Countless structures have been raised by human architects and builders from the time our remote ancestors first leaned two branches together to make a shelter and of these many thousands have survived. Some are not mere aggregations of stone but are structures and sites imbued with a special sense of mystery or significance. Often these buildings have been with an intense spiritual or emotional commitment, in which the genius of designer and artisan has entered into a happy coalition with a site of special natural beauty or character.
On occasions, the combination of structure and location overrides the confines of a particular religion. The shrines of Jerusalem and Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia have seen successive occupation by groups with differing beliefs; but all recognized the aura of sanctity and mystery that seem to have seeped into the fabric of these houses of God.
Even the hurried tourist, impelled by curiosity rather than religious fervour, is often stunned into a reverent silence in sites combining natural beauty with human skills and devotion, such as the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece, sometimes the power of ancient legend lends significance to a site, as at Knossos in Crete; others, like the Taj Mahal, created by a grieving emperor for his dead wife, awe us with the emotions seeming to live on in their forms and silences.
In Search of Life, we will try to bring together some of the marvellous architectural beauties from all around the world and try and understand what was the importance of each of the structures which our ancestors have built. Whether it was just to commemorate a special occasion, or it was for a deity, or built as a tomb for their king, each structure has its own importance and built with its uniqueness.
Not only these structures have withstood the test of time, they surely have some or the other mysteries which are yet to be solved. The magnitude alone of these structures are strong enough evidence showing the level of artistic calibre and precision by which these wonders were built. Some even believe that there could be more than just the human minds involved in building such complex structures. Whatever they maybe, they are present in their physical state right now at this moment staring at our current and future generation hoping that we may stumble upon the mysteries they behold.
