Revealing the place addresses the referential role of sacred architecture elements that dot the Portuguese Atlantic coastline in contemporary architectural pedagogy and in the practice of architecture. The long Portuguese coastline, the case study of...
Embedded in the paradigm of the “New Visibility of Religion,” this article addresses the question of the significance of sacred buildings for public spaces. ‘Visibility’ is conceived as religion’s presence in cities thro...
An unknown aspect of Josep Lluís Sert (Barcelona, 1902–1983) is his deep engagement with Christian spirituality, particularly following his American exile. This perspective is beautifully reflected in his religious-themed projects, among...
This paper will begin by exploring the underlying scriptural and theological foundations for a Christian response to the ecological crisis with particular focus on the writings of cultural historian, Father Thomas Berry, CP. It will then describe the...
This paper forwards the claim that our early human ancestors had protosacred experiences long before they had languages, architecture, or religions. A mountain may create feelings of awe while a grove in the forest may create feelings of serenity. In...
In a time when the minimalist emptiness of many contemporary church buildings rightly encounters criticism for its incapacity to create a sacred atmosphere, it is good to plead again for sacred emptiness as a religious symbol in its own right. Becaus...
This paper seeks to create a comparative framework for evaluating transformative experiences for different types of ritual contexts found in sacred architecture by bridging the gap between the phenomenology of human experience and architecture’...
The present work will try to delve into some emotional aspects expressed by the community of believers about a section of the Mosque of Córdoba: the maqsūra of al-Ḥakam II. It is important to observe this maqsūra from the point...
This article approaches the religious phenomenon from a perspective that combines the anthropology of the sacred and the science of religions and from which religion can be interpreted as an “architecture of value”, that is, as a techniqu...
Adaptive reuse is a widely employed strategy for heritage conservation and management, especially within the context of heritage tourism. However, its application to religious architecture presents unique challenges that have not been thoroughly expl...
After the Industrial Revolution, new technologies and architectural forms gradually replaced China’s wooden construction system, which had lasted for thousands of years. The architectural narrative also turned a new page. As pieces of architect...
Digital technology became a substantial component of daily life activities where people grew less dependent on the constraints of the physical world. Recent developments of new media platforms have led to important changes in religious practices, res...
By examining the relationship between sacred space and spiritual experience through practice-as-research, a methodology for reclaiming the wisdom embodied by transformative examples of classic Islamic sacred architecture in the design of a contempora...
The reflection on sacred places continues to assume significant relevance today in urban space production. The public value of sacred buildings has consolidated over time an aggregating sense of community, representing spaces for meeting and sharing....
Affinity with the Holy Land, and especially with Jerusalem, is a common theme in the sacred geography of Abrahamic religions, expressed in prayer houses and holy sites. This theme was especially prominent in Solomonic Ethiopia, both among Ethiopian O...
Lindsay Jones developed the concept of “ritual-architectural event”, according to which the meaning of a sacred building depends upon the participant’s experience of it in the course of the rituals they perform. Starting from such a...
There are accounts of increasing anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues among students and staff at many universities, including the University of Ottawa—accounts borne out by official numbers of referrals to mental health practiti...
This paper examines a 12th-century Virupaksha temple through the reconstruction and exploration of space, movement, devotee corporeal experiences, and the use of natural landscape microtopographic features in monument design. The Mula Virupaksha Temp...
This article examines the entangled relationship between hagiographic memory, liturgical space, and sacred landscape in the rock-cut monastic settlements of Cappadocia. Drawing on archeological, iconographic, and acoustic analyses, this article argue...
The institution of the black church in America is centered around two things: the people and their events. Very little scholarship has been documented about the physical buildings that became homes for the people and host to their events. These early...
In my article, I propose a reflection about the Catholic church of Saint Maximilian Kolbe in Varese, Italy, designed by the architect Justus Dahinden at the end of the millennium. Despite the fact that this original sacred space has been imagined by...
Interreligious engagement (IE) has been experienced and theorized mainly as the pursuit of a shared respectful awareness of the beliefs, practices, and social experiences of multiple religious communities. In rare instances, it has been possible to c...
Dolpo is a culturally Tibetan region in the inaccessible parts of the Himalayas, where Buddhist and Bon traditions coexist to this day. Due to their religious significance, the temples and monasteries of Dolpo reflect the historical connection to the...
A large number of stone blocks, stacked up in diminishing size to form pagodas, was discovered in northern China, primarily eastern Gansu and southeastern Shanxi. Their stylistic traits and inscriptions indicate the popularity of the practice of maki...
Religious transformations in modern societies are not merely a discursive or demographic phenomenon, they also relate to religious architecture in urban space and affect the built environment at its core. Many churches, for instance, are in the proce...
There is a growing literature on the healing effects of buildings designed for healthcare, but publications that insist on this spiritual and healing dimension in church architecture are rare. Contemporary ecclesial buildings are often rightly critic...
