I bet you were around to see he first stone layed as well Colin! I wonder what a building like that would cost to buld today! mal

chunter: Today's costs would be interesting for sure, but I can't get my head around how they built this thing back then without all the equipment we have today. It's mind boggling. If I'd only ben born a couple of years earlier, i might have known the answer to this.

The costs 'today' are way too high to be reasonable, goodness knows how they can be justified in most cases, because the workers are mostly on minimum wage!
If you're interested, there's a novel "Pillars of the Earth" about building a cathedral - and other stuff too, it's a fascinating read. Sequel came out just before Christmas, that's equally good.

chunter: I agree about the costs, but I usually think the buildings, beautiful as they are, could be put to better use for the money that's spent on them.

I'm no logistician, but there's an awful lot of space inside and an awful lot of homeless people outside. Since these structures that are dotted all around the country are rarely full to the brim these days with those who pray, perhaps there's some mileage in the various charitable organisations, who work so hard for the welfare of those unfortunate people, working with the churches to better accommodate their needs.