Religious Buildings And Structures

"In E-ana the linen-clad priests prepare an altar for him. Water is placed there for the lord; they address him. Bread is placed there; they address him."

"My brother, I want to tell you something -- pay attention to my speech. [...] Utu, my twin, I want to tell you something -- pay attention to my speech. [...] My spouse, has made love to me, has kissed me. I wanted [the E-ana] for him. [...] But majestic An would not give him E-ana. The heavens are ours, the earth is ours: E-ana should be captured from An."

"She had captured E-ana from [[Anu|]An]! She secured it. [...] Now Inana speaks of the E-ana as the house that is the place of the lady. The goddess who has attained her triumphant position, Inana who has attained her triumphant position, declares in the good place: "I have captured E-ana from An." Because you are unmatched among the Great Princes, maiden Inana, praising you is magnificent!"

"Through the reed thickets and the tall-growing reeds. She gazed in admiration at E-ana which had come forth from heaven."

"He carved on a stone stela all of his toils, and built the wall of Uruk-Haven, the wall of the sacred Eanna Temple, the holy sanctuary."

"Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form, the lord who never changes the destinies which he determines – Enlil – who will make the human seed of the Land come forth from the earth – and not only did he hasten to separate heaven from earth, and hasten to separate earth from heaven, but, in order to make it possible for humans to grow in "where flesh came forth" [the name of a cosmic location], he first raised the axis of the world at Dur-an-ki. He did this with the help of the hoe -- and so daylight broke forth."

"The E-kur, the temple of Enlil, was founded by the hoe. By day it was building it, by night it caused the temple to grow."

"Elam, a raging dog, a destroyer, will not defile E-kic-nu-jal, the sanctuary which covers heaven and earth. [...] Its protective spirits shall not be split apart!"

"We thus become temples of God whenever earthly cares cease to interrupt the continuity of our memory of Him."

"Always let you work on your inner temple, therein lies great beauty."

"Holiness is the architectural plan upon which God buildeth up His living temple."

"Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple?"

"In all that architecture has of the great and eternally beautiful, it is completely a production of the religious spirit. From the ruins of Tentyra to St Peter's in Rome, all the monuments speak; the genius of architecture is really only at ease in temples. It is there that above caprice, fashion, pettiness, licence, and finally all the gnawing cares of talent, it works without discomfort for glory and immortality."

"[B]uilt with gold, and decorated with lapis lazuli. He applied himself to building the temple; king Amar-Suena applied himself to building the temple. The people turned against the king. [...] In the first year the temple remained in ruins, and he did not restore it. [...] In the second year it remained in ruins, and he did not restore it. [...] In the third year it remained in ruins, and he did not restore it. Amar-Suena could not interpret the temple's ominous sign among the birch trees. In the fourth year it remained in ruins, and he did not restore it. Although he had been advised by a sage, he could not realise the plans of the temple. In the fifth year it remained in ruins, and he did not restore it. [...] In the sixth year it remained in ruins, and he did not restore it. He was searching for the divine plan of the temple, but could not find it. In the seventh year it remained in ruins, and he did not restore it. Enki spoke to him about the temple, the temple that did not exist. In the eighth year, he applied himself to building the temple. By the ninth year, king Amar-Suena built the E-uduna of the wise lord. [...] Then the lord, the great lord Enki, destroyed the site of his own temple."

"The echoes of our glory and our losses, of our victories and our disasters, have always resounded under those vaults. We have always tolled the bells for our dead, sounded the tocsin of our anger and the carillon of our joys with the bourdon of its towers. Atheists and believers may share there the same memories, for they are France’s memories."

"The church of Notre-Dame de Paris is still no doubt, a majestic and sublime edifice. But, beautiful as it has been preserved in growing old, it is difficult not to sigh, not to wax indignant, before the numberless degradations and mutilations which time and men have both caused the venerable monument to suffer, without respect for Charlemagne, who laid its first stone, or for Philip Augustus, who laid the last. On the face of this aged queen of our cathedrals, by the side of a wrinkle, one always finds a scar. Tempus edax, homo edacior; which I should be glad to translate thus: time is blind, man is stupid."

