Religious precinct

For other uses, see Precinct.

A religious or sacred precinct is the area around a religious site, such as a temple, that is dedicated to religious purposes. A religious precinct may be defined by a physical enclosure, although this is not always the case.^[1] Religious precincts are an aspect of the spatiality of religion.^[2]

Gateway to the Precinct of Montu at the Karnak Temple Complex.

Religious precincts in urban settings often serve a mixture of religious and non-religious purposes.^[2] In some cases, a religious precinct may take up a substantial part of a city: the sacred precinct in Tenochtitlan encompassed 78 buildings.^[3]

In polytheistic faiths, a religious precinct may encompass sites dedicated to multiple gods. The ancient Roman sacred precinct at Altbachtal encompassed more than 70 distinct temples.^[4]

See also

• Churchyard
• Fanum
• Temenos

References

1. Gharipour, Mohammad (2014). Sacred Precincts: The Religious Architecture of Non-Muslim Communities Across the Islamic World. BRILL. ISBN 9789004279063. Whether visible (as in the case of temples, churches, and synagogues) or invisible (as in the case of African spiritual traditions) the sacred precincts established and preserved by these minority groups attest to the maintenance of their cultural and religious identities.
2. Jeon, Jin Yong; Hwang, In Hwan; Hong, Joo Young (2014). "Soundscape evaluation in a Catholic cathedral and Buddhist temple precincts through social surveys and soundwalks". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 135 (4): 1863. Bibcode:2014ASAJ..135.1863J. doi:10.1121/1.4866239. PMID 25234985.
3. Mark Cartwright (2013-09-25). "Tenochtitlan". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
4. Carroll, Maureen (2010). "Trier". In Gagarin, Michael (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Vol. 6. Oxford University Press. p. 120. ISBN 9780195170726.