A temple (from the Latin word templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the dwelling places of a god or gods. Despite the specific set of meanings associated with the religion of the ancient Rome, the word has now become quite widely used to describe a house of worship for any number of religions and is even used for time periods prior to the Romans.
Hindu temples
These may also be called by other names, including mandir or mandira, ambalam, kavu, koil or kovil, déul, raul, devasthana and devalaya, depending on the region in the Indian subcontinent and its local language.
Hindu temples are large and magnificent with a rich history. Some date as far back as the Bronze Age and later the Indus Valley Civilization. In the present day magnificent Hindu temples have been built in various countries of the world including India, Nepal, Great Britain, the United States, Australia, South Africa and Canada.
Buddhist temples
They include the structures called stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represent the pure land or pure environment of a Buddha. Traditional Buddhist temples are designed to inspire inner and outer peace.
Jain temples
A Jain temple is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Some famous Jain temples are Shikharji, Palitana Jain Temples, Ranakpur Jain Temple, Shravan Belgola, Dilwara Temples and Lal Mandir. Jain temples are built with various architectural designs. Jain temples in North India are completely different from the Jain temples in South India, which in turn are quite different from Jain temples in West India. Additionally, a Manastambha (meaning column of honor) is a pillar that is often constructed in front of Jain temples.
Mesopotamian temples
The temple of Mesopotamia derived from the cult of gods and deities in Mesopotamian religion. It spanned several civilizations; from Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian. The most common temple architecture of Mesopotamia is the structure of sun-baked bricks called Ziggurat, having the form of a terraced step pyramid with flat upper terrace where shrine or temple stood
Egyptian temples
Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for the gods to reside on earth. Indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr, means "mansion (or enclosure) of a god". A god's presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and allowed humans to interact with the god through ritual. These rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, the ideal order of nature and of human society in Egyptian belief. Maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and thus it was the purpose of a temple as well. Ancient Egyptian temples were also of economic significance to Egyptian society. The temples stored and redistributed grain and came to own large portions of the nation's arable land (some estimate as much as 33% by the New Kingdom period). In addition, many of these Egyptian temples utilized the Tripartite Floor Plan in order to draw visitors to the center room.
Greco-Roman temples
Though today we call most Greek religious buildings "temples," the ancient pagans would have referred to a temenos, or sacred precinct. Its sacredness, often connected with a holy grove, was more important than the building itself, as it contained the open air altar on which the sacrifices were made. The building which housed the cult statue in its naos was originally a rather simple structure, but by the middle of the 6th century BCE had become increasingly elaborate. Greek temple architecture had a profound influence on ancient architectural traditions.
The rituals that located and sited the temple were performed by an augur through the observation of the flight of birds or other natural phenomenon. Roman temples usually faced east or toward the rising sun, but the specifics of the orientation are often not known today; there are also notable exceptions, such as the Pantheon which faces north. In ancient Rome only the native deities of Roman mythology had a templum; any equivalent structure for a foreign deity was called a fanum.
Pagan temples
The Romans usually referred to a holy place of a pagan religion as fanum; in some cases this referred to a sacred grove, in others to a temple. Medieval Latin writers also used the word templum. In some cases it is hard to determine whether it was a building or an outdoor shrine. For temple buildings of Germanic paganism, the Old Norse term hof is often used.
Zoroastrian temples
Zoroastrian temples may also be called the darb-e meh and Atashkadeh. A fire temple in Zoroastrianism is the place of worship for Zoroastrians. Zoroastrians revere fire in any form. In the Zoroastrian religion, fire (Atar), together with clean water (Aban), are agents of ritual purity. Clean, white "ash for the purification ceremonies is regarded as the basis of ritual life," which, "are essentially the rites proper to the tending of a domestic fire, for the temple fire is that of the hearth fire raised to a new solemnity.
Sikh temples
A Sikh temple is called a Gurdwara, literally the doorway to the Guru. Its most essential element is the presence of the Guru, Guru Granth Sahib. The Gurdwara has an entrance from all sides, signifying that they are open to all without any distinction whatsoever. The Gurdwara has a Darbar Sahib where the Guru Granth Sahib is seen and a Langar where people can eat free food. A Gurdwara may also have a library, nursery, and classroom. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib, the Sikh flag.
Jewish synagogues and temples
In Judaism, the ancient Hebrew texts refer not to temples, the word having not existed yet, but to a "sanctuary", "palace" or "hall". Each of the two ancient temples in Jerusalem was called Beit Hamikdash, which translates literally as "the Holy House."
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the site where the First Temple of Solomon and the Second Temple were built. At the center of the structure was the Holy of Holies where only the high priest could enter. The Temple Mount is now the site of the Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock (c. 690).
The Greek word synagogue came into use to describe Jewish places of worship during Hellenistic times and it, along with the Yiddish term shul, and the original Hebrew term Bet Knesset ("House of meeting") are the terms in most universal usage.
From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the word "temple" began to be used for Jewish houses of worship, almost exclusively by the followers of Reform Judaism, first in Germany, then in other countries, especially in the United States, as in Temple Beth-El. Orthodox Judaism considers this usage inappropriate, as it does not consider synagogues a replacement for the Temple in Jerusalem (there were local places of worship contemporaneous with the existence of the Temple, e.g. the one that can be seen at Masada).
Christian temples
The word temple has traditionally been rarely used in the Western Christian tradition. The principal words typically used to distinguish houses of worship in Western Christian architecture are basilica, cathedral and church. The Catholic Church has used the word temple in reference of a place of worship on rare occasions. An example is the Roman Catholic Sagrada Familia Temple in Barcelona, Spain and the Roman Catholic Basilique du Sacré-CÅ"ur Temple in Paris, France.
