For this assignment, we were trying to see what are our expectation of a place to the reality.
And the following questions are answers for myself before and after visited the Church of St. Francis Xavier.
What do you expect to see there/how do you expect them to look like — what elements will be there for sure?
I expected to has Cross, Jesus statu, beautiful architecture, grass, fence, and stained glass
Describe the interior in 5 adjectives:
peaceful
dull- I don’t know if is the weather, but that day while I visit the church, the outside of the architecture is not catching people’s eyes and the material of the building is a dull white stone.
precise
sacred
inspired
What does the interior “do” to you?
It made me forgot the outside busy life and stayed in the peaceful zone. I sort of became very careful about all my steps and breath, I felt like I might interrupt the peaceful atmosphere in there. It also made me want to study people who praying in there and the interior itself because there were so many details of each corner.
HOW does it “do” it (be specific about formal decisions made)?
When I walk in to the church, people were quiet and closed their eyes and pray. The atmosphere give people a sense that they should be respectful . There were also many status and painting about religious characters and stories as decoration in the church, made me felt like things that happen in there must also be connected with God. More, because every places were so well crafted, I was too busy to study all the incredible details in there. I felt like every detail in there had certain religious meaning.
Does the interior reflect your expectations? Explain. Was there anything surprising that you notice?
Actually, it did not reflect my expectation that much because in my imagination this was how a church should be. However, as I visited every detail of the interior like the colorful window and the statues just even precise than my own imagination. One thing that really surprise me was the quietness. I never been to a church in the U.S. by myself, and I thought there were be people work in there to guide where should people go but actually there were no one to guide you and you can just walk in without any permission.
