RELIGIOUS ARCHITURE FROM THE STONE AGE HISTORY

Religious architecture has always played an important part in the development of architecture. At the same time, religious architecture mirrors religious views of people and the major beliefs of the society. Religious buildings and architectural structures performed an important function in the life of the society because they were places where people could worship their deities and share their common beliefs. Besides, religious architecture contributed to the promotion of religious beliefs because its main purpose was to impress the public and to serve as a bridge between the real world and the divine world.

The development of religious architecture dates back to the Stone Age, when people had just started to develop early architectural forms. In fact, the Stone Age was the time, when religious views of people were uncertain, other religious and beliefs, which were grounded on their perception of the nature. As a result, the early religious views of people of the Stone Age involved the worshiping of the power of nature, including the worshiping of son, wind, rain, and other natural phenomena. At the same time, the religious architecture developed respectively to these beliefs of people. Some specialists keep debating concerning the purpose of the Stonehenge.  However, we can say that the Stonehenge was constructed accurately and respectively to astronomic observations of ancient architects. The use of natural materials in the construction of the Stonehenge reveal the respect of people to the power of nature.  At the same time, the impact of the Stonehenge on the public reveals the significance of religious architecture and religion for people of the Stone Age.

The main purpose of the religious architecture was to attract the public, to impress the public, and what was even more important, to make people attending temples and worshiping god. In such a way, temples still play the role of cultural and scientific centers. The religious architecture was characterized by the wide use of arcs and dooms in religious buildings, especially churches as well as mosques.

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the development of the religious architecture contributed to the consistent changes in the use of forms and styles of religious buildings and constructions. Obviously, the development of the religious architecture aimed at the promotion of religion but, in addition, the religious architecture played an important cultural part because it stimulated the respect of people to religion because many religious buildings were true works of art.