Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century

Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century

During the last fifty years, Christian religious architecture has made one of the most abrupt changes in its millenary history. Among the factors that show this change there is a radical dispossession that the places of worship have undergone. Minimalism, brutalism or “povera” architecture are some...

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Auteur principal: Fernández-Cobián, Esteban
Format: Online
Langue:spa
Publié: Unisinos 2011
Accès en ligne:https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/arquitetura/article/view/arq.2011.72.03
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id oai:ojs.www.unisinos.br:article-2070
record_format ojs
institution Universidad de Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS)
collection OJS
language spa
format Online
author Fernández-Cobián, Esteban
spellingShingle Fernández-Cobián, Esteban
Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century
author_facet Fernández-Cobián, Esteban
author_sort Fernández-Cobián, Esteban
title Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century
title_short Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century
title_full Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century
title_fullStr Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century
title_full_unstemmed Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century
title_sort fray coello de portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century
description During the last fifty years, Christian religious architecture has made one of the most abrupt changes in its millenary history. Among the factors that show this change there is a radical dispossession that the places of worship have undergone. Minimalism, brutalism or “povera” architecture are some epithets that have been used to describe this way of building. But there were reasons for this dispossession. There was a sociocultural reason, as part of the European reconstruction after two world wars, and a programmatic reason, derived from the customer’s requirements. i.e., the Catholic Church’s requirements. Most of the criticisms have missed the root causes that led to the dispossession of these places by including them in a general (and poorly understood) spirit of renewal promoted by the Second Vatican Council. In this article we trace this itinerary based on the thought of the Mercedarian religious philosopher, Alfonso López Quintas and on the work of the Spanish Dominican priest, Francisco Coello de Portugal. His constructivist, emphatic and stripped architecture provides some clues to understand this process. Thus, we might ask whether the terms authenticity, austerity and poverty, recurrent in the religious architecture discourse during the second half of the 20th century, are equivalent or refer to different realities, or whether Christian poverty is compatible with the material or the intellectual quality. And, in sum, whether Coello’s work reflects an economy requirement, a voluntary ethical asceticism or just a fashionable aesthetic choice of that time.Key words: religious architecture, poverty, Minimalism, Coello de Portugal.
publisher Unisinos
publishDate 2011
url https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/arquitetura/article/view/arq.2011.72.03
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spelling oai:ojs.www.unisinos.br:article-20702021-08-30T19:09:20Z Fray Coello de Portugal and the debate on poverty in religious architecture in the second half of the 20th century Fray Coello de Portugal y el debate sobre la pobreza en la arquitectura religiosa durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX Fernández-Cobián, Esteban During the last fifty years, Christian religious architecture has made one of the most abrupt changes in its millenary history. Among the factors that show this change there is a radical dispossession that the places of worship have undergone. Minimalism, brutalism or “povera” architecture are some epithets that have been used to describe this way of building. But there were reasons for this dispossession. There was a sociocultural reason, as part of the European reconstruction after two world wars, and a programmatic reason, derived from the customer’s requirements. i.e., the Catholic Church’s requirements. Most of the criticisms have missed the root causes that led to the dispossession of these places by including them in a general (and poorly understood) spirit of renewal promoted by the Second Vatican Council. In this article we trace this itinerary based on the thought of the Mercedarian religious philosopher, Alfonso López Quintas and on the work of the Spanish Dominican priest, Francisco Coello de Portugal. His constructivist, emphatic and stripped architecture provides some clues to understand this process. Thus, we might ask whether the terms authenticity, austerity and poverty, recurrent in the religious architecture discourse during the second half of the 20th century, are equivalent or refer to different realities, or whether Christian poverty is compatible with the material or the intellectual quality. And, in sum, whether Coello’s work reflects an economy requirement, a voluntary ethical asceticism or just a fashionable aesthetic choice of that time.Key words: religious architecture, poverty, Minimalism, Coello de Portugal. Durante los últimos cincuenta años, la arquitectura religiosa cristiana ha efectuado uno de los cambios más bruscos de su milenaria historia. Entre los factores que permiten visualizar ese cambio se encuentra el despojamiento radical que sufrieron los espacios de culto. Minimalismo, brutalismo o arquitectura povera son algunos de los epítetos con los que se ha calificado esta manera de construir. Pero este despojamiento tenía una razón de ser. Una razón de ser sociocultural, enmarcada en la reconstrucción europea tras las dos guerras mundiales, y también una razón de ser programática, interna a los propios requerimientos del cliente, en nuestro caso, la Iglesia católica. La mayor parte de la crítica ha obviado las causas profundas que motivaron el despojamiento de estos espacios, englobándolas en un genérico (y apenas comprendido) espíritu renovado  promovido por el Concilio Vaticano II. Se trata de volver a recorrer este itinerario apoyándonos en el pensamiento del filósofo y religioso mercedario Alfonso López Quintás, y en la obra, apenas estudiada, del arquitecto y sacerdote dominico español Francisco Coello de Portugal; su arquitectura despojada, constructivista y rotunda aporta algunas claves para entender este proceso. Así, nos podríamos preguntar si los términos autenticidad, austeridad y pobreza, recurrentes en el discurso de la arquitectura religiosa de la segunda mitad del siglo XX, son equivalentes o definen realidades distintas. Si la pobreza cristiana es compatible con la calidad material o con la calidad intelectual. Y, en definitiva, si la obra de Coello refleja una necesidad de economía, un voluntario ascetismo ético, o simplemente se corresponde con una opción estética entonces de moda.Palabras clave: arquitectura religiosa, pobreza, minimalismo, Coello de Portugal. Unisinos 2011-12-23 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/arquitetura/article/view/arq.2011.72.03 10.4013/arq.2011.72.03 Arquitetura Revista; v. 7 n. 2 (2011): Jul-Dez; 112-125 1808-5741 spa https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/arquitetura/article/view/arq.2011.72.03/637

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