Throughout the ages achitecture has been a form of science and artwork of building structures, especially habitable ones. We don't just look at architectural structures, but actually live in them, and come in contact with them in many ways. At the same time, architecture is also used to decorate and create aesthetically pleasing structures, representing various cultures.
Architecture manipulates space, mass, volume, light and shade. It is influenced by climate, economy, availability of materials and politics.

Let us look at architecture across the world through time.

Cave Dwellings
Corme, Turkey

Architecture
James Neal

These were original settlements for the indigenous Europeans, before wood techniques were developed.

The temple Borobudur in Java, Indonesia is a colossal stupa built on a small hill in the Kedu valley.Its form and site are symbolic references to Mount Meru, which in Indian mythology represents the center of the Universe.

Wonders of the World
Edited by Alessandra Capodiferro

A symbol of the vast size of China, the Great Wall crosses almost two thirds of the country from east to west, covering a distance of 4,160 miles.

Wonders of the World
Edited by Alessandra Capodiferro

This is incredibly interesting dear Inda!

I have been lately reading "Lindesfarne Letter" eometry and Architecture. I know your Estonians build many spires reaching so high... Maybe the reason is in the following quote:

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The Sacred in Architecture has common ground with health and cosmology, since the inner essence of correct and appropriate form in Architecture is based on a resonance of harmony and health. Total healthiness comes from wholeness, which is holiness. This resonance enables a consonance to sound from microcosm through mesocosm to macrocosm, and is the root and secret to finding unity and the unified experience.

The material world is subject most dramatically and universally to the laws of gravity - in human experience that which "pulls down" to earth. The realm of life, however, is dominated by levity, a word meaning "up-lift" that has significantly fallen out of use in the English language since the Industrial Revolution. If the material world is essentially about "pulling down" (entropy?), then the human world, particularly as understood in the inspiring philosophy and ideals of a sacred tradition, is essentially about "lifting up." As all life draws up to the light, so is the human psyche attracted to the elevating principles which act as constant regenerators to the forms and beings of our world.

Architecture, as sacred expression, is concerned with the power of levity in the physical, emotional, intellectual, inspirational and ontological realms, always dedicated to raising experience to a more inclusive and comprehensive unity and integrity. Therefore, it is not without relevance that the vertical dimension is so often the dominant one in so much of sacred architecture.

There are architectural principles that transcend different cultural expressions. These are based on elemental and primordial factors and demonstrate how structure on the physical level is integral with structure on the metaphysical level. They are analogous to the universal anatomical and physiological laws, transcending culture or race, that rule our human bodies: the blood groups, for instance, are a most insistent symbol of human unity on a physical level despite all the differences of skull shape, skin color or hair texture. We must not lose sight, however, of the fact that the Anthropos is the collective archetype for the whole human family - without which to be human has no meaning.
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There is information in that description that speaks to the eternal self and unity consciousness that meditators and positive futures thinkers can use! I KNEW levity was important! - light being to all!!!

My own understanding of humans constructing THINGS in the best way is: "As above, so below" meaning we reflect the cosmic principles as best we can to be in harmonious balance with all, the cosmos, or God. I have read that entire towns were designed by wise ones who overlooked the entire area, and planned the paths into and around the structure to be in alignment with cosmic processions such as sun, moon and important constellations. From Stonehenge to Aztec pyramids and towns to airport designs these functions are clear. Since you are starting this post with caveman and the ancient archetects, here are some temple layouts of Chemetan (Egyptian) towns and monuments. I believe walking through a procession in those days would have been fabulous. Brazilian Carnival perhaps comes close, or the Vatican.







The great pyramids were supposed to be covered in white in their prime, what a glorious view eh? Interestingly the word Architecture has the root word "Arch," and the Islamic arches were a gift to southern European cultures such as Italy, Spain and Portugal. Not arch-enemies, but arch-friends! he he..

As a reference as to why I am so thrilled about this subject, see my greatest reference below, I was "Information Architect" for TIS Worldwide (Transaction Information Systems) on 2nd and Market in SF.




And Givnology is my greatest architectural creation (thanks to you all)!

Love and light being, Teo

Thank you Teo for your vast research and comprehensive reply.

I found a picture of the area depicted on your map of the great pyramids and the sphynx.

The Sphynx at the centre of the photo lies to the right of the processional way that joined the valley temple to the upper temple. The pyramids were built between 2590-2506 BC.

Clustered papyrus-bud columns in the hypostyle hall of Amenophis III at Luxor, early fourteenth century B.C.
The Pharaoh's architect was Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu.

