الفهرس 
Roots of the problem
The christian Faith & SignsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 333 |  |  |
| | | from | 333 | | |
Abstract
Studies in Coptic architecture are relatively rare, and are mainly concerned
with the physical rather than spiritual aspects of the style. This dissertation
marks an absence of a true reading for the intangible aspects of the Coptic
Orthodox Church architecture, and the hidden meanings in this heritage. The
study will be concerned with uncovering meanings and deepening
understanding of this Egyptian architecture.
The basics and principles of christianity as a religion and Orthodoxy as a
denomination are considered the most influential convention that affects and
shapes the Coptic Orthodox worship house. They represent one of the main
sources for the rich inventory of the different signs and symbols assimilating
meaning in its art and architecture. Hence, fundamentals of christianity are
reviewed in the literature, and observation of heritage Coptic Churches is
undergone, to group the existing symbols employed in this architecture.
Semiotics as an interpretive science is studied, as it is chosen to be utilized as
a discovery tool for the different layers of meaning comprising the sign
system of the building and to decipher these meanings. This study provides a
theoretical ground for the adopted framework of analysis that is employed in
the applied part of the study.
The different existing attempts of semiotic analysis of architecture are
presented with special focus on the most appropriate framework that will be
used, in addition to addressing the gaps that were identified in itto result in
an amended analytical semiotic framework that is more practical for
application on the architectural discipline.
The applied part of the study commences by utilizing the amended
framework in conducting the semiotic analysis on two case studies: an
ancient Coptic church and a contemporary one, to interpret the meanings
within their architecture, and hence determines that there is a message
addressed to the users. This analysis besides uncovering different radiated
meanings and deepening the understanding of this intangible part of the
architecture, results also in developing an analytical tool for the semiotic
analysis allowing of religious buildings.An ethnographic study is conducted to investigate the intended meaning
from the design through undergoing in-depth interviews with the building
originators who designed the contemporary case study. Then the users of the
same case study are interviewed to discover if they understood the intended
meanings from this architecture, and check how they perceived the
significance and the message of the church design. Hence, the perceived
meaning is tested against the intended one, to understand if the visual
message by the architecture of this church is interpreted as per the original
intentions of the design or not.
Finally, the results were concluded from both the interpretation of the
semiotic analysis and the ethnographic study of the intended and perceived
meanings, in addition to the comparative analysis of each set of resulting
data. The study shows that the Coptic Orthodox church architecture has a
message that could be interpreted by the users, even though the intended and
perceived meanings of this architecture might not be identical