Art and Ritual Life

Key Concepts

When designing a building for sacred purposes, its many features are determined by the requirements of specific rituals and cult usage. Meeting individual or community needs determines the most defining elements of design and plan. If space is needed for large gatherings, it might be accomplished either out-of-doors or within a building. If an outdoor arrangement serves the purpose, it may or may not require a building.

For instance, as we noted with Greek temples, cult rituals were performed in the open area outside the structure that housed the deity. Similarly, Buddhist stupas were set into a complex where devotees could approach the stupa and visit subsidiary shrines or other buildings. Some might house cult statues for deities or include libraries for scriptures, treasuries, dining halls, or other features of use or interest.

Often the grounds of a sacred complex will emphasize natural features of the settings used for contemplation, such as gardens or wooded pathways, fountains, pools, and lakes. These might include careful and meaningful arrangements of statues, iconic imagery, or rocks, trees, and plants. Monastery complexes often provide for all the activities needed to sustain the community, providing for their sacred and social activities in the community and individually while accommodating visitors.

From the earliest times, art and architecture have been used to express human beliefs about life and death and provide for worship, burial, and memorial needs. Basic differences in worship centers are related to ritual purposes, and the forms provide for rites performed by individuals or congregations. The settings and décor express the distinctive doctrine and beliefs of the sect that worships there. Burial sites and centers reflect the customs for treating human remains and the beliefs about what will happen to the individuals after death.

Objects created for worship centers and for individual contemplation and devotion are also designed to refer to specific beliefs and inspire believers in religious practices. The religious architecture and the artworks also emphasize and glorify the central beings and concepts of the belief system, often with elaborate or lavish artistic expression.