Sacred Modernity

• Europe’s post-war sacred spaces
• Still controversial, whilst revisited by contemporary
architects, designers and scholars
• Over 50 awe-inspiring modernist churches in Austria,
Italy, Switzerland, and England
Sacred Modernity documents the dramatic shift in ecclesiastical architecture across post-war Europe. Spurred on by the modernizing impulses of the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, and in search for an appropriate architectural language that showed that the Catholic Church was still relevant to the modern world, this was the period when the church married the atheist architect, and bore a child of pure form. Among these structures, some exude a joyful antagonism, while others emanate a cold minimalism. Boldly designed, outrageous and provocative for their time, the aesthetic of this period still ignites great debate between modernists and traditionalists.

The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture Jamie McGregor Smith, Ivica Brnić, Jonathan Meades 978-3-7757-5646-4