Parish churches in the early modern world

Across Europe, the parish church has stood for centuries at the centre of local communities; it was the focal point of its religious life, the rituals performed there marked the stages of life from the cradle to the grave.

Nonetheless the church itself artistically and architecturally stood apart from the parish community.

It was often the largest and only stone-built building in a village; it was legally distinct being subject to canon law, as well as consecrated for the celebration of religious rites.

The buildings associated with the ?cure of souls? were sacred sites or holy places, where humanity interacted with the divine.