Catholic Church Architecture in Ibadan,Nigeria after Vatican II: Lessons for Modern Church Designers

Abstract

The Catholic Church had a rich tradition of church design prior to the liturgical reforms occasioned by Vatican II. The paper examines 20th-century architecture of the Catholic Church in Ibadan, Nigeria in the consolidatory stages of Christianity in the city. Based on documented archival records, oral accounts and field investigations, the paper argues that the earlier 20th-century church buildings of the Catholic Church of Ibadan were largely in line with Charles Borromeo’s (1538–1584) summary of Catholic traditions regarding church design and the later 20th-century Catholic Church buildings were in line with modernist Catholic Church architecture influenced by liturgical reforms occasioned by the Second Vatican Council and the modernist ideology of functionalism.