Above is the Library of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Below is a current Queensborough Public Library near me:
What the heck happened?
Our culture has gone from prioritizing art, beauty, and commitment to promoting mind-numbingly bland mediocrity.
We can’t let the parasites drag us down to their diabolical level.
Here’s Alicen Grey on similar topics:
Along those lines, a few of the photos I took last week while visiting the Church of St. Francis Xavier near Union Square:
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You speak wise words, sir! Part of the loss over the years may be bureaucratic: the photo of your library makes it look very like something that was designed by a committee - which is to say, designed by no one. Maybe great architecture requires an approach we may have lost: patronage coupled with a more-or-less focused vision. And not so many forms to fill in!
Mediocrity is inevitable when long range planning is quarterly and crackpot realists are running the show. That's not the only path to it, but it sure is a dominant tendency.