Heavens Above! Opulence Of Baroque-style Churches Captured In Stunning Detail

THE architecture of Baroque churches across Europe and South America has been captured in stunning detail

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Regal: The Baroque grandeur of the Iglesia de San Francisco

Glittering gold: La Compania, in Quito, Ecuador, is an incredible example of Baroque

Swiss photographer, Cyril Porchet, travelled to Bavaria in Germany, Andalusia in Spain and Quito in Ecuador, to document the extravagant sites for his ‘Seduction’ series.

Asambasilika in Osterhofen, Germany, is decorated with marble and gold

With so many incredible details it would be difficult to pay attention

Cyril, who lives in Lausanne in Switzerland, said: “I selected these churches for their exuberance, as well as for their arrangement and for their saturation level, for their ornamentation composed by decorative, figurative, and symbolic elements.

Gothic: Some of the decorations in the Iglesia del Salvador, Spain are dramatic

While the Iglesia del Salvador in Spain has hints of colour and gold

“This profligacy of splendour contributes to stun the senses and at first glance provides an effect which tends toward abstraction.”

The Asamkirche church in Munchen Germany, the Iglesia de la Cartuja in Spain, and La Compania in Ecuador, all feature in the project which was completed across four years.

The Baroque style emerged in Rome in 1600, and became renowned for its use of exaggerated motion and depiction of drama and tension. It was also recognised for its flamboyance and grandeur.

Ostentatious: The Iglesia de la Cartuja in Spain is practically blinding

Klosterkirche, in Germany, has unusual green ceilings and white statues

Baroque spread across Europe and was encouraged by the Catholic Church, which was keen to use the arts to communicate religious ideas.

Cyril visited the European sites on a 3 month trip in 2010, and added more pictures to the series after visiting South America last year.

Opulent decoration, as seen in the Iglesia de la Cartuja, Spain, was a key feature of the Baroque movement

Churches such as the Asamkirche in Germany are flamboyant and grand in their decorations

The 30-year-old said: “Historians put forward the idea that the baroque style developed at a time when the Catholic Church was reacting against a new science and new forms of religion.

“It has been said that the monumental baroque was a style that the papacy was able to exploit like the absolute monarchies did.

“Therefore, by choosing baroque churches as metaphor of spectacle, my pictures also work as an historical reminder of the picture function as a very powerful tool for communication, manipulation and indeed propaganda.”