On May 31, 2023, Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine will host a public event on contemporary sacred buildings with Justin Davidson, architecture critic for New York Magazine.
Following a welcome address by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Davidson will discuss the St. Nicholas Church from an architectural point of view, as a paradigm for what sacred buildings can contribute to the contemporary metropolis.
Davidson received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2002 and is the author of Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York. Davidson’s interlocutor will be Joseph L. Clarke, Associate Professor of Modern Architectural History at the University of Toronto. The event honors the rebuilding of Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11, as a national shrine. Designed by the world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, Saint Nicholas now sits atop Liberty Park and overlooks the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
The event is the Keynote of the international symposium, “The Shape of the Sacred: Eastern Christianity and Architectural Modernity,” sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and hosted at Fordham University’s Orthodox Christian Studies Center. During the academic symposium— the first in North America to examine modern and contemporary Eastern Christian church architecture— scholars will discuss how sacred architecture orients worshipers in relation to a transcendent cosmic reality while addressing ever-changing social conditions, urban development patterns, building technologies, and artistic styles.
WHO
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Chairman of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America
Justin Davidson, Pulitzer Prize Winner and Architecture Critic for New York Magazine
Joseph L. Clarke, Associate Professor, Modern Architectural History, University of Toronto
WHAT
Keynote Event for the International Symposium “The Shape of the Sacred: Eastern Christianity and Architectural Modernity,” hosted by the Fordham University Orthodox Christian Studies Center and sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
WHEN
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
5:30 PM
WHERE
Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine
130 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10006
PRE-REGISTRATION
Admission is free. Please pre-register for the Keynote Event here:
www.fordham.edu/homepage/7932/the_shape_of_the_sacred_eastern_christianity_and_architectural_modernity/