On the occasion of mass religious events, liturgical ceremonies leave the temple and occupy public space. That is the case of the visits of the Pope or World Youth Days. How does architecture approach the ephemeral construction of this space? What ar...
This study was conducted to quantitatively assess the architectural data stemming from 70 buildings usually considered as bent-axis temples, a type of Mesopotamian temple mainly constructed from 2900 to 2300–2200 BC. The study reviews, region-by-regi...
During the last five decades, the entire Christian religious landscape of the Sea of Galilee has undergone a gradual and steady reshaping, with devotional centers renovated, rebuilt, and even re-invented. Together they frame the area around the Sea o...
In light of climate changes, technological development and the use of renewable energy sources are considered very important nowadays, both in newly designed structures and reconstructed historic buildings, resulting in the reduction in the commercia...
The Parokhet, or sacred curtain, was an important item of cultic paraphernalia in the ancient Near East. It is known from the Sumerian and Akkadian texts, the biblical tradition, the Second Temple in Jerusalem, Greek temples, and synagogues of the Ro...
This article presents the tourism potential of the Polish–Czech borderlands (Klodzko Land, Lower Silesia, Poland), in which historical sacred sites, namely cemeteries and churches, play a significant role. An analysis of the most important feat...
This study explores spiritual resilience as a mechanism for sustaining cultural landscapes, focusing on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Studenica Monastery (Serbia). By analysing the monastery’s sacred network, which includes monasteries,...
This study conducts a comparative analysis of Buddhist sacred structures throughout Asia, focusing on the historical development, regional disparities, and the cultural sinification process of stūpas, caityas, and pagodas. Specifically, it delve...
This paper deals with the landscape design strategy that was followed in the proposal that was submitted to the International Architecture Competition of the New Archaeological Museum of Cyprus. The aim of this document is to analyze how landscape an...
The maqṣūrah commissioned by Caliph al-Hakam II in the 10th-century Mosque of Córdoba epitomizes the blend of sacred grandeur and political symbolism in Islamic architecture. This structure enhances aesthetic experiences, allowing w...
This article explores the Buddhist ritual and architectural conventions that were incorporated into the Chinese funeral architecture during the medieval period from the 3rd to the 13th centuries. A careful observation of some key types of sacred arch...
The Cyclades islands in the South Aegean initially attracted the attention of prehistorians approaching islands as ‘laboratories’ for the study of cultural development, examining the notions of ‘isolation’ and ‘connectiv...
The Door of the Apostles at the Cathedral of Valencia stands as a treasure of sacred Gothic architecture and sculpture. A modification to its original structure in 1599 removed the mullion and the stone image of the Virgin that is to be found today i...
This article traces the historical evolution of mural painting as a medium of cultural expression from prehistoric cave art to contemporary street interventions. Adopting a diachronic and interdisciplinary approach, it investigates how muralism has d...
This article analyzes the role of parish churches, erected after 1945, in shaping the urban and social structures of the Szczecin housing estates, examining their importance and impact on the surrounding space. This research focused on three groups o...
The accelerating pace of urbanization and population growth has increasingly disrupted the relationship between the built environment and nature, contributing to a decline in individuals’ psychological and spiritual well-being. Religious buildi...
Through an exploration of meal regulations, dining rituals, and monastic rules of Han Buddhist and Cistercian monks, this article discusses how food affects space formation, layout organization, and site selection in monastic venues using Guoqing Si...
Sacred constructions like churches are built both for holy and architectural purposes. They are influenced by the design fashions, city history and the government. When a church, or more generally a religious building, is constructed, it is rarely to...
The early medieval Pampa tirtha (pilgrimage), in the Hampi area, Bellary District, Karnataka, South India, is largely presented in research as a relatively homogenous, albeit sacred space. This paper describes a nuanced understanding of the Pampa tir...
Thailand’s vernacular and religious architecture is rich and unique. Wat Chedi, a temple in the southern part of the country, is visited by thousands of Buddhists and tourists every month. Despite of its national importance, Wat Chedi is not co...
The aim of the article was to compare the landscape and cultural value of cemeteries located around wooden churches on the Polish–Czech border in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Research regarding the history of the villages was undertaken, des...
This study explores the acoustic properties of European Churches, influenced by architectural design, historical context, and spatial configurations. A comparative analysis of 83 Churches from different regions and periods combines literature reviews...
Hagia Sophia and Süleymaniye Mosque, built in the 6th and 16th centuries, respectively, are the two major monuments of the İstanbul World Heritage Site. Within the context of this study, sound fields of these two sacred multi-domed monumental st...
The aesthetic qualities of Byzantine Gospel Lectionaries in Middle Byzantine times, afforded by their material construction, fostered an intermedial relationship with the architectural interiors of the churches and chapels where they were used in sac...
of 2