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I share in the Photos of the Readers of La Vanguardia this photograph taken in one of the many splendid fields of this impressive spring and in which you can appreciate the beauty of the beautiful poppy and the Greek cross that it houses in its center.
The Greek cross or crux immissa quadrata is a cross made up of four arms of equal size. It was used by early Christianity until the Renaissance, then Latin crosses began to be used in Rome. But they are still used by the Eastern and Orthodox Churches.
It is a historical and religious symbolic element, but also widely used in architecture, since the intersection of nave and transept gives churches a cross plan.
A Greek cross plan is used for churches in which the nave and transept have the same length and intersect at half their length. On the other hand, when the nave and transept are of different lengths, it is called a Latin cross plan.
The Greek cross is typical of Byzantine architecture. In the Orthodox churches of Eastern Europe it has been used from the Middle Ages to the present day.
In contrast, the Latin cross is formed by two segments of different sizes that intersect at right angles, where the shorter segment has a proportion of three-quarters with respect to the longer one. It is the one that prevailed in Western Europe, especially after the Renaissance. In reality, it refers to the shape of the crucifix of Christian tradition.
The Latin cross plan is very common in the churches of Latin Christianity. It developed especially in the Benedictine monasteries of the Middle Ages (Cluny and Cistercian) and can also be seen very well in the churches on the Romanesque pilgrimage route on the Camino de Santiago.
