Decline of Religion

Post date: Oct 01, 2015 1:1:45 PM

Through our research in the past few weeks we have confirmed that Venetian bells and bell towers are the physical pieces of cultural evidence that are responsible for the strong relationship between citizens and the Christian Religion. These bell towers that we are focusing our project on explain the history of Venice while also describing how the society once lived. Since Venetian has a unique geographical location, submerged into the lagoon, there are a wide variety of bells and bell towers that help make up the identity of this city, even at present day.

As mentioned in previous blog posts, these ecclesiastical pieces of architecture are a constant reminder to the modernized Venetian community of their sacred heritage which then should create a desire for their maintenance and preservation in order to protect their authenticity and integrity. But due to the religious decline within Venice and throughout the rest of the world, these vertical symbols of religion have continued to lose their value in the eyes of Venetians and tourists across the world. These bells within these towers were first designed and produced in China as an earthquake mechanism, but over time the Catholic Church introduced them to Europe and they quickly became a symbol of religion and those faithful worshipers to God having a vertical element that “touches the sky” as a way to be more connected to God. These bells in the bell towers ring their bells three times a day, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00 to call upon worshipers to recite the Lord’s Prayer and The Angelus. Specifically, The Angelus is a short practice of devotion to the Incarnation of God and is initiated at the sound of the bell.

One way historians described these significant pieces of architecture was by suggesting that they were, “placed like sentinels on the towers, watch over us and turn away from us the temptations of the enemy of our salvation, as well as storms and tempests. They speak and pray for us in the troubles they inform heave (sic) of the necessities of the earth” (Church Bells: Their Use, Their Romance, and Their History). In addition to these beliefs that once represented the thoughts of every single religious being within Venice, but now these beliefs could be considered lost. In addition to these lost beliefs, global secularization is contributing to the lack of interest in religious events that once were the epicenter of the Venetian community.

-Meghan