Walk into Chartres and the building begins to speak before the priest ever does. The light, the proportions, the saints in glass and stone, the very direction of the space – all conspire to move the soul towards God. Walk into many modern churches and the silence is of a different kind: not contemplative, but empty. The architecture says little, the walls teach nothing, and the faithful sit in a space that could just as easily host a lecture, a concert or a town meeting.
Art historian and author Dr Elizabeth Lev has spent decades teaching celebrities, pilgrims, students and sceptics alike how to ‘read’ churches in the way previous generations once did instinctively. For her, sacred art is not decoration but theology made visible. In this conversation, she explains when Catholics lost the ability to read their own churches, why modern ecclesiastical architecture often feels spiritually mute, and how beauty can once again become one of the Church’s most powerful teachers.
