This monument is to be located in New Berlin, a city on a distant planet, thousands of miles from the Sun, populated by descendants by those who left Earth for Mars 200 years ago. Those who left Earth were picked through lots, randomly selected from across the world to live together in the new Martian colony. [T]he citizens of this cosmic colony have no connection to the Earth or to their ancestors who lived there and are seeking in this monument something that can help to bridge this gap.
Much like in the years of globalization on Earth, when religions stopped being regional belief systems and began to spread around the Earth, the citizens of New Berlin practice a variety of religions, ranging from old Earth religions such as Judaism, and new Cosmic religions such as Cosmotheosophy and Neo-Cyclical-Paganism. Every citizen is free to practice as they please, however, in recent years, debates about spirituality and religion and what their role should be in New Berlin have been common and often. These debates have led to the decision that the colony needs both a monument to their ancestors on Earth and a place where the citizens can practice their particular brand of spirituality. They have decided that they need a space much like the old Earth churches and temples, and this project has been dubbed “The Cathedral of New Berlin.”
This cathedral has been designed through the collaboration of many artists and architects throughout the colony. This group has been commissioned by the citizens of the city to create this cathedral and community space with the understand that the Committee will have free reign to create what they think will be best to fulfill the needs of the colony.
The citizens understand that one artist or architect would most likely create a monument that was too individualized, and they aim for the monument to be universal and able to have effect on every citizen within the colony.
The main use of this cathedral will be up to the individual visitor. They are free to visit as the please, any time of day, to meditate or worship, much like the Earth churches This monument will not be interactive in the traditional sense. It will be mainly static; The interaction will be entirely up to those who occupy space. I plan to encourage interiorization in each viewer, a state of self-reflection. I want this space to draw inspiration from the religious, but not be denominational in any way, instead placing a focus on the spirituality sought after by the citizens of New Berlin. There will also be community meetings in the cathedral, not meetings where political or governmental issues are discussed, but where the spiritual health of the community and its members are discussed. There will not be any processions, icons, or rituals associated with the building, in order to not interrupt the interior experience of the visitors.
