Abstract
A reflection on religious monuments and their implements in their connection to their faith and use of prayer. This reflection uses Christian, Islamic, and Jewish religions as examples of study in the Medieval era.

Welding Sacer and Profanus

Religion is sacred, the cradle of the sacer, the faith that we intertwine within our reality, our profanus. It’s within our churches, our cathedrals, our temples, our synagogues, or our mosques that we connect the sacer and the profanus, the home of our prayers. Among the diversity of religions and beliefs there brings a multitude of holy sectors, each with their own composition of devoted art and architecture, their own contrivance to communicate and praise the godly. The construction of these sectors are genuine, their tiles and grooves not just contributing to an aesthetic but pious, they are symbolic of their faith.
Synagogue is a word derivative of the Hebrew meaning for a house of gathering, it’s a shelter for gathered prayer and discussion (Soltes, 10, 5:25). Judaism practices the five books of Moses, the Torah, the Jewish Bible (Soltes, 10, 1:35). They pray facing Jerusalem, synagogue structure oriented to this, for they consider it the ultimate connection between profanus and sacer (Soltes, 10, 6:50). In particular synagogues, such as the Synagogue of Capernaum (4th century B.C.) we can see three doorways. These three entrances can refer to previous liturgical divisions, or are in remembrance of the three courtyards of the destroyed temple of Jerusalem (Soltes, 10, 4:25). Within the Judaism religion, god is non-figurative, yet this can be a false notion due to displayed artistry in distinct synagogues. In the Dura-Europus Synagogue for example, a preserved Roman garrison between the Roman and Sasanian imperia, we find a decorated Torah niche. In a division of these designs serves a seven-branched candelabrum, the Menorah, a continuous emblem in Jewish art. The number seven symbolizes completion and perfection, as well as represents the commandment to keep the seventh day holy as told in the Torah (Soltes, 10, 7:20). We also see a continuous narrative, a sequential storyline upon the wall painting, Life of Moses (239 A.D.). Two images of Moses are displayed, one turning his rod towards the red sea and the other leading through the Israelites (Soltes, 10, 16:55).
Attending to Medieval Christian churches, we can consider the Hagia Sophia (532-37 A.D.), the church of holy wisdom. Encased upon a squared structure sits a colossal dome inspired by the Pantheon, but instead of the Pantheon’s oculus, the entire lower brim of the dome is lined with windows, an endless series of eyes to the soul (Soltes, 11, 4:40). The interior has an assemblage of numerous arches, some of the pillars containing carved evergreen into the stucco, a symbol of immortality. Above the vegetal blocks are mosaics of an eight pointed star, eight being a symbol of rebirth, the mixed media being in symbolic tandem (Soltes, 11, 6:00). These columns surround the inner structure of the Hagia Sophia’s basilica, a main nave leading to an apse that faces Jerusalem (Soltes, 11, 8:05). Branching to other basilica art, we can see an embellished apse from San Giovanni (13th century A.D.) where we see a depiction of a cross, but not one of crucifixion, but a indication of the tree of life (Soltes, 11, 13:05). A similar depiction can be found on The Four Evangelists (725-50 A.D.), flanked by other vegetal icons and creatures. The border creatures representing the evangelists themselves: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (Soltes, 11, 17:05). A customarily symbolic creature used was the peacock, another sign of immortality, because of the myth that a peacock’s flesh doesn’t rot. This is displayed on the Sarcophagus of Saint Theodore (6th century A.D.), where two peacocks are placed on either side of an emblem containing the symbols chi and rho, the first two letters of Christ, in a circle signifying completion (Soltes, 11, 21:20).
Near the end of the 11th century, we see the style of Romanesque architecture transfigure into what is known as the Gothic era, introduced by Abbot Suger during his rebuilding of the Abbey of St. Denis. Looking at the basilica of St. Sernin de Toulouse (1080-1120), named after the bishop who was apprehended by the former Pagan priest when Christianity was illegal, we can see the basilica is itself in shape of the cross. There are also five aisles, to suggest the five wounds of Christ, five entryways (Soltes, 12, 3:25). The most notable difference between a Romanesque church and a Gothic one can be seen in the arches. Gothic arches, ogives they’re named, are pointed instead of rounded, giving a new criss-cross pattern, as exampled in the Chartres Cathedral (12th century) (Soltes, 12, 10:40). New patterns can also be found in the buttressing, where instead of holding the framework directly through the walls, the Gothic structure works from the roof and down as if flying away, coining the term the flying buttresses (Soltes, 12, 11:15). This sort of buttressing is competent for Gothic windows which are enormous and plentiful, stained glass Bible depictions with dark framing in a kaleidoscope of colors, creating a brighter interior than the Romanesque (Soltes, 12, 11:45).
