View of main altar and altar cross. Digital image of D 79232 CN.

Description View of main altar and altar cross. Digital image of D 79232 CN.

Date 12/10/2000

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 713595

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 79232 CN

Scope and Content Main altar and altar cross by Benno Schotz, St Paul's Roman Catholic Church, Warout Road, Glenrothes, Fife St Paul's Church was built 1956-7 to designs by the architectural firm of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia. Jack Coia (1898-1981) was assisted at this time by the architects Isi Metzstein (b.1928) and Andrew McMillan (b.1928). Using a limited budget of £20,000, the church was built of painted brick with a wall of stained glass and wood. The site also includes a presbytery (priest's house). This shows the main altar on its raised platform. The simple stone supports have incised and gilded crosses, and the altar cloth is embroidered with the word 'SANCTUS SANCTUS SANCTUS' (meaning 'holy holy holy'). The golden pyramid-shaped object is the tabernacle, a special locked cupboard for holding the bread and wine used in Holy Communion. The sculptured cross behind shows Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary, St John, the two thieves, and symbolic objects from the crucifixion story. Both natural and artificial lighting is used to great effect in this church to highlight the entrance and to cast coloured light patterns from the stained glass onto the white walls. The open and welcoming wedge-shaped plan of the church represents the gospel (word of God) going out into the world. This building has been selected as one of Scotland's key 20th-century Modern architectural monuments. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/713595

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap