temple

temple, edifice constructed for religious worship. Most of Christianity calls its places of worship churches; many religions use temple, a word derived in English from the Latin word for time, because of the importance to the Romans of the proper time of sacrifices. The name synagogue, which is from the Greek for a place of assembly, is often interchangeable with Jewish temple. Mosque is roughly an Arabic equivalent for temple. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon, temples are special places of worship and are centres for learning and for sacred ordinances to and for the living and for the dead.

Because of the importance of temples in a society, temple architecture often represents the best of a culture’s design and craftsmanship, and, because of ritual requirements, temple architecture varies widely between one religion and another. The ziggurats of the Mesopotamian culture were elaborately designed and decorated, and their “stair-step” style ascended to a point where a god or gods could dwell and where only special priests were allowed. Ancient Egypt had temples to gods, but because the primary concern of its religion was the afterlife of souls, its pyramidal tombs became its primary shrines and most familiar architectural heritage.

In the ancient Greek religion the various gods were the most important focus, and Classical Greek temple architecture created structures that emphasized that focus. An inner, windowless room, or cella, housed an image of a god, and an altar stood outside the temple, usually at the eastern end and often enclosed. Most Greek temples were built of marble or other stone, richly carved and polychromed, situated on a hill or stepped platform (stylobate) and having sloping roofs supported on a portico by columns in a variety of styles (see order) and placements. The design and decoration of Greek temples had a profound effect on architecture of later eras in the West, beginning with the Roman.

During the 3rd and 2nd centuries bc, Roman temples began to evince Greek influence, using the Greek decorative style but placing the altar within the temple and eventually creating entire forums, or meeting places, of which the temple was the centre. In Roman temple architecture, the columns, in their various styles, soon became engaged rather than freestanding, and circular as well as rectangular temples were built. Byzantine and Western church architecture developed from these bases in the Hellenistic styles, and the names and designs of this style of temple architecture still survive in the West.

In the East and Middle East, too, temple design expresses the nature of the religion. For example, the asceticism and rich symbolism of Jainism is reflected in that religion’s beautifully decorated monastery-like structures in India, both above the ground in simple cloisters and below the ground in caves. Other Indian temple architecture, although it tends to follow the pattern of a simple floor plan with a richly decorated facade, differs according to the ritual. Hindu temples, which vary regionally in style, usually consist of a towering shrine and a columned hall surrounded by an elaborate wall. Buddhist temples range from half-buried sanctuaries with richly carved entrances to single, carved towers or statues. Muslim temples in India, as elsewhere, are usually domed structures decorated with coloured tiles on the outside and covering a large central sanctuary and arcaded courtyards within.

The Chinese (and later, Japanese) version of the Buddhist temple tends to be a one-story building of richly carved, painted, or tiled timber constructed around an atrium used for worship, although pagodas, which were sometimes built as temples, were towering stacks of brightly coloured, wing-roofed stories over a small shrine. By contrast, the Shintō temples of Japan are almost huts, so simple and rustic are their design.

In the Americas, Incan and Mayan temples were constructed of stone and were often highly carved. In general, because of the available technology as well as the religious belief, they were stair-stepped pyramids, with the shrine at the top. Chichén Itzá, the ruins of which remain in the Yucatán Peninsula, has excellent examples of this type of pre-Columbian temple architecture.

Modern temple architecture, especially in North America but elsewhere in the world as well, is for the most part eclectic, with both traditional and modern designs being used to accommodate the needs of the religion for which the temple is designed.