RELIGIOUS AND MEMORIAL ARCHITECTURE Religious architecture, which includes all buildings erected for spiritual or commemorative purposes, appears to be in a transi tional stage. In the endeavour to adapt itself to changing condi tions, the Church is faced on one hand with the necessity of broadening its activities, and on the other with the problem of effecting a physical compromise with other forms of building. Ar chitecturally this involves two distinct problems : (r) enlarging or modifying the church to house new activities; (2) combining it with commercial structures, a course adopted to some extent in the United States.
In the past, the church was a refuge for the poor and afflicted, a seat of learning and a centre of social life. One after another these functions began to be assumed by independent agencies. Ed ucation, except in the spiritual sense, fell chiefly under secular supervision; separate institutions began to care for the sick and the poor; the increased number of diversions weakened the church's social hold on the people. There seems to be, however, a tendency to resume some of these functions in the form of welfare work and community service. This has added to the necessary equipment of the church proper such spaces as small auditoriums„ Sunday-school rooms, gymnasia, committee-rooms, restaurants, etc. The modern church, excepting the ritualistic type, which has not materially changed in plan arrangement or source of design, tends more and more to assume the form of an auditorium in which the important consideration is to see and hear adequately.
The enormous growth of large cities has left many churches stranded in business or financial sections, miles from their parish ioners, so that their very existence as buildings is jeopardized. In both London and New York there are many such churches which are preserved only for their architectural interest or his toric associations. With a few exceptions, these will eventually have to give way. Even in newly developed residential commu nities, the small church finds it difficult to retain a fixed or stable congregation. Localities are no longer local. The automobile, the railway, the telephone and the radio have all conspired to dif fuse and diversify public attention.
In spite of adverse conditions, many impressive churches are being built ; for instance, the cathedral at Washington, the great cathedral in Liverpool, and the cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. France tried a novel experiment in building the church of Notre Dame at le Raincy; this structure, built of rein forced concrete, is of rigidly simple modernistic design but of dubious aesthetic value.
War memorials, which abound in every country, frequently em ploy weapons and military costumes as a basis of design. The most successful, however, stress abstract conceptions such as bravery and sacrifice, rather than the paraphernalia of war. An indication of the universal trend toward democracy since the World War is apparent in numerous memorials to the Unknown Soldier. War memorials range from simple wall tablets to build ings of impressive proportions. The latter sometimes take the form of memorial hospitals, soldiers' homes, assembly halls, sta diums, etc., in which case their inclusion under memorial archi tecture is merely nominal. Public interest in war memorials has brought about a recrudescence of other commemorative monu ments. The monument of Vittorio Emanuele II., Rome, is one of the most impressive ever erected to one man. The Lincoln memorial at Washington, D.C., and the George Washington Ma sonic memorial at Alexandria, Va., overlooking the Potomac river, are other examples on impressive scales. (See also RELIGIOUS AND