Muslim means submitter, to submit to Allah, to submit to God. Its faith is based off five principles: There is no God but God and Muhammad is the final prophet, Prayer in which is usually done five times a day, to fast during the days in the month of Ramadan, to give charity to those with less, and to make a pilgrimage in the course of one’s life. These principles are encompassed in the Qur’an and the Hadith, the primary texts of Islam (Soltes, 13, 2:05). In 1453, the Hagia Sophia became a mosque due to the Ottoman Turks, and with this transition, four minarets were built surrounding it (Soltes, 13, 5:35). These reflect four circular tablets that were then stationed inside, labeled with the names of the four original caliphs of Islam, also symbolizing the four directions that define human reality (Soltes, 13, 8:05). Domes similar to the one of the Hagia Sophia can be found gradually through Muslim history which we can see in the monument Dome of the Rock (687-91) by Abd al-Malik. This monument is marked an important meeting between the sacer and profanus because it’s the departure and return point of Muhammad’s Mi’raj, his single-night journey to Buraq (Soltes, 13, 9:10). This can be seen interpreted in the dome itself, which is elevated and sits upon an octagon structure, the meeting of circle and square. Embroidered around the octagon is calligraphy of the Qur’an, calligraphy being a regularly used decoration, intermittently found on mihrabs (Soltes, 13, 11:25). A mihrab is a Muslim niche that sits on a qibla wall, the wall that faces Mecca, a descendant to the Torah niche (Soltes, 13, 18:35).
Christianity and Muslim religion dominate the essential Medieval times, and Judaism is restricted to practicing in synagogues with stripped down exteriors (Soltes, 14, 4:25). The oldest Medieval synagogue is considerably the Worms Synagogue (12th century), but was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938. The synagogue’s interior was apparent in being averse to emulating any Christian ecclesiastical structure, divergent from having the routine basilica. In the middle of the room was an elevated bimah, meaning the raised place, where Torah scrolls were read. The seating arrangement created a horseshoe around the aron, the holy ark, similar to an apse. This era is known as Ashkenazi (Soltes, 14, 6:50). Sephardic Jews, Jews who were exiled from Spain and Portugal, had constructed a different layout. The aron, still placed at the far wall, was called a hechal. The bimah, renamed teva, was placed at the far end of the room instead of the middle (Soltes, 14, 10:40). These two different styles find synthesis in Venice, where instead of finding influences in their Christian and Islamic counterparts, they influence each other, as seen in the Scola Grande Tedesca (1528)- a German synagogue with a layout similar to the Serphardic. We can also see an added balcony where women would sit, an influence of the current theatre boom, heavily found in synagogue inspiration during this duration. In 1516, Jews in Venice are restricted to live near the iron foundry; the word foundry in Venetian is ghetto. Although isolated from Venice, outer influence still thrives within the synagogues (Soltes, 14, 12:05). Christian influences, however, were desisted. We can see this exampled in the Altneu Synagogue (1260), the old and the new, where in the middle of the ogive-styled arches, a fifth rib was built to avoid a cruciform image (Soltes, 14, 15:55). We can also see an early use of the symbol of the six pointed star, a play on geometric shapes symbolizing male and female from ancient pagan traditions to what would be later known as the star of David (Soltes, 14, 18:00). Symbols and other embroidery were used religiously on parokhets, a curtain in front of the aron that keeps the Torah scrolls. Torah scrolls however were clean of embellishments, kept pure, like God (Soltes, 14, 19:25).
Although we live in the profanus world, we can use art and religion as instruments to acquaint and discover the nature of the sacer, the nature of the holy divine. Through vaulted ceilings that reach for the heavens, to symbols and patterns embodying stories of faith, we find messengers, carriers of devotion. They are junctures, and not for just the praying mass, but for the spiritual entities, whether figurative or non-figurative.