Links to Many of the Most Magnificent Buildings it has been our Privilege to Visit
If you go travelling, before very long somebody will invite you to see their Church/Mosque/Synagogue/Temple. You might see a magnificent building with a long history, and there again, you might not be so lucky, but you will smile warmly and nod wisely just the same. But you will be lucky more often then you could reasonably expect, and even when you are not you will learn something about somebody else's culture, and that is always worthwhile.
Unlike Lynne I am not a
believer, but I am interested in religion and I do like religious buildings. I
like the architecture, I like the history and I like the sense of
community they embody. Building a Temple/Synagogue/Mosque/Church is somebody’s
attempt at the sublime, sometimes for the greater glory of god, sometimes for
the greater glory of themselves.
So I have
collected up the finest/oldest/newest/most interesting/most quirky of the buildings we have seen in a series of post where the words and pictures have equal weight. This page is a roundup of such posts with a brief description and a link to each.
Taking religions in alphabetical order of their usual English names we start with:
Buddhism
Once there was Three Favourite Buddhist Temples,
but we have seen so many more temples since that post that I had more ambitious look during the
first lockdown. I had intended to write an introduction followed by one post for each
major branch of Buddhism, but it did not quite work out that way.
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17/11/2020 |
How Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. What
Buddhists believe and do. Main traditions in Buddhism and their geographic distribution. |
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10/12/2020 |
Buddhism in
China: Suzhou, Dunhuang, the monk Xuanzang, Xian, Beijing, Kunming, Wanfengling,
Xingyi, & Hangzhou. Hong Kong: The 10,000 Buddha Monastery, North Korea, Songbul
Monastery, Sariwon. Vietnam: Hanoi, Hue and My Tho. Origins of the ‘Happy
Buddha’. |
|
|
03/06/2021 |
The Pali Canon. Anaradhapura. Polonnaruwa. Temple of the Tooth, Kandy, Lankatilake, Hindu
Influence, Dowa Temple and Kataragma, Puja.
Gangaramaya, Colombo |
|
|
14/06/2021 |
The Pali Canon and Kuthodaw Paya, Mandalay. Bagan: Shwezigon Pagoda, The Great Nats.
Manadalay: Mahamuni Buddha, Making Gold Leaf. Pindaya: Phaung Daw Oo, Yangon: Chaukhtatgyi Reclinign Buddha and the Shwedagon
Pagoda |
|
|
20/06/2021 |
Laos: Luang Prabang, Pra Bang Buddha. Phonsavon: Muang Khoun. Vientiane. Champasak.
Cambodia: Phnom Penh. Thailand: Phitsanulok, Sukhotai, Ayutthaya and Bangkok. The Emerald Buddha. |
|
|
13/04/2021 |
Jokhang Temple, Drepung and Sera Monasteries in Lhasa. Gandan and Erdene Zu in Mongolia. Ivolginsk Datsun
in the Buryat Republic in Russia. Yonghe Gong, Beijing. Namdroling in the
Tibetan refugee centre in Karnaka, India. |
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| Damekh Stupa, India |
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| Lingyin Monastery, Hangzhou, China |
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| Vinh Trang Pagoda, My Tho, Vietnam |
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| Lankatilake, Near Kandy, Sri Lanka |
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| Shwezigon Pagoda, Bagan, Myanmar |
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| Begging Monks, Luang Prabang |
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| Chanting monks, Drepung Monastery |
One other post is entirely devoted to a Buddhist theme, although it concerns a Buddha image rather than a building.
|
31/03/2013 |
The story starts
in mythology in Patna with the carving of the 50cm tall Emerald Buddha by
Nagasena in 43BCE. The figure was moved to Sri Lanka for safe keeping and
later given to the King of Burma. A shipwreck left it in Cambodia from where
it was carried off to Chang Rai in the Thai Kingdom of Lana at the fall of
the Khmer Empire. Entering written history in the mid-15th century it next
went to Luang Prabang in Laos and on to Vientiane. The Thais sacked Vientiane in 1779 and
carried it off to Bangkok, where it can be seen today. |
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| The Emerald Buddha, Wat Phra Kaew. Bangkok |
Christianity
The first of these posts was ‘Three Favourite Churches’ followed later by ‘Three More Favourite Churches’ - original, or what?. A long time ago they were rolled up into a single post
|
05/05/2012 |
Six churches telling stories of
Colonisation (Northern Highlands, Vietnam), Repression (Irkutsk, Russia), Ancient Tradition (Kerala,
India), Surviving Natural Disaster (Algarve, Portugal) Commercial
Exploitation (Shropshire, English), Continuity of an Ancient Sacred Site
(Gloucestershire, England) |
 |
| The Cathedral of the Epiphany, Irkutsk |
Daoism
Daoism is (temporarily) stuck in my ‘Three Favourites’ stage; I do. not find it an easy religion to understand. Daoist Philosophy can be obscure, but Daoism as practiced often seems to cross over into folk religion. or become and exercise in determining and/or enhancing one's luck. It can also be difficult to tell Buddhist from Taoist Temples, though the colour scheme can be a guide.
|
19/12/2011 |
The temples
featured are all in southern China. They are the huge Won Tai Sin Temple in
Hong Kong, A smaller and more everyday temple in the city of Huizhou in
Guangdong Province, and the older, but well-preserved temple in Qingyan,
Guizhou province\ |
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| Devotees at Wong Tai Sin, Hong Kong |
Islam
During the first lockdown ‘Three Favourite Mosques’ morphed into 3 posts-worth of favourites, collectively called ‘The Variety of
Mosques’. Mosques are allotted to posts on the approximate direction
worshippers turn to face Mecca.
|
22/05/2020 |
Mosques from countries
wholly or partly in Europe: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria,
Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina. |
|
|
25/06/2020 |
An ethnic mixed
bag of countries in Asia: Iran, India, China and Malaysia. |
|
|
25/07/2020 |
Mosques in: Jordan,
Oman, Egypt, Libya, Portugal. |
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| The Blue Mosque, Istanbul |
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| Asifi Mosque, Bara Imambara, Lucknow |
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| Mosque of Nasr El-Din, Dakhla Oasis |
Hinduism
Although we have visited many Hindu temples I have yet to produce any dedicated post. Maybe, in the fullness of time, I will, and there will be a space for it here.
Jainism
I posted ‘Three Favourite Jain Temples’ in 2014, when I only had three to chose from! We have seen many more since but that post,
with a different title and slightly different emphasis, remains the only post
dedicated to Jain Temples.
|
The Gomateshvara Statue at Shravanabelgola and other Jain Temples |
30/09/2014 |
A brief introduction
to Jain Dharma. The Statue of Gomateshvara at Shravanbelgola. Climbing steps
cut in the baking rock to the world’s largest monolithic statue. Times of
India readers voted the statue the Number 1 wonder of India (the Taj Mahal
came 3rd). The Badami Cave Temples and the Temples of Karkala complete my
trio Jain sites in Karnataka |
%2Bthe%2BWhite%2BPond%2C%2BSharavanabelgola.JPG) |
| The White Pond, Shravanabelgola |
Judaism
|
10/02/2012 |
We have come across surprisingly few in our travels, and even fewer that welcomed visitors,
but Three Favourite Synagogues, as this post was originally called, now needs
expanding. In the meantime, here it is. Only two of these three were open to
visitors, and none was still functioning as a synagogue. |
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| In Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter of Krakow |
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