Victor Hugo famously solved a tricky issue for Modernists when Claude Frollo, a character in his book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, pointed to the decoration on the front façade of the great French cathedral with book in hand saying: this will kill that. Meaning that the printing press will kill the need for applied decoration to architecture as a way of instructing the illiterate masses. The problem with this position is that it assumes the the art and decoration has no other function which is of course mistaken.
This exquisite parish church by
Vicens + Ramos gives us an unexpected opportunity to investigate and appreciate the value of applied art, and its other functions in the age of mass literacy. The architecture is reduced to its pure essence, and it is refined to a point where the synergy of architecture, art, and the human spirit is undeniable.
From the architectural form the building it is immediately recognisable as a church, and internally has all the prerequisite areas or spaces such as: a vestibule on the opposite end of the front wall of the presbytery, the sacristy, the chorus, a main hall and a side chapel known as the chapel of the Blessed. Externally the reinforced concrete of the structure has little decoration, but lots of composition. The interior has a number of wonderful pieces by various artists who are listed below.
It is a really uplifting and sophisticated religious building.
The contributing artists are: Fernando Pagola the altar, ambo and the seat of the temple, Cesar Barrio the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, Jose Antonio the Viacrusis, Javier Martinez made Our Lady of Consolation of Javier Martinez, Javier Margarit both the Christ in the nave and the Christ in chapel of the Blessed are the and the roof paintings are by Pablo and Jaime Ramos.
