what looks better mosques or cathedrals?

[shakahislop]

The Shah mosque in Isfahan is worth a squirt.

But what about that Qatari plan to terraform Mars to create a planetary scale mosque complex? Ambitious!

yeah that's it. i love that style. i like the colours and patterns. it's a peak of human artistic achievement. like wiley. i don't know anything about how it came to be. but for some period of time the world was organized to make stuff like that. it's presumably no longer possible, probably the skills don't exist, people would prefer making a different style of mosque

 

[shakahislop]

a picture from a day out with mates in herat

 

[hmg]

yeah that's it. i love that style. i like the colours and patterns. it's a peak of human artistic achievement. like wiley. i don't know anything about how it came to be.

Gunpowder. They had it, the nations and peoples the Safavids conquered didn't. Great wealth, patronage, and a flowering of the arts and architecture guided by unassailable militaristic theism tends to work literal wonders.

 

[shakahislop]

here is a selection of modern mosques.

this is the national mosque of malaysia built in apparently the 60s

the one in casablanca, from the 90s according to google

the one in abu dhabi from the 90s

the one in abuja from the 80s

 

[hmg]

Well, they tried, but it's a clumsy imitation

 

[Corpsey]

Seville Cathedral is amazing. It was built ON TOP of the Almohad Mosque.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

 

[shakahislop]

it's a feature of the uk that doesn't get remarked on very often. that there are these big statement mosques that have been built over the last 40 years or so.

sheffield

this is the one in east oxford, which somehow manages to remain quite inconspicuous, it's big but i used to live close to it and you never really noticed it was there, except that suddently on fridays there would be nowhere to park

reading, down towards tilehurst i think, fyi in real life it doesn't have a load of words floating around in the sky above it

 

[Mr. Tea]

Anyway, just to rep my own endz for a sec, Exeter Cathedral has the longest vaulted mediaeval roof in the world:

 

[Mr. Tea]

this is the one in east oxford, which somehow manages to remain quite inconspicuous, it's big but i used to live close to it and you never really noticed it was there, except that suddently on fridays there would be nowhere to park

There's a more recent mosque in Oxford that's part of the new building for the Centre for Islamic Studies, which was under construction while I lived in Headington for a few years a little while ago:



It manages the neat trick of being recognisably Oxford-y while having a very obviously mosque-like mosque integrated into it in a way that doesn't clash.

 

[luka]

a lot of those new ones shaka posted remind me of that thread we had about supermarket architecture. dreary high street vernacular. 90s office blocks. currys. pc world. out of town retail park.

 

[hmg]

Round my way, a growing number of houses are being renovated and end up with blue-black smoked glass, white plasterwork, glass panel walls, modern slatework, with a pair of black range rovers (personalized plates) on the driveway. What is this aesthetic? Is it Deano? High Deano?

I liked to think they're owned by tradesmen who've lately made money working on the houses of freshly minted COVID contract millionaires. i.e. lower tier soulless, tasteless, morally bankrupt materialists.

I'll take some photos and share them with the gang.

 

[shakahislop]

There's a more recent mosque in Oxford that's part of the new building for the Centre for Islamic Studies, which was under construction while I lived in Headington for a few years a little while ago:

View attachment 14379

It manages the neat trick of being recognisably Oxford-y while having a very obviously mosque-like mosque integrated into it in a way that doesn't clash.

yeah i love that one, its really nice. my mate was trying to get in to pray and he said he had no idea how you got inside

 

[martin]

My favourite's the Basílica Menor de la Santísima María de la Esperanza Macarena - no cathedral or mosque can compete. It's the epicentre of Catholic bling. It contains a wooden mannequin of the Virgin Mary that's 5'7, which slightly contradicts Jesuit accounts that she measured 6'+ in real life.

Our Lady of Macarena has glass tears and a red stain, which she picked up when a drunk protestant yob hurled a bottle of wine at her (he was later found drowned in bed; his lungs were filled with red wine). She watches over bullfighters and gypsies. Never been, mind you.

 

[Corpsey]

Not a cathedral, but an absolutely mad church that I've been to and worshipped at

Asam Church, Munich - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Mr. Tea]

Our Lady of Macarena

So which of these poses is she in?

How to Do the Macarena: 16 Steps (with Pictures)

The Macarena is a 90s line dance performed to the song "Macarena" by Spanish pop duo Los Del Rio. Great for all ages, this dance craze is easy to do once you've got the basic moves down. Then, just turn up the music and start adding your...

www.wikihow.com

 

[luka]

Not a cathedral, but an absolutely mad church that I've been to and worshipped at

Asam Church, Munich - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

WHAT DID YOU WORSHIP?

 

[Corpsey]

Christ the Lord our saviour, who else?

 

[DLaurent]

Personal fav Mosque is Gol Gumbaz, learned about it from Altiverb plugin. I think it has a whispering gallery, and is pretty brutal looking.

 

[Murphy]

By far the worst cathedral in the UK - over-rated & unfriendly - Wells Cathedral, Wells Traveller Reviews - Tripadvisor

Wells Cathedral: By far the worst cathedral in the UK - over-rated & unfriendly - See 4,006 traveller reviews, 3,343 candid photos, and great deals for Wells, UK, at Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Review of Wells Cathedral
Reviewed 18 October 2019

This is the most over-rated cathedral I have ever been in! If others think it great - get out more and go see Lincoln, Winchester, Chester, Norwich (just to name a few). Moreover, the staff here are the unfriendliest, least-Christian I have ever encountered. One priest presiding over Evensong decided to shout a childish tirade at my partner. The reason? She had looked at him askance when he shooed her rudely away from the part he was standing in, despite there being several people behind her. Not only was he rude but he was immature, childish, defensive and quite pathetic. I have really enjoyed visiting lots of religious/faith buildings all over the world and almost everywhere the staff and priests (etc) have been warm, friendly, inviting - but not in Wells. Shame on you!

 

[shakahislop]

By far the worst cathedral in the UK - over-rated & unfriendly - Wells Cathedral, Wells Traveller Reviews - Tripadvisor

Wells Cathedral: By far the worst cathedral in the UK - over-rated & unfriendly - See 4,006 traveller reviews, 3,343 candid photos, and great deals for Wells, UK, at Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Review of Wells Cathedral
Reviewed 18 October 2019

This is the most over-rated cathedral I have ever been in! If others think it great - get out more and go see Lincoln, Winchester, Chester, Norwich (just to name a few). Moreover, the staff here are the unfriendliest, least-Christian I have ever encountered. One priest presiding over Evensong decided to shout a childish tirade at my partner. The reason? She had looked at him askance when he shooed her rudely away from the part he was standing in, despite there being several people behind her. Not only was he rude but he was immature, childish, defensive and quite pathetic. I have really enjoyed visiting lots of religious/faith buildings all over the world and almost everywhere the staff and priests (etc) have been warm, friendly, inviting - but not in Wells. Shame on you!

its cool that its in such an unexpected location, this massive thing in the middle of a town. it seems so in the past now that such things were possible but i was biking around there, without a smartphone and therefore no map in 2014, which felt normal then but seems mental now, i had all my glastonbury stuff on my back and i'd been winging it using road signs all the way from bath, and somehow i ended up in wells, in the evening, after stopping at a pub, not really sure where i was but i came across this massive cathedral thing and sat down in front of it for a bit