Sacred Architecture

Sacred Architecture

The Sacred Architecture of the Cathedral, the Mosque, and the Hindu Temple

Sacred architecture is a religious architecture practice that focuses on constructing and designing places of worship or places intended for sacred gatherings, such as temples, synagogues, stupas, mosques, and churches. Several cultures put significant amounts of resources into their sacred place of worship’s architecture. These places evolved over the years and have been among the largest buildings globally before modern skyscrapers came to be. The different styles have remained unique to the religious groups. Sacred iconography, geometry, and the utilization of sophisticated semiotics such as religious motifs, symbols, and signs are endemic to this kind of architecture (Mann and Mann). This paper will compare and contrast the sacred cathedral, the mosque, and the Hindu temple, as well as how religious doctrine and ritual inform the ways in which sacred spaces were designed for a particular religious context.

Islamic Religious Architecture

Byzantine architecture, with its characteristic domes, vaults, and horseshoe arches, influenced early Islamic architecture significantly. Different mosques have evolved in diverse regions. Some of the notable mosques are the central dome, t-type, and Abbasid mosques.

Interior of the Mezquita

Interior of the Mezquita, a hypostyle mosque-cathedral with columns arranged in a grid pattern, in Córdoba, Spain

The earliest Islamic architecture types resulted in hypostyle or Arab-style mosques in the Umayyad dynasty. The typical mosque is a covered prayer hall within an enclosed rectangular plan. Most of the early versions had a flat roof for the prayer hall that needed several supports and columns. An example of such a mosque is the 850 columns-supported Mezquita mosques in Spain (Mann and Mann).

Additionally, the Ottomans introduced a central dome to the mosques in the 15^th century, with a large dome positioned at the prayer hall’s center. Additionally, other smaller domes are off-center and above the prayer hall or, in some cases, through the entire mosque, even in areas where no prayers occur. A good example is a mosque in Jerusalem called the Dome of the Rock. The iwans and domed chambers identify the Iranian mosques. Iwans are vaulted spaces that open out to a single end, with one or more facing the central courtyard, which acts as the prayer hall. The style is a representation of borrowed Iranian pre-Islamic architecture used mostly for the exclusivity of Iranian mosques (Morgan).

The common feature in mosques is the tall, slender tower known as the minaret that is placed at the mosque structure corner. This is often the highest point of a mosque though some mosques do not have them as they are viewed as being unnecessary and ostentatious. The minarets are used in the same way as bells in a church, calling the faithful to prayer (Mann and Mann).

Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is a notable Islamic dome.

The domes have been characteristic of mosques since the 7^th century and have continued to grow in size from occupying just a small part of the roof to becoming the entire prayer hall roof. Though most domes were hemispherical, the onion-shaped domes became popular in Persia and South Asia. The prayer hall contains no pews, chairs, or furniture. There are no images of animals, people, or spiritual figures in the prayer hall through Quran verses, and Arabic calligraphy can be adorned on the walls (Gruber). The qibla wall is often on the prayer hall’s opposite side of the entrance and is the area that is visually emphasized. The qibla wall location is such that it is perpendicular to the line that leads to Mecca. Worshippers are positioned facing the qibla and are arranged in rows; hence, they face Mecca. The mihrab is usually at the center of the qibla wall. The mihrab is the depression or niche that indicates the qibla wall. Most times, there is no furniture n the mihrab. Often, a minbar is placed on the mihrab’s side for the speaker or the khatib to offer a sermon. The mihrab is also the area where the Imam delivers the five daily sermons. Additionally, a mosque must have an ablution fountain and other facilities in the court ways and entryways that allow faithfuls to cleanse themselves. Some modern mosques have other additional amenities such as healthcare centers, gymnasiums, libraries, and clinics (Gruber).

Christian Religious Architecture

Monastic churches, collegiate churches, and cathedrals, similar to priories and abbeys, often have a complex structural form which is lacking in parish churches. These also tend to have a higher level of contemporary-style architecture and are the works of notable craftsmen. They also occupy the status of both social and ecclesiastical than any parish would have. Such churches are often the finest buildings in their locality and are a source of pride in the neighborhood. The majority are among the most renowned architectural works and include the Sagrada Família, Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Mark’s Basilica, the Basilica of San Vitale, Santa Maria Maggiore, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, Lincoln Cathedral, Prague Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Cologne Cathedral, Notre-Dame de Paris, and the now turned mosque-Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Mann and Mann).

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral from the East 1220–1380.

The large churches of the early times go as far back as Late Antiquity. As the construction of churches and Christianity spread globally, the way they were built depended on local techniques and materials. Different architectural types developed even as their fashion spread. These were carried by the monastic orders’ establishment when bishops were posted from one region to another and when master stonemasons, who doubled up as architects, traveled from one place to another. The styles that were predominant in the European church buildings were the Modern, Neoclassical, Rococo, Baroque, Renaissance, Gothic, Romanesque, Byzantine, and Revival styles of the late 18^th-20^th century. The regional characteristics are the foundations of the academic styles used in the architecture, with some characteristics being very typical of a specific region or country where they appear in the church architecture designed by several centuries apart (Mann and Mann).

