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Symbolism in Coptic Architecture: The power of "meaning" in architectural expression

International Journal of Architecture and Infrastructure Planning • 2014
العودة
معلومات البحث
المؤلفون Nelly Ramzy
الكلمات المفتاحية Coptic architecture, Coptic symbols, symbolism, sacred language, architectural language
المجلة العلمية International Journal of Architecture and Infrastructure Planning
الناشر PUB Journals
المجلد 1
العدد 1
الصفحات 1-12
publication.type International
رابط البحث Open Link
المواد المرفقة Not Available
الملخص
New trends in architecture tend to pursue to duplicate the positive, pleasant effects of historical buildings, away from direct copying from their form or their style. By addressing human cognition to try to decode their meanings, symbols, which were traditionally seen as a sacred language, were used in religious buildings to establish a visual discourse with the worshipers. This paper aims at analyzing the patterns symbolic language in Coptic architecture, where symbols acted as the vocabulary underpinning a certain visual/spiritual discourse. In this, it explores the hypothesis that Coptic churches' design, with their modest, yet impressive structures, depended on a specific symbolic system that addresses humans' spiritual cognition through its related metaphysics to create spiritual, agreeable effect. It reaches a conclusion that the symbolic concept in these churches was not about randomly scattered symbols here or …