ST ANTONIO CHURCH

摘要

Portalegre, a town in southern Portugal near the border with Spain, has a new parish church. Designed by Joao Luis Carrilho da Graca, the church of St Antonio also incorporates a parish centre for different sorts of social activities, so rooting the building more intimately with the surrounding community. Catholicism is still a powerful force in this part of the world and Portalegre contains a number of historic churches and monasteries, some dating back to the 13th century. But this is a modern church for modern needs, embodying the doctrines of the Second Vatican Council, first postulated in the 1960s, which encouraged Catholics to move from a traditionally passive role to greater participation with ecclesiastical authority. Carrilho da Graca's design is a sensitive response to this now familiar notion of liturgical space transformed from an awe inspiring 'house of God' to a 'house of the community'.