Hindu Religious Architecture

Indian architecture has seen some changes over the centuries, from cave shrines cut out from rock to ornate and massive temples. These temples are spread across the sub-continent of India and even farther and hence form a canonical style held in high esteem by modern-day Hindu temples worldwide. The essential style elements are harmonious and precise in geometry when viewed from above and from all four sides as well as in the grid ground plans and square forms, soaring towers, and the elaborate sculptures that are decorated and include geometric patterns, floral patterns, animals, erotic scenes, worshippers, and of course the gods (Freedburg, 1989). The first Hindu temples were inspired by Buddhist structures known as supta and were made from caves cut out from rocks. These caves repeated the gavaska window forms and the relief panels. After these came the Gupta architecture in the 4^th-5th century CE. These were the first free-standing Hindu temples constructed with features such as projecting niches and towers. Terracotta and wood were the first materials to be used, but there was a gradual move to stone and brick by architects and, more specifically, marble, schist, granite, and sandstone. The older temples did not have any granite used in their construction; hence stone cutting and dressing needed to be very precise. Some of the world-renowned cave temples include the Udaigiri in Malwa, while the free-standing examples can be found in Deogarh, such as the Dasavatara temple of the 6^th century CE and which is dedicated to Vishnu (Mann and Mann).

The Hindu temple layouts followed the eight cardinal directions, with each of these represented by a god. The god may be in the form of a sculpture on the exterior of a temple. Temples are built on a platform that is elaborately carved. In ancient Hindu texts, the temple is often referred to as the sacred mountain Kailasa or Meru, which is Shiva’s dwelling place in the Himalayas. When viewed from afar and more so from above, most Hindu temples have multiple towers that appear as a mass of mountains. The layered mountain examples are the Rajarani temple at Bhubaneswar and the Kandariya Mahadeva temple at Khajuraho, built in the 11^th and 12^th centuries CE, respectively. The garbhagriha is the most significant part of the Hindu temple and is translated as the ‘womb chamber,’ a shrine with no windows, and is located at the temple‘s center. Inside the heart of the temple was placed the representation or symbol of a specific god, such as linga for Shiva. Worshippers acknowledge that energy flows from the garbhagriha and into all directions, and this is reflected in the architecture of the temple parts. For example, three sides of the temple have blind doors, symbolically allowing the god‘s deity energy to leave the garbhagriha. The portals also act as secondary niche shrines for the gods as well (Mann and Mann).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that different things inspired the architecture of the cathedrals, mosques, and temples, but what remains common is that they were made to be as elegant as possible. The elegance is an acknowledgment of the prayer places’ sanctity, one that is apart from the common buildings. Each has a specific area of worship, while other areas within the buildings are used for other purposes. While mosques do not have furniture, temples, and churches have furniture for various uses, including for the worshippers to sit on, such as pews. The skills of the architects also determined the final creations, and so too the religious beliefs; hence, cathedrals are braced with crosses and mosques with minarets, while temples have sculptures of gods.

Works Cited

Freedberg, David. The power of images: Studies in the history and theory of response. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Gruber, Christiane. “Prophetic products: Muhammad in contemporary Iranian visual culture.” Material Religion 12.3 (2016): 259-293.

Mann, A. Tad, and A. T. Mann. Sacred architecture. Shaftesbury, UK: Element, 1993.

Morgan, David. “Defining the sacred in fine art and devotional imagery” Religion 47.4 (2017): 641-662.

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FINAL ESSAY

In approximately 1500 words, answer any ONE of the following:

Sacred Architecture

• Utilizing the readings for this course ALONE (do NOT use any other non-academic web-based sources), write an essay comparing and contrasting attitudes to the icon (iconophilia, iconophobia, iconoclasm, and aniconism) across Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian traditions. You may, if you wish, use one additional peer-reviewed journal article or a book.
• Utilizing the readings for this course ALONE (do NOT use any other non-academic web-based sources), write an essay comparing and contrasting attitudes towards sacred chant within Islamic, Hindu, and Christian contexts. You may, if you wish, use one additional peer-reviewed journal article or a book.
• Utilizing the readings for this course ALONE (do NOT use any other non-academic web-based sources), write an essay comparing and contrasting the sacred architecture of the cathedral, the mosque, and the Hindu temple. How do religious doctrine and ritual inform the ways in which sacred spaces were designed for a particular religious context? You may, if you wish, use one additional peer-reviewed journal article or a book.

Grading Criteria

The final essay constitutes 23% of your final grade. In order to write an excellent essay, it is crucial that you provide a close reading of the articles that we have covered in our course alone. Do NOT refer to any other non-academic web-based materials; your grade will suffer greatly if you do so. You may, if you wish, use one additional peer-reviewed journal article or a book.

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