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European Cathedrals are beautiful on the outside. They are, IMO, a monumnent more to the people who designed and built them than monuments to Jesus. I believe a proper monument to Jesus would be the human heart which is dedicated to worshiping him in humility,

That being said, I think you must admit that many of the European Cathedrals are on the gaudy side. This goes for protestant and catholic. But the fact that they were built did provide many people with job opportunities that they might not otherwise have had. But my hat is off to the people who built them and designed them rather than the people who ordered them built. They are, IMO, monuments to human acheivement.

They are, IMO, monuments to human acheivement.

I agree with your opinion.

I love to visit cathedrals for their beauty but I would never be able to attend a worship service in one of them.

But the fact that they were built did provide many people with job opportunities that they might not otherwise have had. But my hat is off to the people who built them and designed them rather than the people who ordered them built.

It's much the same in Israel. These huge cathedrals are built over what are supposed to be the holy places. They're cold, they're overbuilt and they're gaudy.

But without them, those areas would likely have been developed for homes or business etc. and we would have lost a lot of that history.

I've traveled extensively throughout Germany, and also have had forays into Belgium, Holland, Austria, and Poland.

I believe that the cathedrals, the castles, and the fortresses of Europe reveal essentially the same thing, and none of is really religious in nature. They reveal the remarkable power over the people that was held by the aristocracy.....including the "princes" of the church (who often were blood-relatives of the princes of the government.)

As I traveled through those monuments, I remarked OFTEN to my wife, "these people had entirely too much money." And they did. The opulence is awe-inspiring these many centuries later; but for the everyman of that day, they were absolute markers regarding "his" place in the grand scheme of aristocratic life.

I imagine they would have been good "jobs programs" if they had even been used that way. There are, however, too many stories of builders, workers, and designers bereft of their rightful pay for the greater "glory" of God and King.