Modelling the Sacred: Enclosure and Scale

Author's model

Consider a chamber, a space in which one finds enclosure.

Whether it be the triumphal majesty of a space like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, or the intimate grotto of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; there is a relation to the human scale.
The first speaks of the greatness of God's immensity in creation; the latter of the condescension of God to humanity through the incarnation.

left: St. Peter's, Rome1

right: Church of Nativty, Bethlehem2

Through the relief of the walls and ceiling, I have given scale so that the surroundings themselves focus the person to the most diminutive, and therefore 'sacred', object; conventionally the altar or reliquary.

Conversely, when leaving the chamber, after meditation upon the sacred, the participant engages in an increasing scale: chamber - temple - world.

1 St. Peter's, Rome - image source: https://hautedestinations.tumblr.com/
2 Church of Nativity, Bethlehem - image source: Library of Congress