The word temple, however, is used frequently in the tradition of Eastern Christianity; particularly the Eastern Orthodox Church, where the principal words used for houses of worship are temple and church. The use of the word temple comes from the need to distinguish a building of the church vs. the church seen as the Body of Christ. In the Russian language (similar to other Slavic languages), while the general-purpose word for "church" is tserkov, the term khram (Храм), "temple", is used to refer to the church building as a temple of God (Khram Bozhy). The words "church" and "temple", in this case are interchangeable; however, the term "church" (Ancient Greek: á¼ÎºÎºÎ»Î·ÏƒÎ¯Î±) is far more common. The term temple (Ancient Greek: ναός) is also commonly applied to larger churches. Some famous churches which are referred to as temples include Hagia Sophia, Saint Basil's Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, or the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia. See also: Orthodox church (building) and catholicon.
Beginning in the late eighteenth century, following the Enlightenment, some Protestant denominations in France and elsewhere began to use the word temple to distinguish these spaces from Catholic churches. Evangelical and other Protestant churches make use of a wide variety of terms to designate their worship spaces, such as church, tabernacle or temple. Additionally some Breakaway Catholic Churches such as the Mariavite Church in Poland have chosen to also designate their central church building as a temple, as in the case of the Temple of Mercy and Charity in PÅ‚ock.
Iglesia ni Cristo temples
Iglesia ni Cristo church buildings serve as places of worship and other religious functions, are "vehicles for glorifying God." These are described by Culture and customs of the Philippines, a book published by Greenwood Publishing Group, as structures "which employ exterior neo-Gothic vertical support columns with tall narrow windows between, interlocking trapezoids, and rosette motifs, as well as tower and spires." There are multiple entrances leading to the main sanctuary, where males and females sit on either side of the aisle facing a dais where sermons are made. The choir loft is located behind the dais, and in larger churches, baptistry pools for immersion baptism are located at the back of the church. Meanwhile, Fernando Nakpil-Zialcita, an anthropologist from Ateneo de Manila University. The distinctive spires represent "the reaching out of the faithful to God." Churches were started to be built in this style during the late 1940s and early 1950s with the first concrete chapel built in Sampaloc, Manila in 1948.
Latter Day Saint movement
According to Latter Day Saints, in 1832, Joseph Smith, Jr. received a revelation to restore the practice of temple worship, in a "house of the Lord". The Kirtland Temple was the first temple of the Latter-day Saint movement and the only one completed in Smith's lifetime, although the Nauvoo Temple was partially complete at the time of his death. The schisms stemming from a succession crisis have led to differing views about the role and use of temples between various groups with competing succession claims.
The Book of Mormon, which Latter Day Saints believe is a companion book of scripture with the Bible, refers to temple building in the ancient Americas by a group of people called the Nephites. Though Book of Mormon authors are not explicit about the practices in these Nephite temples, they were patterned "after the manner of the temple of Solomon" () and served as gathering places for significant religious and political events (e.g. Mosiah 1-6; 3rd Nephi 11-26).
LDS Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a prolific builder of "Latter-day Saint" or "Mormon" temples. There are 144 operating temples (which includes 3 previously dedicated, but closed for renovation), 14 under construction, and 12 announced (not yet under construction). Latter-day Saint temples are reserved for performing and undertaking only the most holy and sacred of covenants and special of ordinances. They are distinct from meeting houses and chapels where weekly worship services are held. The temples are built and kept under strict sacredness and are not to be defiled. Thus, strict rules apply for entrance, including church membership and regular attendance. During the open-house period after its construction and before the temple is dedicated, the temple is open to the public for tours.
Other Latter Day Saint denominations
Various other sects of the church founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., initially known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also have temples.
- Independence Temple at Independence, Missouri was built by the Community of Christ by then-church prophet-president Wallace B. Smith. The Community of Christ also currently owns the original Kirtland Temple, built by LDS Church, in Kirtland, Ohio, which it operates as a historic site.
- YFZ Ranch Temple was built by The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) Church just outside of Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas.
- In 1990 or earlier a temple in Ozumba, Mexico was built by the Apostolic United Brethren.
- A pyramid-shaped temple near Modena, Utah was built by the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Masonic temples
Freemasonry is a fraternal organization with its origins in the eighteenth century whose membership is held together by a shared set of moral and metaphysical ideals. Freemasons meet as a Lodge. Lodges meet in a Masonic Temple, Masonic Center or a Masonic Hall, such as Freemasons' Hall, London. Some confusion exists as Masons usually refer to a Lodge meeting as being in Lodge.
Temple in Islam
An Islamic temple is called a "mosque" or "masjid" in Arabic, which means "the place for kneeling (to God)."
Others
- Göbekli Tepe, located in southern Turkey, was built in 8th millennium BCE - 10th millennium BCE.
- Temples of Sheikh, ancient temples in Sheikh, Somalia
- Temple of Yeha, the oldest standing structure in Yeha, Ethiopia; built around 700 BCE
Convention allows the use of temple in the following cases:
- Bahá'à temple (Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs or ‘Houses of Worship’).
- Mankhim, the temple of the ethnic group the Rai, located at Aritar, Sikkim.
- Confucian temple or Temple of Confucius.
- Shintoist jinja are normally called shrines in English in order to distinguish them from Buddhist temples (-tera, -dera).
- Taoist temples and monasteries are called guan or daoguan (é"观, literally "place of contemplation of the Tao") in Chinese, guan being the shortened version of daoguan.
- Shrines of the traditional Chinese Ethnic Shenism are called miao, or ancestral hall in English. Joss house is an obsolete American term for such kind of places of worship.