Early Christian Altar

St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church at Burlington, Vt., a gleaming structure of glass blocks and red brick produced by local architects who were chosen because they had never designed a Catholic church before, is strictly 20th Century. But it has one primitive feature that has rarely been seen in Christian churches since the 9th Century. Its altar is set in the center of the church (see cut), so that the face and hands of the priest offering Mass are visible to his congregation from three sides. The altar of the new cathedral to be built in Britain's bombed-out Coventry after the war (TIME, Feb. 21) will be similarly centered.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.