Religion in Architecture

Xenia Curdova

ARCH 170

3 December, 2015

GSI: Razieh Ghorbani Kharaji

The Home and Religion

Since the dawn of the time, architecture and religion have been in close correlation with each other. Even though shrines are important attributes of sanctuary architecture, the “home shrines” played an essential role in the everyday life of many cultures, in particular Eastern civilizations. The Eastern cultures designated an important part of the home as a sacred sanctuary and designed their houses around their religious beliefs. Therefore, the juxtaposition of the dwelling space and religion has always been compatible in terms of spatial relationship and symbolism of space. In this paper, I argue that the concept of the house and shrine were inseparable terms for Japanese, Indian and Eastern European cultures. In order to comprehend the importance and integration of religion in the Eastern civilizations, one must understand the overlap of the home and religion in these civilizations. Most importantly one should discern what this overlap tells us about these two institutions and the larger.

A  Sense of Sacred Space

Culture is often analyzed via space; it provides people with the place to function; it represents the historical movement and symbolism of space. One could argue that sanctuary space is a sacred place which has to have a specific designated location (Bergmann 30). However, the sanctuary space is a broad concept that could be explained through different perspectives (Rowe 244-260).  Kevin Seasoltz, professor of theology and former rector of St. John's Seminary in Collegeville, in his book “A Sense of the Sacred” argues that in the Eastern civilizations, sanctuary space was not necessarily the isolated spot, divorced from the community and social aspects of the human life, rather it is a space that is tightly connected to normal, daily life (Seasoltz 13). This act of creating a sacred space helped Eastern civilizations have a deeper connection with deities and gods, making religion accessible to everyone. In this case, the sacred space may be transformed into an object, a piece of the interior space or even a symbolic representation.

Catal Hayuk and Representation of Religious Objects

Although Catal Hayuk (Figure 1) was thefirst Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC, the society within this city had a sophisticated perspective with regard to the division and order of space. Archeologists argue that the evidence of the religious beliefs is discernible in the findings of Catal Hayuk (Mellaart 140). We do not know what the people of Catal Huyuk believed, but religion was obviously important to them. Religion in Catal Hayuk was an essential part of the daily life of each person. Archeologists uncovered, from 300 excavated rooms, 88 ritually painted walls and assembled figurines of Gods (Mellaart, Arlette, and James Mellaart 207-210). Peoples belonging to this civilization made figurines of clay and stone, which represented Gods and Godesses. People of Catal Hayuk mounted bulls’ skulls on the walls of sacred spaces and covered them in plaster to resemble living heads. Archaeologists theorize that these heads provided a hierarchy and division of the space. This is evident through  the clear systematic concept of division between sacred space and daily routine space within space (Mellaart, Arlette, and James Mellaart 302).[pic 1][pic 2][pic 3]