Vol. 8 (2021): Looking to the East. From colonization to inculturation

At the beginning of modernity, architects like Frank Lloyd Wright or Antonin Raymond saw in the Far East an opportunity to escape from the dominant Beauxartian schemes, and reach a new architecture. If then the modulation of the Japanese house and its exquisite harmony with nature were taken as the basis for a new way of building, perhaps today the architecture of the Far East can inspire us again.
On the other hand, in 2021 it will be 500 years since the arrival of the Spanish in the Philippines and the beginning of the evangelization of Asia. The confluence of religions originated a hybridization of architectures destined for worship, which after numerous vicissitudes crystallized in the religious architecture that we contemplate today. These architectures constitute an important tourist attraction and, in parallel, cause of concern for the official organisms in charge of the patrimonial protection of each country.
The enormous construction and urban development activity that has taken place in this part of the world in recent decades forces us to turn our gaze to the Far East. What christian architecture has been made there in the last hundred years? What ideas, what concepts are reflected and reflected in it? What can we learn from these buildings?

Trying to condense in a single article the religious architecture produced during the 20th century in the Philippines is an arduous task. It is a country with ninety million Catholics, the third largest in the world after Brazil and Mexico, so the number of recent churches is very high. And although among them there are works that are at the level of the most internationally celebrated architectures, this enormous contemporary production has hardly been studied as a whole -much less disseminated- either inside or outside its borders. This text shows some significant examples that aim to illustrate the three periods into which the 20th century has been divided, each lasting about forty years: the American colony (1898-1946), independence and subsequent dictatorship (1946-86) and the fully democratic era (1986-2021). Finally, a brief reference is made to the architecture of the other Christian denominations and other minority religions.

In the 16th century, the first Spanish and Portuguese Dominican missionaries arrived in Southeast Asia, included Vietnam, but only after the first decades of the seventeenth century, Christianity began to take hold and lived through different episodes of the Proclamation of the Christian faith: first it was tolerated and then abandoned by the dynasties, supported by the colonialists, declined in the north by the communists, it expanded in the south under the Republic of Vietnam and stabilized until now after the reunification of the country followed by a long breakage due to political change. Along with this story, sacred architecture was interpreted in various ways to define identities in religious life and faith. However, the most difficult period of religious architecture is not only in the political conflict of the past, but also until now, the time of the economic boom. The change of values as well as the aesthetic system make sacred art and architecture remain a giant wheel stuck in mud.

The relationship among architecture, religion and society is present in the sacred spaces of Christianity and the numerous Eastern religions. But the Eastern Christian temples have been marked marked by the colonial Western style. The inculturation is a fundamental presupposition for the announcement of Christianity, but it has been marked mainly by colonization and imposition of Christian-European culture. You will see here the honorable exceptions by Matteo Ricci and Roberto de Nobili. Thanks to the impetus given by the Vatican II, the Church understood better its mission to bring the Christian message to the peoples of Asia doing so from within its cultural forms: internal (thought, spirituality) and external (language, rites, architecture...) However, it remains a challenge for Christian architecture in Asia. The foundations for such architecture are already laid, but the dialogue architecture-religion-society in the East still has a long way to go, allowing oneself to be taught by them, by their religious and cultural values.

After World War II and the reconstruction of the Philippines, the Spanish government became involved in a new renovation —the eighth— of the Manila Cathedral. Miguel Fisac, with the help of the Dominican Fathers, came to the capital to give lectures on the reconstruction of the country at the University of Santo Tomas. However, one of the products of his stay was his appointment as consulting architect for the new archdiocesan headquarters and the Spanish economic commitment to finance one of the cathedral chapels. The intervention, designed by Miguel Fisac, speaks of the magnificence of discretion and the subtlety of the program and execution. Despite Fisac’s prominence in the cathedral complex, the chapel of the Virgin of Pilar designed by him is the elegant and restrained singing of the imprint of 20th century Spanish architecture in Manila.

This paper aims to analyze prominent examples of contemporary Christian architecture in the Far East, and the influence of religious and architectural concepts of sacred architecture of the Far East on contemporary Christian architecture built there. Numerous examples show the influence of the permeation of that area’s cultural, traditional, and religious heritage with the Christian cultural and theological framework. Christian sacred architecture is based on the monotheistic concept of faith in one incarnated God that opens to humanity the path to salvation achieved in the afterlife. Religions of the Far East share common concepts of proccesuality described as Tao, the governing principle in the background of all life. It is the principle of continuity in an eternally changing universe. The intention of this paper is, therefore, to direct the view towards the permeation of cultures that encourages Christian sacred architecture towards the search for a new, authentic identity.

Since its inception, architecture has been able to influence the experience and emotion of people. However, since the second half of the Twentieth Century, the theory of architecture has enhanced these two aspects in those who cease to be conceived as users and recognize themselves as inhabitants. Religious architecture does not escape from this reality, since, together with its sacred character, several architects, among them the Japanese Tadao Ando, have focused on enhancing the experience from corporeality. Based on the above, this paper aims to analyze the way in which Tadao Ando materializes his religious spaces, prioritizing experience and emotion. For this purpose, three temples located in Japan are analyzed: the Wind Chapel, the Chapel on Water and the Church of Light.

Between 1500 and 1600, the Jesuit Matteo Ricci carried out a true process of inculturation of Christianity in China. Later, other actors operated according to acculturation, which is a form of colonialism. This process also occurred in the construction of churches, most of which were built in the neo-Gothic style. In 1926, Dom Gresnigt was sent to China with the aim of creating a new Sino-Christian style, backed by Bishop Costantini and the new missionary policy. However, these attempts at architectural inculturation only focused on stylistic issues. At present we must act according to an intercultural dialogue that, starting from a textual translation of the liturgical books and ritual action, can provide the architect with images of experience that are capable of being implemented as places and movements on the horizon of the sacred. Metaphors have to be found and even better affordances have to be found to increase the efficacy of ritual actions, making even the merely imaginable emotionally perceptible.