Constructing the sacred space : ecclesiastical architecture in Macao and Beijing between the mid-sixteenth and mid-eighteenth centuries

Abstract

My dissertation, Constructing the Sacred Space: Ecclesiastical Architecture in Macao and Beijing between the Mid-Sixteenth and Mid-Eighteenth Centuries, examines how churches engaged the local Chinese communities sensorially to perceive the sacred and facilitate conversion while transforming the urban environment and emphasizing the production of knowledge. The research focuses on the ornamentation and spatial construction of four church buildings—the Church of St. Paul’s and St. Joseph’s Church in Macao, and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, known as Nantang (南堂), and St. Joseph’s Church, known as Dongtang (東堂), in Beijing—and the architectural treatises in the Trigault Library in Nantang. Comparisons between the four churches address not only the circulation of architectural knowledge among the Jesuits but also the movement of the Jesuits in relation to the development of the China mission. My research pays special attention to the multifaceted roles fashioned by the Jesuits, who in addition to serving as clergymen, were also architects, artists, astronomers, middlemen, and court officials. In these positions, they helped to bridge the East and West, providing important context of Asia and Europe to various power dynamics, shaping diplomacy in the early modern era, and participating in several key events including the Counter-Reformation, increasingly global maritime exploration, and Ming-Qing dynastic changes. This research illustrates that during these periods, the Jesuits produced art and architecture that expressed a number of conceptions and ideologies, including notions of the self and the other, empire and imperialism, Sinocentrism and Eurocentrism, and regionalism and globalism, all of which are still consequential and relevant today.