“After a while the cathedrals all look the same.”
I am without doubt a proponent of traveling to see architecture but there comes a point where all the things you’ve seen seem to merge into a single hazy overloaded memory. Architecture is oriented toward experience. And representations, if the architecture has any merit at all, are never adequate to tell the story. It must be experienced in the flesh. Even so, architecture is not art. It is not on display or intended as an object for an observer. It is oriented toward lived experience, which is far less self-conscious and stretches out over a different scale of time in a rhythm of temporal repetition. Trying to take in all the complexities of a cathedral in a single visit asks far too much and visiting multiple sites in a short span of time only multiplies frustration. These buildings are meant to become persistent and loyal figures that support both the quotidian and episodic aspects of human lives. Their content is meant to be uncovered slowly wherein the incremental revelations and discoveries cultivate a relationship that grows richer with age. To expect to take it all in, let alone retain with any degree of clarity is to underestimate the depth of these sites and to miss the import of the experience. This is why sketching and writing are proven tools of architectural study. They require a slow pace and an intimacy of contact that is almost always foregone in sightseeing.
