Mick Hartley

Photographer Jamie McGregor Smith has been visiting brutalist and modernist churches across Europe for his book Sacred Modernity: The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture.

From Dezeen:

The churches in Sacred Modernity have sculptural concrete forms that break away from the mould of conventional churches, which typically have a floor plan in the shape of a cross.

McGregor Smith claimed this was part of a trend after the second world war, which sought new styles separated from traditional architecture of the past.

"While traditional churches evoke a sense of familiarity and reverence through their classic designs, brutalist and modernist churches challenge these norms with their bold, austere and provocative aesthetic," he said.

"These architectural styles emerged in the post-war period as a rejection of the past's orthodoxy and a pursuit of a new social order free from associations with opulence, authority and war."

L'église Saint-Nicolas in Switzerland

Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata in Italy

The Wotruba Church in Vienna, Austria

St Matthew's Church, Birmingham, UK

Tempio Mariano di Monte Grisa in Italy

St Reinold Kirche in Düsseldorf, Germany

Santuario della Beata Vergine della Consolazione in San Marino, Italy

St Mauritius Kirche in Munich, Germany

St Paulus Kirche in Neuss-Weckhoven, Germany

St Matthäus Kirche in Düsseldorf, Germany

Chiesa di San Nicolao della Flue in Milan, Italy

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione in Rome, Italy

L'église Saint-Nicolas in Heremence, Switzerland

Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Bristol, UK

Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Vienna, Austria

Kościół świętego Dominika in Warsaw, Poland
[All images © Jamie McGregor Smith]