This World

This paper examines two particular Gothic churches – Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and the church of S. Maria del Fiore in Florence is no exception. Each church is examined for the combination of specific historical forces and styles, the building materials and techniques available to those who constructed them and emblems that were used as meaningful symbols of the ways in which Gothic churches connect people to the divine within the Catholic Church in a way that helped people to transcend their daily lives. The church of Santa Maria Maggiore is n...