Members of the European nobility, having accumulated more personal wealth than they knew what to do with, would sometimes build beautiful fake ruins as follies on their estates. They served no other purpose than to provide aesthetic pleasure for people who’d been fortunate (and often ruthless) enough to transcend material poverty and want that was humanity’s lot for millennia.
These abandoned churches in a way are more democratic expression of that idea: beautiful ruins that provide aesthetic pleasure for a society that’s been fortunate (and often ruthless) enough to transcend the intellectual poverty and superstition that was humanity’s lot for millennia.
