Religious art and architecture: any and all faiths

From a very old Japanese Buddhist temple: might be 600s or 700s AD (??)

Still hanging in there...

The Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha

Monestary in Bhutan

The Nasir al Mulk Mosque, in Shiraz, Iran.

a reply to: Never Despise

Starred and flagged!

Looking forward to checking this thread later, I'll try post some pics myself. Religion has inspired some of the greatest architectural wonders and works of art.

I love threads like this

Calligraphy: A golden "Daimoku"
(Believers say chanting this expression brings enlightenment.)

I have developed my own art style based mostly on the concept of ''Indra' Pearls'' or ''Indra's Web.

Here is one

Many religious monastery's around the world were built as places of refuge such as the famous hanging monastery's of Greece and Turkey.
Other's served as places of isolation and meditation away from the world and it's many distractions and in Christianity were often created as a means to escape the materialistic world around them in a religion were monk's often tried to replicate the rejection of this world that was spoken to them in the holy scriptures of the Christian faith.





Religion's are often persecuted and so places of isolation and safety are often a feature of them but when they are not then they may achieve unbelievable height's of grandeur, the great temples of Angkor or the unbelievable stone work of the high gothic period cathedrals of Europe.

Humanity when driven by passion and belief can create some truly beautiful thing's and also do both great and terrible things.

A man once wrote were there is an alter (holy or revered site if not a taboo site) there you will find civilization.

Belief systems are essential to the formation and stability of human society, without them all we hold dear would crumble and those that believe otherwise are believing in an untried thing since in the history of humanity no such thing as a faithless society has ever existed even and despite persecution in Soviet Russia were the communists tried and failed to make there ideology a replacement for religion and there huge pictures of there leaders icon's of this false religion.

Being a Christian by belief myself of course.

The Hidden Buddhist statue of Sensoji Temple, Tokyo. It is installed behind the shut doors on the altar. Since 645 AD, it has been strictly forbidden for anyone (including temple personnel) to view it. The closed container is weighed periodically to ensure the statue is still inside.

a reply to: Never Despise

Kind of like a Buddhist Schrodinger's cat I like it and made me chuckle, I wonder if the statue was long ago stolen and they are weighing bags of pebbles of something, does it matter so long as they do not know it becomes an item of faith a but like a garden with a meditative point were you can always see all but one of the stones and the idea is to train your mind to see what can not be seen and eventually also yourself and the whole world setting yourself on a higher level even than the concept of self, to see what is not see, to know what is not known and to be were you are not.

White Tara statue, late 17th - early 18th century, Mongolia

Cathedral at Albi, France

The domes of Moscow's famous St. Basil's cathedral