The Sacred Heart Cathedral, located in Bendigo in central Victoria Australia, built during the depression of the 1890’s by out-of-work gold miners, is, architecturally, English Gothic. The marvel of gothic architecture is that it provided great height and lots of light, without heavy, thick walls. Flying buttresses were devised to overcome the problem of holding up such high walls without their falling outward due to the weight of the roof. These are, in fact, the arches in the side aisles. But in classical European Gothic the buttresses are outside the walls of the building (as in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris), in English Gothic the buttresses are roofed in, thus giving a much wider building inside.
Traditionally Christian churches, if possible, are built on an East-West orientation. The rising sun is seen as a symbol or reminder of the Risen Christ. Just as the rising sun overcomes the darkness of night, so the risen Christ overcomes the darkness of sin and death. Therefore the main doors of such buildings are often referred to as the Great West Door.

Camera Olympus E-520
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