New Student

There were countless churches in Europe. Visitors from the East might find them novel at first, but after seeing too many, they would grow aesthetically fatigued. Aside from splendor and intricacy, was there nothing fresh about them?

That was why churches all claimed to possess holy relics or saints' remains. There would always be people willing to come on "pilgrimage."

Besides rose windows and sword-sharp spires, Gothic architecture featured sculptures that never left the buildings. Their movements and expressions looked stiff and rigid, whereas Renaissance sculptures appeared much more lively. Sculptures no longer clung to buildings either. Take St. Peter's Square in the Vatican as an example: those saints all "stood" atop the church, looking down upon the people in the square.

Baroque roofs were rounded, like women's hoop skirts. The patterns on the floor of the main hall looked like petals, and a glass lamp hung between the floor and the dome from a long rope.

Venice excelled at glassmaking. The red parts of the lamp resembled roses, cleverly linking the two spaces together, as if guiding the "gods" in heaven to hover above people's heads.

The "covenant" in the Ark of the Covenant referred to the agreement God made with the Israelites. The Ark was the chest that held that covenant between God and the Israelites. That covenant was the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments that the prophet Moses received from God on Mount Sinai.

The Ark of the Covenant was to have two cherubim hammered from gold and placed at either end of the cover. One cherub at this end, one cherub at that end—the cherubim were to be placed at both ends of the cover.

Ordinary churches had three east-west bays that intersected with a north-south transept at the altar, forming a cross. The