“Drawn Up to the Heights” | Postcards from Rome 2026

This past week on The Rome Experience we finally began classes at Santa Croce and the classes started out strong, Sacred Architecture. Architecture has been a love of mine since I was very young. I have always enjoyed building structures, drawing buildings, thinking about city layouts, and in particular, medieval castles and churches! While I did not pursue architecture when I went to college I did major in fine arts which involved taking classes in Art History, and it was there that my knowledge and interest in architecture only increased as it was the favorite topic of my professor. I learned a great deal about the historical progression of Church architecture in particular which gave me the ability to talk about the churches I enter, see what they are doing well, and recognize much of the symbolism and catechesis built into the very structures of the church.

This first week of classes therefore, was an excellent refresher. Our professor went into detail about the history of Rome, which was also very interesting, and how the Romans viewed the importance of architecture. This laid the groundwork for how the Church adopted their buildings and sense of the beautiful in service of the spreading the faith. He gave us the principals of what makes good sacred architecture. Certainly, first and foremost, it must be actually beautiful to the eye. This will involve all the usual principals of good design, including balance, proportionality of the forms, contrast of particular elements to draw one’s eye to certain places of rest, color theory, and many other elements. But it is not enough that it be beautiful, it must serve the end of communicating to all those who enter the truths of the faith, direct the mind toward God in prayer, and establish a fitting place for the divine worship of the Mass. For this we do not merely need balance and proportionality and contrast, but an ordered hierarchy that draws one further in and further up to the heights! We are not necessarily looking for any kind of reaction out of the pilgrims who enter, but specifically the intention is to fill them with awe and a reverential silence. The most important aspect I think is that the church building is to be a kind of microcosm of the whole universe in that, God, under the sacramental sign of bread and wine is made present in this place. Heaven and Earth come together, Man and God come together, and ALL in the building should be orchestrated around that reality, around that Eucharist.

An assignment was given to us, and I could not have loved it more. We were asked firstly to visit one or more church and analyze them to see how they were accomplishing the principals of sacred architecture. This is something I do all the time, but was this time a little more challenging than I expected. It’s easy to explain how a Gothic church, for example, is drawing your gaze upward. This is not necessarily the case with romanesque or byzantine. I discovered though, that at the Basilica of Mary Major, this was being achieved by the hierarchy of the art. The lower two thirds of the building were simply adorned. But the upper third was ornate with mosaics and frescos and everything was gilded. The clerestory let in light that, at certain times of day, probably lit up the entire upper portion of the church. And the oldest and most decorated part was the dome of the sanctuary apse depicting a beautiful mosaic of Christ crowning his mother in heaven. Not only does the detail draw your eye upward, but the contrast conveys a message about the realities of heaven and earth, and that heaven has come to meet earth.

The second part of the assignment was even more fun! Either redesign a church you have seen that could have been designed better, or design a church from scratch. Well… I’ve done both before for fun, so i did both! First, I redesigned the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville. This church was actually designed with a lot of intentionality and catechetical symbolism, however, it was not necessarily built out of the best materials or with the greatest artistic skill. It’s in the round, which I would never do myself. But I have always said that if I were to redesign it I would leave it round and simply make a better version of what is there. Which is what i did. Keeping all the same symbolism, just better execution. After this, I provided a floor plan and cross section drawings of my own ideal church built in a more medieval romanesque style and in a traditional, cruciform basilica floor plan.

I look forward to the remaining three weeks of classes!

Sean Mrdjenovic
Archdiocese of New York