Intermezzo (part II)

@MaryB: Thanks, Mary! Detail shots will come.

@Jen: A nice example of Bavarian cosiness :)

@JoeB: It wouldn't be the same, because the context wouldn't match. With the exception of its representative statement, this building has no actual avail. Of course, it's a church and eventually made for praying, but nowadays you wouldn't find anyone who would be willing to spend a fair amount of money just for the honour of God :) An investor of today would ask: "Where's my benefit?" and decide not to build it.

@Twelvebit: But you have to take into account that the interior of most churches (especially the older ones) undergoes many modifications through the centuries. Most of the very old churches first had no paint at all. When communities got rich, they started to decorate their houses of worship (rugs, statues, paintings). German churches at the beginning of the 20th century were shockingly colourful: ceilings, walls, pillars were painted in wild colours, complex geometric patterns maeandered along the walls - very Wilhelmine!
I think the decision for white walls here was made after WWII, before that the interiour certainly was much more colourful.

Another aspect that would be interesting to consider is the overall statement that the architecture wants to make. Comparing the rather dark San Marcello al Corso with San Carlo tells a lot about the era these churches were built: the latter one is a product of the post-reformatory era and drastically shows the change from a universal and medieval church to a pre-modern and political one.

The older small greek orthodox churches you mentioned resemble San Marcello much more than other brighter churches due to their rich decoration and different architecture. This Bavarian church was a former cloister chapel (and had to host a lot of monks), then changed to a representative chapel for the king of Bavaria (that means that its audience was always sort of privileged). Bavarian churches for the ordinary people on the other hand have a different, more rural style. The richer the community, the more decoration was used. The more powerful the builder, the nobler was the décor.

With protestant churches, this is completely different :-)

@the lightwriter: You certainly know how blue and white that Bavarian sky / heaven can be! :-)

@Brites: A very bright church, indeed :)