San Giovanni Battista by Mario Botta

I am really moved to go here:

Switzerland : Ticino Mogno village church San Giovanni Battista designed by Mario Botta

more great images here

and the architect Mario Botta's other funky work

including this: 

WELLNESS CENTRE “BERGOASE”, AROSA, SWITZERLAND 2003-2006

see some of his sketches here

I've also been dying to go to Lausanne. This is what the journey looks like by bicycle:

Cathedral Candles

I thought I had a quarter in my pocket.
I wanted to light a candle
They're majestic aren't they?

Get a picture with me right in front while I light the candle
oh but damn I don't have a quarter.
Get the whole thing, all the way up to the top.

Are you getting the whole thing?
That very tippy-top candle?
_

What do we visit a church for?
A cathedral built for the worship of a God we regard skeptically
and whose name we take in vain.

If you get a shiver of emotion upon entring,
which heart string is being pulled?
Is it a testament to Man who built it?
Faith that inspired it?
Self congratulation for being there?
Gratitude for that moment?

Awe.
Boredom.
Flippancy.
Nostalgia.
Curiosity.
_

What would the men who built it think of the world surrounding today.

photo Jean Gaumy: October 1980. Pilgrims standing in front of the cave. Lourdes, France

Iconography

Religion, Christianity, Faith, Iconography, thoughts run through my head these days. Here is my own brute effort, plus a couple of images from a visit to the Musée Jacquemart André

More Research in color, mood and form