Buildings, like ideas, evolve over time as cultural norms grow or fade. Church, temple, and synagogue architecture has evolved from very simple gathering spaces in houses to the complex and grand architecture styles of the Middle Ages and more recently to a style using simpler themes. What is unique about these buildings is they are all built to honor their unique religious traditions.
The photographs in this portfolio were taken in churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples in America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. They share the common themes of reverence and faith to what I think ultimately is the same core value. While most buildings are for living and working, these are unique because they are designed for people to worship in their faith traditions. These building often bear witness to life’s more mundane achievements but also to our greatest events like weddings, funerals, baptisms, or bar mitzvah’s. When I was traveling with my family on the island of Santorini, Greece our guide stood on the worn steps of the local church we were visiting and took the hand of my son and placed it in the worn grooves of the steps leading up to the entrance. He asked him to feel all of the stories, all of the hope, all of the grief, and all of the joy of the people who had walked these steps for the past 500 years. He called it “an almost perfect place”. I didn’t think to ask why it was “almost” perfect but perhaps he believed that the structure itself contributed to the emotional attachment that people had for their religious beliefs.
