History of Christianity: GROUP 3: REALIZING RELIGIOUS IMPORTANCE : around Rome

This past weekend I was privileged enough to go on various tours for a school trip in Rome. At first I was a bit apprehensive about being on a tour for three days, however, if there is a place you are going to tour for this amount of time it is most definitely Rome. The span of history that Rome encompasses is impossible to miss. Walking down almost any main street it is only a matter of steps before you stumble upon an ancient ruin, statue, or church. We visited many churches in Rome as well as many religious inspired works of art. While seeing these beautiful churches provokes many strong emotions, I found myself concentrating on the physiological connections between religion, art and power.

The fist stop on our tour was Vatican City, it was quite place to arrive. The grandeur of not only the art, but the immense scale of the place was enough prove Rome as amazing. In the Museum of the Vatican I was really trying to take in all 360 degrees of art. For some reason I was particularly attracted to the mosaics on the floors of the rooms. They where geometrical shapes, as opposed to - if you looked up, the ceilings depicted religious senses, something completely different. I started to wonder the reasoning why the artist did this? The precise shapes and balance of on the ground made think that maybe there was a different emotion trying to be provoked, after all the floor was practically just as detailed as the ceiling.

St. Peters Basicallca did not seem real in some sense; it was more of a representation of everything that people have felt about religion. The passion of this art is truly groundbreaking. It seemed that every square inch was literally covered in some kind of detailed figure. I was imagining the artisans behind this project. They must have been feeding off of each others creative sprit and encouraging each other to do better and try harder. One realization that I had while I was in St. Peters Basilica is one that I have had while in other religious buildings but still wonder about it all the time. Is the purpose of creating such impossibly grand churches to inspire the people to believe that; with the power of the holy sprit you really can achieve the impossible, or is it; to show the sheer power of the establishment of the church, possibly trying to intimidate?

The next very impressive building of religious significance we toured was the Basilica Papale Santa Maria Maggiore. For me, it was comparable to St. Peters in the amount of detail as well as style of art. The ceiling of the doume was possibly the most impressive I have ever seen. In this Basilica I came to the realization of exactly the amount of religious inspiration and passion that Rome encompasses. I started thinking about how Christianity and more specifically being Catholic in America is different due to this fact alone. Because America is not nearly as old, there is nothing there that can really very represent this passion. How much of religion is just for show and how much is the feeling? Can religion be the same in Rome as in the Untied States? These questions where just the things I was curious about at the time, but since being back from Rome the interest in this idea has stayed and is something I would possibly like to go research farther.