Drawing together material from the 2012 Venice Biennale, a new study of Hawksmoor’s churches examines their compelling individuality

It is rumoured that there are satanic and pagan symbols embedded within the architecture of Nicholas Hawksmoor’s many London churches – and that far from being in praise of God, their foundations are built over child sacrifices and their placement around the city draws together powerful forces into the shape of a pentagram.

These apocryphal tales are of course the stuff of fiction, whipped up for Peter Ackroyd’s dark and masterful narration in Hawksmoor, ‘a book that did‘much to help articulate the architectural qualities and enhance the reputation of the real Hawksmoor’, as Mohsen Mostafavi notes in his introduction. The fictional, occultist Hawksmoor describes his intent as being to inspire ‘Terror’ and ‘Magnificence’ in the beholder, which is nonetheless an accurate description of the Baroque architecture itself. Hawksmoor’s churches, with their strangely scaled elements, monumental spires and funereal ornaments, impress upon the viewer ‘awe and bewilderment’.

Topics