When classically inspired churches started to be built in Britain during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries many people saw a glaring incongruity. After all they said, the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations that produced these buildings with their columns, pediments and associated decorative motifs were not Christian but heathen. Gothic architecture with its spires and pointed windows was, they argued, much more authentically Christian, particularly in Northern Europe. However, it didn't take long for the classical to take hold and for many years it held its own against Gothic. The Roman Catholic church, with its origins in Italy, has always favoured the classical style more than the northern churches did. This example in the Greek Doric style is in Hereford. The church of St Fancis Xavier was built in 1839 by the architect Charles Day.
photo © T. Boughen Camera: Sony DSC-RX100
