Odd Religious Architecture

[Samantha Rinne]

So I have been out west to visit my brother, and some of the churches and temples that I've visited have had weird symbols in their architecture.

For instance, over the years, I've seen a few churches with the Taoist yin-yang as either a window or as carving in the wood (as one of the Methodist churches on the way back had).

Then I visited the synagogue in Savannah, and it's uhhh very Christian-influenced. Upper windows have an equilateral cross surrounded by other crosses. The pews also have crosses carved at the endposts. And the supports are cruciform. They swear up and down that they're not Christian, and blah blah blah Sephardic Jews previously owned this. But I know some builder trolled them or something.

Seen any temples that seem to have stuff that doesn't go with the official faith?

 

[Harel13]

Quite a few old European synagogues had heavy Christian influence in the architecture. I live in Israel, and in the town I learn in there are two synagogues side by side, exactly the same, that we students nickname "the churches" because that's what they look like on the outside. Apparently the architect who built the two synagogues based them off of his father's synagogue in Europe.

 

[Rival]

Then I visited the synagogue in Savannah, and it's uhhh very Christian-influenced. Upper windows have an equilateral cross surrounded by other crosses. The pews also have crosses carved at the endposts. And the supports are cruciform. They swear up and down that they're not Christian, and blah blah blah Sephardic Jews previously owned this. But I know some builder trolled them or something.

Sounds like some messianic nonsense.

 

[Harel13]

Sounds like some messianic nonsense.

Check this out:
Congregation Mickve Israel - Wikipedia

So apparently they started a gradual shift to Reform right around when they decided to build a new synagogue, but it seems that that architectural style was trending back then.

 

[crossfire]

Sedlec Ossuary - Wikipedia

 

[leov]

So I have been out west to visit my brother, and some of the churches and temples that I've visited have had weird symbols in their architecture.

For instance, over the years, I've seen a few churches with the Taoist yin-yang as either a window or as carving in the wood (as one of the Methodist churches on the way back had).

Then I visited the synagogue in Savannah, and it's uhhh very Christian-influenced. Upper windows have an equilateral cross surrounded by other crosses. The pews also have crosses carved at the endposts. And the supports are cruciform. They swear up and down that they're not Christian, and blah blah blah Sephardic Jews previously owned this. But I know some builder trolled them or something.

Seen any temples that seem to have stuff that doesn't go with the official faith?

Original Christian cross, fwiw: Ankh - Wikipedia

 

[ChristineM]

I adore old architecture including religious building, i think the initially most shocking decoration i have seen is the swastika. However, reading up on it, if is an ancient religious symbol

 

[Harel13]

This is the ark portion of an ancient synagogue in the Golan. Because of the two eagles on either side, archaeologists thought at first that this may have been a church.

 

[exchemist]

I adore old architecture including religious building, i think the initially most shocking decoration i have seen is the swastika. However, reading up on it, if is an ancient religious symbol

View attachment 35404

View attachment 35405

Yes. I've even seen it on temples in Japan. It's everywhere, and only got its bad modern reputation because the Nazis commandeered it. But that was only the anticlockwise version, I think.

More about it here: Swastika - Wikipedia

 

[ChristineM]

Yes. I've even seen it on temples in Japan. It's everywhere, and only got its bad modern reputation because the Nazis commandeered it. But that was only the anticlockwise version, I think.

More about it here: Swastika - Wikipedia

The Nazi version was also used as a religious symbol though many people deny this


Gott mit uns = god with us

 

[Aupmanyav]

.. i think the initially most shocking decoration, I have seen is the swastika.

Forget about Hitler, Christine, He is dead and gone. The anti-clock Swastika is Buddhist and in Hinduism it symbolizes Tantra. Swastika was not Hitler's, he violated it. It belongs to pagans and is revered.

