Sacred Earth, Sacred Stones - Hardcover

Molyneaux, Brian Leigh; Vitebsky, Piers

4.22

9 ratings by Goodreads

9781571456649: Sacred Earth, Sacred Stones

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1571456643 ISBN 13: 9781571456649

Publisher: Laurel Glen, 2000

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Review:

Sacred Earth, Sacred Stones is a showcase of an astonishingly beautiful selection of photographs--all in colour--of both natural landscape formations and ancient monuments and temples from every corner of the world, each in some way sacred.

In their authoritative text (Molyneaux is an archaeologist specialising in prehistoric art and society, and Vitebsky a social scientist specialising in shamanistic cultures) the authors show how mankind has, for millennia, expressed the sense of the sacred both in the setting apart of particular mountains and lakes, and in the creation of majestic buildings. Prehistoric cave paintings reveal that even prehistoric man had a sense of the Other, of something beyond the gritty reality of everyday survival.

Hindu and Buddhist temples, Jewish synagogues, Christian cathedrals, Muslim mosques: all are pictured and explored for their significance. Most evocative of all are the many ruins, from Stonehenge in England to the incredible Buddhist temple of Borobudur in Java, from Mount Parnassus in Greece to the spectacular buildings cut into solid rock in the hidden valley of Petra in Jordan.

Less well known to many Westerners are the ruined towns and temples, shrines and stepped pyramids in Central and South America: the huge Inca complex of Machu Picchu in Peru, the even more sprawling Aztec town of Teotihuacan in Mexico, and the ball-courts of the Maya in Yucat�n, in which ceremonial ball games re-enacted the myths of the creation of the sun and moon.

This is not the first pictorial compendium of sacred sites, and it won't be the last; but for the sheer beauty of the photographs and the highly informed quality of the text, it must rate among the very best. --David V. Barrett

Review:

In counterpoint to this scientific and technological age, this splendid, large-format volume lies at the other end of the scale to tap into spiritual well-springs and curiosity about the mystical. It is a superbly photographed and eruditely written tour around the globe of the rocks, stone circles, pyramids, other forms of architecture and alignments that have been regarded by sections of humanity over time as sacred sites. The authors hark back to the significance of the natural world in creation mythology and go on to explore the special places of those who regard the earth as a reservoir of energy and spiritual power. Imbued overall with awe and mystery, here are magnificent examples of prehistoric cave art, Far Eastern temples, rock and ritual places in the Americas, mandalas in Java, and what the authors term Sacred Living Space as well as Architecture of the Afterlife. Accessible and popular scholarship from two experts in prehistoric and shamanistic cultures.

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