Church of the Light 《光之教堂》

You know I've been dreaming to travel in Hokkaido at summer or autumn, booked my flight ticket twice but failed to fly with my dreams at the end as was keeping busy like a bee at the office. It's snowing now at Hokkaido, seems there's no choice but keep traveling at Kansai region where I may renew my memory of good old times.

PT is always teasing me that there must be a secret lover overseas waiting for me to visit him year by year. You know it's not true, but now I'm going to tell you that I'm falling in love with Tadao Ando who give me an adventurous and exciting journey, I can't wait to share with you.....

Don't want to fight through the crowds of o-gi-san and o-ba-san during Kyoto's peak season now, I'm taking few days to visit some modern buildings designed by Ando including church, art museum and library.

I choose the Church of Light as my first contact with Ando. Visited "Church of Light" in the morning, a clear and sunny day.

Well, it's really amazing either the peaceful atmosphere inside the chapel or the creative modern building designed by Ando. It's quite exciting when you really touched the very shape of concrete walls, an unique symbol showing at Ando's many works. Was also overwhelmed in the way light and shade play with each other inside of church.

I always believe that God is the same holy spirit as Buddha, sitting there alone gazed at the "cross of light" for few minutes while my inner-self had conversation with God and pray silently, then suddenly the surrounding concrete walls just disappeared at that moment, only the shining "cross of light" floating in the sky, just like the universal light comes from heaven.

I'm not going to say it's a miracle, but I'll never forget the splendid view and experience at the "Church of Light".

After my visiting, read an article regarding the Church of Light, it's exciting to know that we have similar experiences while we're sitting in the church. I realized that the unique experiences just can't be imagine from the pictures. I'll say the "Church of Light" is definitely one of the must-see spots when you travel in Kansai area.

Feel so impressed by the greatest art works by Ando in the following days while visiting art museums,memorial hall and library. I think it's the spirit behind these buildings moved me deeply.

Spiritual walking at Kyoto and Nara area always gives me great inspiration of my inner-soul. I can't help thinking that the designers behind the very old zen temples and new modern buildings have something in common, it's their respect to nature with perfect zen mind which touched me so much.

Yes, this is Tadao Ando too, I've always sought the truth beyond the wall, and the humanity beyond that said by Ando. Enjoy keep reading The Grand Tour with ANDO at the hotel these days.

At the end, I'll express my special thanks to YT who introduced Tadao Ando to me.... how about just give you the hard-to-find back-issue magazines of Ando in return?

Note:
Tadao Ando: A self-educated architect born in 1941. When Ando was in his twenties, he taught himself architecture by traveling around the world three times and observing buildings firsthand. In 1969, he established his own architectual firm in Osaka. Ando received many awards including the 1995 Pritzker Architecture Prize (similar to Nobel prize in field of architecure).

後記: 下榻旅館可隨時上網，造訪「光之教堂」感動興奮之餘，除了當天晚上立即寫了e-mail 向教堂致謝，也將我的當下的激動寫了e-mail與朋友分享....