Temple — Google Arts & Culture
Home
Explore
Play
Nearby
Profile
The Lab
Achievements
Collections
Themes
Artists
Mediums
Art movements
Historical events
Historical figures
Places
About
Settings
View activity
Send feedback
Privacy & Terms • Generative AI Terms
Celebrating 15!
Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites
The Lab
Sign in
Loading…
Temple
A temple is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, the Baha'i Faith, Taoism, Shintoism, Confucianism, and ancient religions such as the Ancient Egyptian religion and the Ancient Greek religion.
The form and function of temples is thus very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be in some sense the "house" of one or more deities. Typically offerings of some sort are made to the deity, and other rituals enacted, and a special group of clergy maintain, and operate the temple. The degree to which the whole population of believers can access the building varies significantly; often parts or even the whole main building can only be accessed by the clergy. Temples typically have a main building and a larger precinct, which may contain many other buildings, or may be a dome shaped structure, much like an igloo.
The word comes from Ancient Rome, where a templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur.
Show lessRead moreWikipedia
1 story
Story10 Ancient Buddhist Temples to Explore from Home
Discover this topic of interest
12,347 items
Organize by
Interested in History?
Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly
No, thanks
Sign up now
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.
Ok
Translate with Google
Google apps