Beauty is vanishing from our world because we live as though it did not matter.

– Roger Scruton, Beauty (2009)

Beauty is a concept that I do not think people think about enough. Sure, we all love beautiful things, whether it be a sunset, building, or a person, but while we often appreciate beauty, we do not often consider what makes something beautiful and why that is important. Recently this has been on my mind and I hope, dear reader, that you will join me in diving in and together we can learn a bit more.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word ‘Beautiful’ in two ways. First; “having qualities of beauty : exciting aesthetic pleasure.” Second; “generally pleasing : excellent.” I am at peace with these definitions, at least enough. I think that ‘exciting aesthetic pleasure’ is probably the best nugget of truth in this definition.

The next question to ask might be; what is exciting aesthetic pleasure? I think that this is the feeling when one is rendered speechless or breathless by something (or someone). For example, seeing the Alps or the Colosseum for the first time. Some things are expected to inspire aesthetic pleasure, like old buildings, stained glass, and picturesque landscapes. Sometimes one can see something that appears beautiful to them, without it being expected. I often find in nature that finding a little stream or a quiet meadow can inspire a deep feeling of a type of awe, even if on paper the scene to behold is not particularly interesting.

For myself, certain cities tend to be places where I am constantly in awe and praising God for its beauty. Vienna is one such city that always fills me with joy every time I have had the pleasure to visit it. In large part this is due to its baroque style of architecture that stands out as the main style of the city. I am a big fan of color, and baroque architecture usually stands for ornate buildings that are painted in one or two pastel colors, often with a red brick or teal copper roof. I am completely in love with this style of building, and many of my favorite palaces and castles are also baroque.

Unfortunately for every city that stirs the soul, there are equally two or three more that just crush it. Due to the Second World War, Europe had to be rebuilt because so much had been destroyed. America also built a lot of new developments because its economy was booming post war. Interestingly, this led to an equal development of ugly modernist and brutalist buildings going up across Western Europe and North America. The other side of the Iron Curtain did not fare much better. While Stalinist architecture has its charm, everything that came after it was hideous as well. Across the world new city planning was being adopted that threw out the old and brought in the new. In the middle of the twentieth century this meant car dependency and a lot of concrete.

There are a few infamous architects that can and should be blamed for trumpeting this ‘new’ style of architecture and development: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. Both of these men were both in the late nineteenth century and both have had a profound impact on what is frankly the destruction of beauty. Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus, a German school of modernist art and design that found popularity in the Weimar Republic. Le Corbusier was a Swiss architect and urban planner who famously wanted to tear up Paris and build giant tower blocks with insanely wide roads for cars between them. By the grace of God his plan did not end up happening. It is hard to imagine how badly the charm of Paris would have been ruined.

I bring these two men up to give a little picture of what the design principles have been like since the end of both World Wars. The impact that the early twentieth century has had on our lives is genuinely immeasurable, and I am currently only talking about architecture and urban planning. After 1945, tradition, community, beauty, and frankly God Himself were traded out for progress, individualism, modernity, and scientism. This has meant that beauty has not generally been a consideration in building for the past eighty years. The field of architecture has become elitist and about who can break design molds in the most unique way possible. While the postwar reconstruction of Europe has led to a lot of ugly cityscapes, America has had it even worse. Most American cities are seas of asphalt, parking lots, and strip malls. In a few places around the continent, especially in New England, there are some very beautiful places (mostly built before World War II), but most American cities are not places that people find joy in.

We have further evidence that American cities are ugly because so many of us take pilgrimages to Europe every year. We travel to places like Paris and Rome to look at two millennia of architecture and history. We will then go on endlessly about every cute little village we passed in Austria and about each breathtaking castle in Germany. My point to all this is that we could have this too. There is no reason that we could not start building beautiful buildings again. We have better materials than ever before, as well as more capital. The problem is that beauty is no longer valued as it used to be. This is because as a civilization we have turned away not only from God, but also from the things He values, like truth, beauty, and goodness.

God is the one who has made things to be beautiful. Whether a person or a sunrise, God is the original author of beauty. Therefore, I think for no other reason than that God made beauty as a trait we all admire, and we should strive for it in all things. Beauty is not something that should be optional. We must demand more from city planners and architects. That being said, this can apply to other forms of art as well. Music, art, and literature should all be beautiful too. Not to say that this is the only goal, but abstraction and being avant-garde is frankly a poor goal to have in mind as a civilization. Everything that humanity creates should be something that honors God, and I think beauty is a simple but effective way to accomplish that.

While ugliness is a huge stain on the modern world, it is at least causing offense and conversation. Worse than that, many buildings and art pieces today are boring. Something boring will never be beautiful, and it will not even have the decency to give the average passerby anything to think about. If there was a style that has been defining the twenty-first century more and more, it would be boredom. Many developers build houses that are not as offensively ugly as previous decades, but they do not stir the soul in any way. There are a nearly infinite amount of cookiecutter nameless suburban developments that are just soul destroying because they cause no emotion at all. Not anger or amazement, just emptiness.

I think this works as a decent analogy for sin as well. Sin can often start out as being edgy and exciting. Something that is going against the grain and naughty. I am assuming that the people who attended Woodstock were once interesting and probably very controversial. Now though, the Woodstock/hippie type of character comes across as lame and out of touch.

Little tangent aside, I can imagine a criticism of beautiful buildings would be that they cost more to create than a more utilitarian style. To that I say: So what? Are we really going to continue to build ugly and boring cities because anything else would be too expensive? Where are our priorities? Creating structures that are artistic and God-honoring must be something that humanity places as high importance. What else should we be spending our personal and tax money on? Consumerism? No thanks. As for me and my house, I think it is an entirely appropriate use of government to mandate and build beautifully. Luxembourgish architect Léon Krier is a great example of someone who champions the new classical architectural style and new urbanism. I highly recommend checking out some of his work and projects.

When I think about the future that I want for myself and for those who come after me, we must make things beautiful for centuries to come. It is not fair to offer bland and soulless art to the next generations. Beauty is very important, although it seems that everyone has forgotten that. The fact that beauty can bring such awe to people proves that it is good. All this being said, I believe that trying to rationalize beauty may be a fool’s errand. Each person has a deep and gut reaction of overwhelming positivity when in the face of beauty. Why ignore it? My entire argument aside, I think that this gut reaction is enough to justify beauty’s importance. Beauty glorifies God and brings joy to humanity, what more do we need?

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. – Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV)

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. – Philippians 4:8 (KJV)