Roger Bailey Traveling Fellowship Sacred Spaces of Israel in charcoal, pastel, and ink Daniel Teed Spring 2014
Subject Ma er The Holy Land. Israel is the cradle of three world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These monotheistic faiths devoted considerable amounts of time, money, and resources to the construction of religious architecture, and these sacred spaces are arguably the most impressive buildings created by humanity. Israel, namely Jerusalem, provides the ideal location for an investigation into similarities and differences between the architectural, sacred spaces of these three major faiths. No where in the world can a deeper saturation of holy places and diversity of religion be found than in Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem, surrounded by ancient walls with eight gates, is divided into four quarters: the Christian Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, and the Armenian Quarter. Each of these quarters contains numerous synagogues, cathedrals, mosques, temples, prayer towers, and sacred spaces according to their respective faiths. What architectural strategies are used to create a sense of the divine? How does each of these faiths accomplish the same objective, bringing their patrons closer to the divine, while establishing their own religious identity? What elements, sounds, smells, colors, lighting strategies, textures, and materials create a sacred atmosphere in each faith?
Schedule Visiting the Holy Land in early November of 2014 will allow me to avoid the busy tourist season through the summer and religious holidays in October and December. A trip of approximately fourteen days will provide enough time to experience the sacred spaces in the city of Jerusalem, as well as visit other nearby sites including Jericho, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. A tentative schedule including key sites is listed below. Day 1 Travel Day 2 Jerusalem Dome of the Rock & minarets Day 3 Jerusalem Holy Trinity Cathedral & Russian Temple Day 4 Jerusalem Belz Great Synagogue Day 5 Jerusalem Masjid al-aqsa Day 6 Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher & Church of St. James Day 7 Jerusalem Hurva Synagogue Day 8 Jericho Hisham s Palace Day 9 Bethlehem Church of the Nativity & St. Theodosius Monastery Day 10 Bethlehem The Mosque of Omar Day 11 Haifa Bahai Temple Day 12 Tel Aviv Hechal Yehuda Synagogue Day 13 Jerusalem City gates Day 14 Travel
Budget Visiting Israel to study sacred spaces is a rare opportunity that may only be available to me through the Roger Bailey Traveling Fellowship and $3,500 award. Every dollar of the award will be utilized to provide a full fourteen-day travel experience. Based on current airfare, nearly half of the award will go towards the round trip flight from Salt Lake City to Jerusalem. Roughly a quarter of the award will be used for lodging (estimated at $90 a night). The last quarter will be divided among food ($21 a day), other transportation expenses, tours and fees, and art supplies. $250 $110 $100 $300 $1,570 Airfare Lodging Food Transportation Tour & Fees Materials $1170
Objectives Architecture is idealized in religious structures. More money as been invested, more time has been devoted, more liberties have been taken. What has been done in the past to make incredible sacred spaces that last throughout time? Through in situ documentation of proportion, scale, and proximities in a place where crowded holy buildings compete for relevancy, I will analyze what similarities can be found between landmark religious structures that contribute to their spacial and architectural success. The real question then comes into sight: How can these same principles be applied to architectural spaces we design for the 21st century? Can elements of these successful sacred spaces be utilized in the lobby of a modern hospital? Or in a courtyard of a private residence? Or in a new public plaza? This experience will invigorate my emerging career as an architect by allowing me to study to diverse ways of creating spaces, to learn from and analyze successful works of architecture that have influenced our society for hundreds of years, and to draw inspiration from these sacred spaces in order to design the spaces of our future.