecturally and culturally speaking, and a welcome change from the usual mosque. Le Parisien reports:
Yesterday, in the vast salons of the Russian Embassy, the fifteen members of the jury - both French and Russian - unveiled the result of the international competition for the creation of the new Russian Orthodox Church to be built at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The Franco-Russian team of architects - Sade and Arch Group - led by the Spaniard Manuel Nunez Yanowsky, 69, was hired for the job.
The affair is highly political. The idea for this project, which includes an Orthodox church and a cultural center, was decided upon directly by Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitri Medvedev. (…)
The Russian religious center will include five golden onion domes that will reach 27 meters above the ground. A lightweight glass veil will cover half of the 4300 square meters of land. And to persuade the jury, and the Parisians as well, an immense garden open to the public will be built and will form a staircase covering one of the buildings. (…)
The work should begin early in 2012 according to the Embassy. The cost of the project, estimated at 34.5 million euros will require donations from French and Russian benefactors, plus contributions from the Russian State. (…)
According to Russia Today, the new church is part of a larger plan by Patriarch Kirill to extend the influence of the Russian Church over the Russian diaspora - the scattering of Russian émigrés throughout Western Europe and the United States after the Bolshevik Revolution. The article concludes:
For some, these recent steps by the religious Moscovite authorities are an attempt to control valuable church properties, and to dominate Russian orthodoxy throughout the world. Others say that Patriarch Kirill is trying to reintroduce spirituality in Western secular societies. It is with this goal in mind that he, along with Pope Benedict XVI, has undertaken to revive friendly relations with the Vatican.
The Times Online has posted this short article:
Russia has pulled off a spectacular coup by winning permission from President Nicolas Sarkozy to build an orthodox cathedral next to the Eiffel Tower.
According to sources, the Russian government has paid about £60m for a site where it will build a gilded cathedral with “onion” domes like St Basil’s in Red Square, Moscow.
The building will dramatically alter the fabled Paris skyline. France’s agreement came only after intensive lobbying by Russian officials, including President Dmitry Medvedev, who told Sarkozy how important the cathedral was to him, and Vladimir Putin, the prime minister.
It would be the first Russian Orthodox cathedral built in France since the days of the Romanovs.
Moscow went to extraordinary lengths when the site, headquarters of the French weather service, went on sale last year. It employed a French lobbying firm to get across the message: the Kremlin would consider a sale to anyone else an “unfriendly act”.
The building is expected to be in place by 2013.
It will no doubt highlight divisions in the orthodox flock. Many in France are descendants of white Russians who fled communism after the death of the last tsar and who are opposed to the patriarchy in Moscow because of its links to the Soviet-era KGB.
Thanks to the reader who sent the links.
posted by tiberge @ 4:17 AM
22 comments
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22 Comments:
I love Russian Orthodox architecture, art and music, but this smacks of just more economic blackmail by the Soviet, excuse me, Russian government and more multi-cultural imperialism. Though the French Republic is secular, France is a Catholic country. Paris is its capital and nothing should compete with Notre-Dame or its other cathedrals and landmarks.
@ dauphin
An interesting comment. My first reaction was relief that it wasn't a mosque. But you are quite right that nothing should take away from Notre-Dame. It looks like the French taxpayers won't foot this bill, since it isn't a mosque!
There are still a lot of people in France who want to "hook up" with Russia. I received some mail about that after I posted the Wikileaks article. Their feeling is better Russia than the U.S. My feeling is that it should be neither. France should stand on her own - without Islam, without McDonald's or Monsanto and without the KGB.
@ tiberge
"My feeling is that it should be neither. France should stand on her own - without Islam, without McDonald's or Monsanto and without the KGB."
Thank you, I love it!!! Yes, my feelings before were that we were better off being close to Russia than to multi-cultural US govt. trying to make France the same way. But one can now see the danger of being in thrall to any country. I don't like the change to the skyline, but I guess it is better than a mosque.
Right now, my thoughts are with French pilots and wishing them successful missions and safe return to base.
Dauphin
Imagine the alternative, a Saudi mosque at the feet of La Dame de Fèr, The Iron Lady, The Eiffel Tower..!
Imagine, only the idea, that the Saudis were in competition with Canada and Russia, to obtain this location for their mosque. Really scary.
In such a climate, it does feel far safer to have a Russian orthodox church, searching to cooperate with the Vatican.
One needn't worry about competition with Notre-Dame, at least architecturally, and given the architecture, spiritually. The only traditional touch, the "golden onion domes," Crosses notwithstanding, could pass in a pinch for modular Holiday tree ornaments. What it does for Paris and st least a shadow of the former Catholic country, is another question altogether -- if that.
I'm surprised you didn't comment on the appearance of the thing
Sorry, one more thing (besides mentioning that the "st" should have been "at"), the characteristic onion domes of traditional Russian ecclesiastical architecture have been reduced here to logos, having as much to do with Russian Orthodox Christianity as the various logos indicating His and Hers on public washroom doors have to do with men and women. I shall say nothing about current Catholic church architecture except to note that a recent example had a weathercock instead of a Cross on top of what passed for its steeple. Now there is truth in packaging!
-- best, pdv
Well, It's better than some monstrosity of "modern sculpting" being put there. Also, Orthodox Christians are some of the most respectful, decent people you could ever meet. I'll take them over the atheist/agnostic/leftist/Buddhist European any day.
Yay for the project! Boo to the Slav-haters!
