from one angle, the church spends money for monumental purposes. But I’m not of the opinion that you can just spend your way to those cathedrals: the workmen (freemasons in the original sense) have to believe they are giving glory to god. Here’s a great video [0][17min] documenting the Met Museum’s commissioning of moroccan mosaics, by the end you can see the craftsmen taking great pride in their work, above and beyond what they’re paid to do, carving “allah” over and over out of religious dedication. (just want to push back on the notion that religion is all about manipulating people with your power, the crimes of the vatican notwishstanding) [0] ▶ this video
in “Antikythera Mechanism: An ancient 'computer' that 'shouldn't exist' [video]” · View on HN