Introduction
Religion produced noteworthy architectures from the beginning of humanity. Religion gives meaning and direction to human life, and in the process unites and empowers human beings to direct their aspirations and resources to build spectacular works of houses of worship and gathering. Religious architecture fi lls a significant part of history of architecture.
Since ages, for the religions of mankind, human beings have evolved a plethora of forms in simple stone buildings to the ones in sophisticated modern materials and technologies. From an architectural point of view, every building built for religion is sacred, meaning it is dedicated to the powers beyond. However, the manifestations are so much varied, as they depend on the regulations sanctioned by different religious teachings combined with the society’s culture and tradition, and the builder’s intentions and aspirations. Added to that are the local environmental factors, the availability of building materials, existing building technology, and the time span of its development.
From what we know today, the oldest religious architecture could be found in Göbekli Tepe, built around 10.000 years ago, when humanity still lived as hunter gatherers. Architecture developed further into megalithic period, became increasingly monumental in the medieval age with colossal royal worship complexes. Up to modern times, we keep on building religious architectures with increasing elaboration.
The International Conference on Religious Architecture is organized with a hope to broaden our understanding and perspective in this often neglected field. The study in religious architecture is more acutely felt in the regions outside of Europe and America, while the demand is clearly pressing today. The Conference should serve as a forum for scholars in the field, hopefully being the first one in a series.
Themes
The following are 4 categories of description of the theme 'religious architecture':
1. RELIGIOUS BUILDING AND HUMAN HABITATION
As an architectural type, a religious building is vastly different from human habitation, be it house or an urban compound. However, some speculation shows that the two share some parallels or similarities. Sometimes religious edifices are expansion or elaboration of human habitations, yet at other times the reverse is also true; simplification of the house of gods to be house of humans. The diversity of this transitions is often complicated and deserves special consideration.
2. DESIGN AND MANIFESTATIONS
Each religion imparts a set of philosophies and values to its community as well as rules for performing its worship. When it is built, many factors come to play, such as the core philosophy and beliefs, availability of building materials, technological capabilities, finance and such. Added to those are builder's aspirations and intentions, not to mention the influence of local aesthetics and culture, so that a final form is always unique, reflecting those factors. This fact is always interesting and useful to research.
3. TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIONS
In architecture, technology plays a crucial role. The development and advancement of technology allows creation of new forms and realization of new ideas. Especially in the past, often the application of the most recent or advanced technology was displayed in religious architecture at hand, with an intent to arouse admiration and fascination among the public. In recent times, the impact of digital technology and sustainability issues also come into consideration.
4. MONUMENTS AND HERITAGE
The history of architecture, especially in the past, has a lot to say about religious architecture, because they were usually built with distinction and for durability. The building, if still intact, is almost always maintained and even attempted to be restored to its original state and then treated with special care as a societal/national built heritage. Studies on documentation, restoration and preservation activities will have a place here.