@ pdv
Your comments are very interesting. I didn't comment on the architecture of the church because I never know quite what to say about modern architecture. In certain lights a modern building is spectacular, in others it is drab and dirty looking. I'm thinking of the Pyramid of the Louvre and the Bilbao museum which is shaped like a fish. In some photos I've seen it's stunning, in others it looks like junk. I don't like the glass veil they are putting on this church because it is a gimmick, and it will probably look dirty soon after it opens. Also, I wonder how safe it is. The onion domes are a bit cartoonish. I like the word "logo" that you used. It describes them perfectly. I too have seen horrible examples of modern church architecture. I cannot imagine how anyone can feel spiritual in such ugly settings. But that's the idea - you are not supposed to feel spiritual. You are supposed to praise the architect.
@ anonymous
Being half Slavic and Catholic, I am hardly a Slav hater. much less a hater of traditional Christianity. And no, it is not better than "some monstrosity of 'modern sculpting,'" which mocks only itself. Once again the Cross is dragged through the muck for political purposes.
@ tiberge
Thanks for responding. The subject at this point is tedious and I half regretted commenting, but the domes and glass veil cried out for something.
disgusting!
I love the architecture and especially the blue veil over the site. Orthodoxy can and must enter the modern world, even as to architecture, and it can and must do that without abandoning its deeply spiritual basis, that is, the resurrected Christ among us.
As for the Paris skyline, sorry, I have never been to France or to Paris but I hope to one day. Paris is not just the capital of France. It represents something much greater, in which even I as an anglophone francophile living in the remotest west of North America, Oregon, participate and draw inspiration from. America is the child of England, France and Spain, and even as a Greek Orthodox I am grateful and indebted to these three pillars of Western Christian civilisation. Bravo kai axios!
As for the political aspects, whether stately or churchly, I couldn't care less. May God be glorified as a result of this new Orthodox temple, and may it be a 'city set on a hill that cannot be hid.'
Vive la France!
"MOSCOW. Jan 3 (Interfax) - The construction of a Russian Orthodox culture and religious center in Paris will soon be started, Russian presidential property manager Vladimir Kozhin said."
Ρωμανός ~ Romanós
Delighted to read your comment, because it covers the whole of Europe as well as the US, both in time and place with unity as the most important aspect, which is something we miss so much in these turbulent times.
The Notre Dame will still stand firmly on her own with no competition whatsoever.
The new cathedral will be located close to the Field of Mars, the Roman god of war.
Saint Petersburg also has its own Field of Mars.
As Russia has the largest number of billionaires in the world, financing shouldn't be any problem. The construction is being fully financed by Russian donators.
@tiberge
Quite interesting to know that the Roman emperor, Elgalabal (218-222) brought with him from Homs where he was a priest under the name Bassianus, to Rome, a black stone, the symbol of the god that he took his name from, Baal (el Gabal), the sun-god.
edit
@tiberge
Quite interesting to know that the Roman emperor, Elagabal (218-222) brought with him from Homs in Syria, where he was a priest under the name Bassianus, to Rome, a black stone, the symbol of the god that he took his name from, Baal (el Gabal), the sun-god.
@ anonymous 12:27 and 12:56
I didn't know Russia had the greatest concentration of billionaires! And to think of the way America is always criticized for being a capitalist country. Actually, we are on our way to becoming a third world country.
What does it say about this Roman Emperor except that he still had strong pagan attachments? But it was only the third century.
@ anonymous 12:56
I think I misunderstood. The Roman Emperor WAS a pagan. At first I thought he was a Christian, but that would not be likely. So what is the point of the black stone? I don't quite understand what is unusual about this. Does this prefigure in some way Islam? I find it strange that a black stone would symbolize a sun-god.
@ anonymous 12:56 again,
I just saw the article about Homs, where Christians were killed by Muslims.
http://www.islamisation.fr/archive/2012/01/26/syrie-230-chretiens-assassines-par-les-insurges-dans-la-seul.html
@tiberge
I thought it was interesting to look two thousand years back, at the time where the sun-god was worshipped in Homs, a much troubled city of 2012.., as Syria also was a Christian country before invaded by mohammedans. And to think that a Roman emperor came from this corner.
About the black stone, I don't know, but think it must be where the mohammedans got the idea from. In other words, following up on the pagan tradition..
This is one site says
"Sometime between 610 and the death of Muhammad, the Black Stone was moved from Rome to Mecca.
Muhammad had all the idols thrown out of the Kaaba and replaced by the Black Stone."
"It is impossible to tell the exact date when the Black Stone was moved from Rome to Mecca.
Only by opening up the secret archives under the Vatican can the exact date be known.
All we can know for sure is that is was sometime during the reigns of Pope Gregory or Pope Boniface."
Wouldn't it also make sense that they don't want any non-muslims to enter Mecca, because they wouldn't want to return the stone..?
Source to Egalabal, the sun-god and the black stone from Syria to Rome: Roger Caratini, Marcus Aurelius
Here's what ex-muslims say about the stone
"The Black Stone's Origin
'A principal sacred object in Pagan Arabian religion was the stone... Such stones were thought to be the residence of a god; hence the term applied to them by the Byzantine Christian writers of the fifth and sixth centuries: 'baetyl', from bet'el, 'the house of god'.' [1]
'In north Arabian temples the image of the deity sometimes stood in the open air or it could be sheltered in a qubbah, a vaulted niche... Not to be confused with the qubbah is the word for ka'bah, for a cube-shaped walled structure which... served as a shelter for the sacred stones.' [2]
Camphausen, in his article [3], reveals that the misogynic Muslim religion has its origins in the worship of goddess. Allah is a revamped version of the ancient goddess Al'Lat, and it was her shrine, which has since continued with little change, as the Kaaba."
"This stone is set in large solid silver mountings. The whole resembles, quite deliberately, for reasons which will emerge, ‘the vulva of the goddess’!"
And, what is more, Cybele's symbol was the crescent moon.
So, by picking a little from here, and a little from there, shaking well, and your new "religion" is ready to serve.
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