[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by Boquillas

And what about the pilgrims 500 years ago trekking to Chartres Cathedral, or Notre Dame, or the Milan Duomo?

Medieval cathedrals were hardly exercises in humility, solemnity and deference to a creator. They were and still are among the most ostentatious, over-the-top, even garish paeans to any god. Certainly not humble. And the benevolent Catholic Church built these extraordinarily expensive houses of worship to tower above the hovels and shanties and straw huts of the poorest, most destitute serfs in Europe.

We love those buildings and loathe this one, and yet there is no reasonable argument I've heard for how this is any different.

We loathe it because, to us, it looks hideous. There's not much new here. Building big buildings to attract attention and display wealth is not new. Nor is this the first time someone has tried to create a mean time (in this case, a new mean time) in the name of supposed cultural-superiority.

Those Cathedrals you spoke of revolutionized architecture and created new styles. To me, this building signifies a very tacky "new gold" sense of unearned arrogance.

I get your point about Cathedrals being over-the-top and possibly even wasteful for their time, but do you really think the Al-Baijwhatever will stand the test of time like this beauty has?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laon_Cathedral