Material Culture

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Downtown POS

Let's get ready to give thanks and praise to the Lord! I am taking you all to church for a few minutes! lol :)

You may be wondering at this point, how on earth does the photograph of the church above relate to the title of this blog entry? Don't worry, I probably would have been confused myself! Before you read any further I need you to think of an answer to the following question. How might the buildings within a city reflect the culture of the people that live there?

Urban landscapes act as mediums through which persons reveal their cultural norms and values to the outside world. One of the most significant aspects of an urban landscape are its buildings. Some cultural groups are more artefactual than others, meaning that their lifestyles are directly reflected through the buildings and artefacts in the cities that they reside. This greatly influences the materiality or the nature of construction of the city, thus making cities with such features very easy to identify.

Port of Spain can be described as a post-colonial city due to the fact that Trinidad was once a British colony. During the colonial period (19th century) the urban landscape of Trinidad consisted of buildings that were strictly of British architecture. The architectural designs of churches during that period was very important due to the fact that the British were Roman Catholic. Hence the reason I took a photo of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to describe material culture in POS. The cathedral was the first one of its kind on the island and it has been preserved as a symbol of Trinidad's colonial history, not to mention the fact that even today the majority of the Trinidadian population are still Roman Catholics. There are several other buildings in and around POS to date that reflect British architecture/culture e.g. The Red House, The Archbishop's House and The White House. It should also be noted that aspects of British architecture are still used in the construction of houses and other buildings in Trinidad nowadays. This just goes to show that British culture is indeed a part of Trinidadian culture and it is evident in the structural form of buildings in the city of POS.