Reflections on the Sacred in Architecture and Urban Space

An opinion piece on Arquine explores the concept of the sacred in contemporary architecture and urban life. The author begins at the Cuartel de Conde Duque in Madrid, a former military barracks built between 1717 and 1721, which later housed an Academy of Mathematics, an astronomical observatory, and a chapel, and was sold to the Madrid City Council in 1969 before being rehabilitated as a cultural center in 1983. The text reflects on how spaces once sacred to the military are now sacred to students. It discusses the shift from institutional religion to a personalized spirituality, citing Rosalía's album "Lux" as an example of young people blending religion, aesthetics, and spirituality. The author notes that religious architecture is being repurposed into discotheques, cafes, hotels, bars, and housing. The piece concludes that the sacred is an inner voice that silences external noise, and that architecture, like the Cuartel de Conde Duque, is in constant transformation, allowing us to inhabit and be inhabited in the sacred territory of existence.