Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

Architecture The architecture of dissenting (and particularly Baptist) chapels seems at first an unpromising subject, but Anthony Jones' publication Welsh Chapels (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 1984) provides fascinating pictorial illustrations of dissenting architecture. Most picture the front elevation or external views, though some interiors are included. Such chapels deserve to be considered from within as well as from without. The Hebrew word for temple is formed from an old Accadian word meaning 'big house', the phrase referring to the palace as house of the king, or temple as house of the god. So temple and chapel began as enlarged versions of dwelling houses. In the Old Testament some guidelines are apparent from the first; Exodus chapter 25:9 says 'According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furniture, so you shall make it'. The Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 8:5, supplies a commentary on this passage when it says that the Old Testament priests 'serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, for when Moses was about to erect the Tabernacle, he was instructed by God saying "See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain" These passages from Holy writ show that the architecture of earthly sanctuaries is divinely revealed; that they are copies of heavenly sanctuaries; and that both sanctuaries are where God lives, thus giving them the character of places and not pathways, to use a distinction so usefully drawn by Professor J.G. Davies of Birmingham UniversitylO. Moses' tent in the wilderness, described in Exodus chapters 25 to 31 and 35 to 40, was probably the pattern followed by David in the tent referred to in 2 Samuel chapters 6: 17 and 7:2, and later by Solomon in the erection of the first Jerusalem temple. This Moses-David-Solomon pattern became one of the standards for Christian churches. The dimensions are noteworthy: Solomon's temple was approximately ninety by thirty feet, a three to one proportion. The Holy Place was sixty by thirty feet, and the Holy of Holies, in most shrines, a perfect cube of thirty feet square. When Justinian built Santa Sophia in Constantinople, an enormous dome over piers and arches, he is said to have exclaimed 'I have conquered you at last, 0 Solomon'. Nevertheless, the Solomonic proportions remain. In particular, these are followed by Anglican churches: Llanhywel is fifteen and a half by forty-six feet; Llanrhian has a thirty by fifteen foot nave; Nevem is seventy-two by twenty-four feet; and Stackpole Elidor fifty-seven by nineteen feet11. So much, then, for the external proportions: more must be mentioned concerning the interior design. Martin Luther's German Bible was profusely illustrated by woodcuts, one of which portrays the heavenly scene as depicted in the Book of Revelation chapter 4. The features of the heavenly sanctuary thus depicted may be described as follows: God on His throne is attended by the Lamb and surrounded by a rainbow. Round the throne are twenty-four further thrones for the elders, surrounding the crystal sea before the throne. Flashes of lightning, the seven spirits of God, and the four living creatures are also displayed. The internal structure of churches and chapels can be compared with the heavenly scene depicted in Luther's woodcut. The dominant features are the throne and the Lamb (the Word of God), the rainbow, the pool and the elders. Many dissenting chapels display that pattern, having a central pulpit for the Word of God and the table before it; an overhanging arch for the rainbow; the pool for the baptistry; and the elders by the big seat. This internal theme can be found in many local chapels, for example Tabernacle United Reformed Church, Milford Haven; Tabernacle Congregational