Emily Dickinson’s revered poem, “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” comes to mind when beholding Italian artist Giuliano Mauri’s epic Catterdale Vegetale (or Tree Cathedral).
Proving that a place of worship, contemplation, or connection does not need to be in competition with nature, his project of creating an outdoor cathedral made up entirely of trees is breath-taking. The artist’s two groves of trees are destined to grow into stunning basilicas.
The grand sculpture consists of 42 cage-like columns that weave a basilica of five aisles. Every column is made of 1,800 fir poles, 600 chestnut branches, and 6,000 meters of hazel branches joined together with wood, nails, and string. In total, 80 hornbeam saplings are housed within these structures, and will eventually outgrow the decaying supporting columns and form a truly organic, living cathedral in time.
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The creative artist (Mauri), who passed in 2009, first laid the groundwork for his visionary cathedral in in Valsugana, Italy in 2002. By 2010 the framework for the cathedral at the foot of Mount Arera in the northern Italian region of Lombardy was completed.
Time will be testament to its permanence, and the perfection nature offers may provide inspiration for years to come.
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