Photo: Roloff Beny
Odyssey

Thank you dear Inda for starting this interesting post. It is fascinating to see how architectural structures have evolved through the ages.

... Teo dear, only you could associate Brazilian Carnival with the Vatican!!

Telephone .........

bye bye
Love, Margherita

Brazilian Carnival with the Vatican!! could become quite an interesting addition to the thread
Let us see what Teo can find
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The ruins at Nankoweap are among the best known of the prehistoric ruins at Grand Canyon.
The Anasazi may have been the ancestors of the people who later lived and farmed both in the inner canyon and on its rims.

Preeminent among megalithic monuments in Great Britain is Stonehenge.
Enclosed by a circular ditch 300 feet in diameter, stones are arranged in 4 series. 2 outermost form circles. The 3rd is a horseshoe shape. The innermost is ovoid in form. Some original uprights remain.
Within the ovoid lies the "Altar Stone."
It was probably a bronze age burial site. Nothing is known for sure.

Thank you everyone for your contribution. I can see that this will be a wonderful thread. Looking forward to at least 100 replies

Love,
Sue

Machu Picchu (which means "manly peak") was most likely a royal estate and religious retreat. It was built between 1460 and 1470 AD by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, an Incan ruler. The city has an altitude of 8,000 feet, and is high above the Urubamba River canyon cloud forest, so it likely did not have any administrative, military or commercial use. After Pachacuti’s death, Machu Picchu became the property of his allus, or kinship group, which was responsible for it’s maintenance, administration, and any new construction.

The Maoris are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Their art and culture are deeply rooted to their homeland. Beautiful wood carvings that adorn the huts and fancy fish hooks carved out of whale bones give the Maori art their special flavour.

Legends passed down from generations to generations tell of the gods that created the land they live in. The natural disasters the ancient Maoris faced are explain by colourful narrations of angry gods out to punish the people.

Their history in New Zealand stretches back to the 12th century -- way before the Pakeha, the white man, invaded New Zealand.

Today the Maoris remember their roots by teaching the young about the history of the Maoris. Annually, a festival called Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festival will be held in New Zealand.

The South Pacific islands, with their mild and temperate weather patterns called for a different kind of architecture that was found in harsher climates.

Nipa hut and coco palms in Samoa

In the North West Territories of Canada we have a slightly different climate ,where the ground has always a little permafrost, which calls for a different architecture than anywhere else.
There are two cultures here, the Dene and the Inuit people.

Japan

The grounds of Horyuji (Horyu Temple) house the world’s oldest surviving wooden structures, conveying images of Japan as it existed more than 1300 years ago, during the Asuka Period (AD. mid 6th - beginning of 8th c.). Horyuji is located at Nara (90 minute drive East of Osaka).

Royal residence and gardens, the Grand Palace
Just south of Wat Phra Kaew we visited the gardens of the royal palace residence. The residence and the grand halls adjacent to it have not been the actual living residence of the king for some years now, yet they are still used for coronations, official ceremonies and the interment of royal ashes. At the center of the garden is Chakri Mahaprasat, the Great Holy Hall of Chakri. Built in 1882 by British architects, the hall combines an odd, yet successful blend of Thai, Victorian and Italian Renaissance architecture.

Wooden churches were built in many countries hundreds of years ago. Slovakia, the Ukraine, Poland, and Russia, just to name a few, all house these beautiful works of architecture. All of these churches offer something unique and different to visitors. The beauty and history of each church attracts thousands of tourists each year.

Russian Orthodox Wooden Church

Thank you Vicky for all your input. You have posted some wonderful images and information.

I found another image of a little wooden church.
It is the Church of Our Savior from the village of Faminskoye, Russia (1712). It is now in the Costrama Museum of Wooden Architecture.

We don't have to keep this tread in complete chronologic order, so I will take us back to the Acropolis in Greece which is an amazing architectural complex.


The Acropolis hill, so called the "Sacred Rock" of Athens, is the most important site of the city. During Perikles' Golden Age, ancient Greek civilization was represented in an ideal way on the hill and some of the architectural masterpieces of the period were erected on its ground.
The first habitation remains on the Acropolis date from the Neolithic period. Over the centuries, the rocky hill was continuously used either as a cult place or as a residential area or both. The inscriptions on the numerous and precious offerings to the sanctuary of Athena (marble korai, bronze and clay statuettes and vases) indicate that the cult of the city's patron goddess was established as early as the Archaic period (650-480 B.C.).

Acropolis, Athens

Photo by: Glen