ABSTRACT
Every historical epoch has distinct ways of organizing time, space, behaviour and subjectivity. These converge in its principal architectural sites and public spaces that articulate cultural texts of meaning, identity and power. Who may enter, what is done within, why do they do it and how do they think of themselves? The great cathedrals of Europe, built by and sustaining of earthly power structures, were temporal houses of an eternal God through which society might celebrate and sanctify itself as well as the birth, transitions and death of each person. Elites as well as commoners saw themselves as part of an organic unity held together by a higher authority. Social life transpired in times, places and ways deemed sacred or profane.1
