Abstract

PLATA QUEZADA, William Elvis  and  RUEDA CACERES, Liliana. The sacred, the patrimonial and the aesthetic in the architecture of the Colombian religious diversity. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2022, vol.45, n.1, pp.69-102.  Epub Dec 28, 2023. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v45n1.87131.

This article presents partial results of the research project "Religious diversity and architecture in Colombia". Methodologically, direct observation, interviews, plani-metric study, and documentary review were used. A historical, social and architectural analysis was carried out on 15 religious places representative of religious organizations in Colombia. Variables that interrelate the sacred space with religious representations and expressions were taken into account. Specifically, the study took into account information related to four variables: a) context, b) Form, c) Functionality, and d) Meaning. On this occasion, the meanings that religious leaders, parishioners, and visitors give to the studied spaces are exposed, in terms of: sacredness, historical-patrimonial condition, and aesthetic condition.

It is concluded that religious spaces are highly symbolic places, whose meanings are granted either by express interest of their creators, or by the interpretation that faithful and visitors make of them. These meanings are not static and evolve over time and according to contextual changes. Such meanings can allude to and be based on traditional referents, as completely new, non-historicist, and even neutral. On the other hand, the religious space is above all a place that allows the encounter, with the divinity, of course, but above all, with the other, a vital need for human beings. There is the great assessment that locals and visitors give it.

Keywords : aesthetics; cultural heritage; religious architecture; religious diversity; sacredness.

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