Beauty is NOT in the eye of the beholder. . .

Beauty is not entirely subjective.  I was staring at a blank cast concrete wall of a modern building.  What it noticed is how hard the architect and builder tried to make is crude, rustic, and rough.  It was the kind of surface that would ruin your clothing if you brushed up against it.  As I looked at the wall, a woman came up beside me and said, "Beautiful, isn't it?"  (Hmmmm was my only reply).  Beauty is not simply in the eye of the beholder.  Beauty is not quite as subjective as we think.  This saying first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greek but didn't appear in its current form in print until the 19th century.  Perhaps we can blame Shakespeare (as we often do for expressions of popular sentiment) who wrote:  Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye.

When it comes to church structures, beauty is often rather broadly defined yet ugly is fairly specific.  I have often lamented on the pages of this blog that church architecture and art is often at odds with the very specific purpose of a church building and the space set apart for worship.  Ugliness has to not only with the aesthetic but with the space that conflicts with its purpose and speaks in conflict with its usage.

Here are 35 of the more uglier versions of church buildings in which the architecture and the art are at odds with their purpose.  Some may call them more or less beautiful but I am not inclined to debate it.  They are, well, ugly.  There may be a hint of beauty in them here and there but put the whole puzzle together and you end up with less than the sum of its parts or even the value of but one aspect of its structure or adornment.  But don't take my word for it...

You can read it all here...