Religion has always occupied a huge place in human life. Strongly influencing society, even in its earliest forms, it represented a whole system of values and views and helped explain various phenomena occurring in the surrounding world.
Ancient belief systems appeared several millennia ago, and at the same time religious rites were performed in special places - places of worship. These are the so-called sanctuaries that were available to various nations, and often they were built in the open. The types of mysterious shrines built according to certain canons and in different eras are radically different from each other. You can see the most diverse designs of sacred places in which people worshiped various deities.
Giant megaliths
Perhaps the most ancient places of worship are megaliths collected from boulders. Shrouded in a veil of secrecy, they still cause fierce debate among scientists. It is impossible to imagine that primitive builders had incredible knowledge in the fields of architecture, astronomy and mathematics, but this is so. Stone blocks weighing up to 15 tons are very closely adjacent to each other, and even a thin blade cannot be squeezed through tiny cracks. The place from which the rock was mined was several kilometers away, and transporting giant blocks was as labor-intensive as building.
Mysterious Dolmens
According to the official version of scientists, dolmens are places of worship that were also used as burial chambers. Appearing in times of megalithic culture, they can be found in the most distant corners of the world. Mysterious buildings, the name of which is translated from the Celtic language as "stone table", arose in the era of early bronze. Several stone monoliths, standing upright, were covered with a transverse slab, and it turned out to be a kind of house where ancient people came to communicate with their gods.
A hole about half a meter in size was made in the front part, and often it was covered with a stone "cork". Near megaliths sacrifices and other magical rituals were performed. Priests plunged into a trance predicted the future and warned of dangers. And the hole in the megalith symbolized the gate to the other world, and after the burial of the leader or a noble man, it was clogged. Mysterious creations seemed to absorb all the knowledge and skills of the one who was buried inside. It was believed that while the dolmen was intact, the tribe was not in danger.
Ziggurat - a new kind of temple
Gradually, megalithic culture is being replaced by another, and old cults are replaced by new ones, and other forms of religious buildings appear. These are completely new buildings dating back to about 4 millennium BC. In ancient Mesopotamia, where the oldest civilization was born, ziggurats were built - the dwelling of the gods, having a pyramidal shape. Brick buildings that resembled the famous Tower of Babel were precisely oriented to 4 cardinal points. You can see the similarities with the Egyptian pyramids, but there were no rooms or burials inside the building.
Ziggurats, built as the habitat of the gods, were artificial hills, gradually tapering upward, and the number of tiers-terraces connected by staircases varied. Thus, people demonstrated their desire to establish ties with the sacred and showed that the human wants to merge with the divine. Temples were built at the very top of religious architectural structures, where offerings to the gods were brought.
The largest temple on the planet
One of the most curious sanctuaries of the world is an architectural complex located in the capital of the ancient Khmer civilization - Angkor. From the gigantic city-state in Cambodia, only a small part of it remained, amazing the skill of the ancient builders. This is a religious building that fell into disrepair after people left the city for unknown reasons. It was opened only in the 60s of the XIX century, and since then it has been the main attraction of the country.
On our planet, the amazing temple of Angkor Wat is the largest. This is not just a religious complex, but a real giant city. The kings ascending the throne completed it in such a way that the giant’s heart constantly moved, and the center of the old sanctuary was on the outskirts of the new one.
Vishnu Habitat
The brilliant masterpiece was never intended for believers: it was built as the dwelling place of the supreme deity, and access to the premises was open only to priests and rulers. Built in the XII century, it surprises with the unusual architecture of a religious building dedicated to the god Vishnu. The original work of architectural art is a three-level pyramid, which is crowned with towers in the form of lotus buds.
All the giant blocks of the eighth wonder of the world are artistically crafted, and plots from Khmer history and ancient Indian epics are carved on them. Surprisingly, powerful monoliths are not fixed by anything, and the stones are so well crafted and tightly fitted to each other that it is impossible to find a junction. The grand sacred structure symbolizes the sacred mountain of Meru, and the deep moat that was dug in front of it is the oceans.
Stupas as a symbol of wisdom
When it comes to religious buildings of Buddhism, one cannot fail to mention the most famous architectural structures that contribute to the preservation of peace on earth. When dead people were cremated in ancient India, their ashes were placed on a grave hill. To maintain its shape during the rainy season, a small mound was paved with stone or erected on a pedestal. Over time, they turned into monuments, built in memory of various historical events. So there were stupas, whose name in Sanskrit translates as "a pile of earth and stones" or "crown".
Then they acquired a canonical form: the massive structure is crowned with a hemisphere in the form of symbolic umbrella disks strung on a spire. The model of the Universe, in the center of which is the Buddha, is oriented to the cardinal points. The stepped terraces around the building seem to invite believers to climb to the divine peak - nirvana. This is a religious building that helps to discover the bright side. Since the stupa symbolizes the mind of the founder of world religion, all offerings are made to the enlightened one's own nature. It is believed that one who presents gifts accumulates positiveness and approaches the state of ultimate happiness.