"'Europe' in anything other than the geographical sense is a wholly artificial construct. It makes no sense at all to lump together Beethoven and Debussy, Voltaire and Burke, Vermeer and Picasso, Notre Dame and St Paul's, boiled beef and bouillabaisse, and portray them as elements of a 'European' musical, philosophical, artistic, architectural or gastronomic reality. If Europe charms us, as it has so often charmed me, it is precisely because of its contrasts and contradictions, not its coherence and continuity."

"Notre-Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicenter of our lives..."

"Let's be proud, because we built this cathedral more than 800 years ago, we've built it and, throughout the centuries, let it grow and improved it. So I solemnly say tonight: we will rebuild it together"

"The idolaters have no right to maintain the mosques of Allah, while bearing witness to disbelief against themselves. These it is whose works are vain; and in the Hell will they abide. Only he can maintain the mosques of Allah who believes in Allah and the Last Day, and keeps up prayer and pays the poor-rate and fears none but Allah. So these it is who may be of the guided ones. Do you hold the giving of drink to the pilgrims and the maintenance of the Sacred Mosque equal to (the service of) one who believes in Allah and the Last Day and strives hard in Allah's way? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. And Allah guides not the iniquitous people. Those who believed and fled (their homes), and strove hard in Allah's way with their wealth and their lives, are much higher in rank with Allah. And it is these that shall triumph."

"The (Taipei) city (government) should use its budget to build a bigger mosque, preferably close to an MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station."

"A simple unpartitioned room,— Surmounted by an ample dome, Or, in some lands that favoured lie, With centre open to the sky, But roofed with archéd cloisters round, That mark the consecrated bound, And shade the niche to Mekkeh turned, By which two massive lights are burned; With pulpit whence the sacred word Expounded on great days is heard; With fountain fresh, where, ere they pray, Men wash the soil of earth away; With shining minaret, thin and high, From whose fine-trellised balcony Announcement of the hours of prayer Is uttered to the silent air; Such is the Mosque,—the holy place, Where faithful men of every race, Meet at their ease, and face to face."

""The whole earth has been made a mosque and pure for me." - (Bukhari, www.alislam.org)"

"He who builds a mosque in the way of Allah, God will build a house for him in the paradise."

"Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

"They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land."

"There are occasions when non-Jews visit a synagogue. They may be invited to the service by Jewish friends celebrating a Bar-Mitzvah or some other special event in their lives. They may be part of a church group studying Judaism, who wish to experience a synagogue service. Or they may simply be individuals who are curious about Judaism and wish to learn more about it. Whatever the reason for the visit, a non-Jew is always welcome to attend a synagogue service. He may come only to observe the service or to join in the prayers if he so wishes."

"CHRISTUS, reading in the Synagogue. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach good tidings Unto the poor; to heal the broken-hearted; To comfort those that mourn, and to throw open The prison doors of captives, and proclaim The Year Acceptable of the Lord, our God!"

"One day, a leopard stalked into the synagogue, roaring and lashing its tail. Three weeks later, it had become part of the liturgy."

"I love going to synagogue on Friday night and being swept in the melodies. Everyone seems more friendly and unburdened by the week and ready to be taken elsewhere."

"One of the profoundest religious changes effected by the synagogue almost immediately upon its establishment twenty-five centuries ago was to bring communion with God directly and easily to the the individual worshiper."

"Nathless the sacred shrine is holy yet, With its lone floors where reverent feet once trod. Take off your shoes as by the burning bush, Before the mystery of death and God."

"Once on a time, years ago, I was happy in the little old synagogue; I remember that I felt happy without an end—without a limit! Here, in the little synagogue, years ago, my childish soul swept about with the angels I imagined were flying around the carved wings of the Holy Ark. Here, in the little synagogue, once on a time, with my father and all the other Jews, I prayed earnestly. And it gave me great pleasure, great satisfaction."

"To go to the synagogue with one's father on the Passover eve - is there in the world a greater pleasure than that? What is it worth to be dressed in new clothes from head to foot, and to show off before one's friends? Then the prayers themselves - the first Festival evening prayer and blessing."

"I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan."

"I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the Temple, whither the Jews always resort."