 

[ChristineM]

Forget about Hitler, Christine, He is dead and gone. The anti-clock Swastika is Buddhist and in Hinduism it symbolizes Tantra. Swastika was not Hitler's, he violated it. It belongs to pagans and is revered.

I know he took a religious symbol and used it as religious symbols are used, to cement a fundimental principal.

The swastika is all over religion, Hitler was only a small part

 

[shunyadragon]

So I have been out west to visit my brother, and some of the churches and temples that I've visited have had weird symbols in their architecture.

For instance, over the years, I've seen a few churches with the Taoist yin-yang as either a window or as carving in the wood (as one of the Methodist churches on the way back had).

Then I visited the synagogue in Savannah, and it's uhhh very Christian-influenced. Upper windows have an equilateral cross surrounded by other crosses. The pews also have crosses carved at the endposts. And the supports are cruciform. They swear up and down that they're not Christian, and blah blah blah Sephardic Jews previously owned this. But I know some builder trolled them or something.

Seen any temples that seem to have stuff that doesn't go with the official faith?

A number of Christian Churches in Europe are revamped Pagan temples and still show some pagan symbols.

 

[Wu Wei]

I adore old architecture including religious building, i think the initially most shocking decoration i have seen is the swastika. However, reading up on it, if is an ancient religious symbol

View attachment 35404

View attachment 35405

I too like old architecture including religious. Really like the old Norse Stave Churches

And in Notre-Dame in Monreal

 

[sun rise]

I just finished watching the PBS video Ornament of the World. One part of that documentary was how various aspects of Islamic Spain found their way into, for example, Jewish Temples for example the art and architecture and sometimes including arabic on the walls.

 

[columbus]

Then I visited the synagogue in Savannah, and it's uhhh very Christian-influenced. Upper windows have an equilateral cross surrounded by other crosses. The pews also have crosses carved at the endposts. And the supports are cruciform. They swear up and down that they're not Christian, and blah blah blah Sephardic Jews previously owned this. But I know some builder trolled them or something.

Do you know who actually built the structure?

Maybe the Sephardic Jews bought it from some Christians whose racism flushed the congregation down the toilet?
I fully expect a bunch of buildings to come on the market, for cheap, as backlash against homophobic teachings continues to grow.
And it will, just as problems with Christian teachings about racism did over the last few decades.
Only faster, because internet and such....

Tom

 

[crossfire]

Forget about Hitler, Christine, He is dead and gone. The anti-clock Swastika is Buddhist and in Hinduism it symbolizes Tantra. Swastika was not Hitler's, he violated it. It belongs to pagans and is revered.

Here's a picture from the local Vietnamese Buddhist temple

:

 

[Aupmanyav]

.. as religious symbols are used, to cement a fundimental principal.

Yeah, people do that (I do that too, that is why my avatara), but when a Hindu draws a Swastika in a ritual, this kind of divisive thought is farthest from his \ her mind. I do not see any reason to condemn Swastika for what Hitler did.

 

[j1i]

Building on the people's historical culture
The environment in which a person lives and the tools that exist

Besides engineering, which is appropriate in these conditions due to the lack of some building materials

All contribute to the appearance of a building in a certain way

For example, in middle east, metals rarly and reduced, so they build a house in the shape of a dome to hold together

after that they buildings are modified to conform to the beliefs held by people that period if its was true or false

example put an opening window on front to let the angels enter or certain colors, because it expels evil spirits

Or specific angles because it contributes to energy conservation and other Beliefs that may be ridiculous or illogical by some people and they are just fiction


for me
It doesn't matter what the building looks like
The important thing is what you say and how you pray
Are you saying the right words or praying correctly?

Are you heading to the eligible part?
Or go wrong to other places

 

[ChristineM]

Yeah, people do that (I do that too, that is why my avatara), but when a Hindu draws a Swastika in a ritual, this thought is farthest from his \ her mind. I do not see any reason to condemn Swastika for what Hitler did.

Nor do i, but many religious folk do.