Discuss the relationship between the design of religious architecture Essay

Discuss the relationship between the design of religious architecture and the interests and requirements of the religious tradit - Essay Example This paper will provide more insight into this analogy through discussing four historical religious architectures: the Altar of Zeus, Egyptian pyramids, Suleymaniye Mosque and St. Peter’s Basilica. The Altar of Zeus was created by ancient Greeks, Egyptian pyramids were erected by ancient Egyptians, Suleymaniye Mosque was developed by Muslims and St. Peter’s Basilica was designed by Romans. The Altar of Zeus provides a good Hellenistic Greek sculpture example, which was built between 166 and 156 BCE. The altar is crafted with art and sculpture, which depicts narrations. The Gigantochamy frieze, which adorns the base of the altar, has at least 100 distinct panels that show combats between gods and giants. Here, one connects with the Greek legend where Zaas decided to abandon Gaia’s after the new gods (led by Zeus and in support by Zaas) defeated the old gods (led by Cronus). The East Frieze sculpture, on the other hand, constitutes significant Olympic gods such as Hecate, Artemis, Zeus, Athena and Ares. In the same way, the north, south and west frieze sculptures continue with sculptural and relief narrations of various Greek gods.1 The altar, also known as the Altar of Pergamon, stands at 115 feet in width and 110 feet in depth. The altar was accessible through a stairway, from the west, which led up to a roofed hall extending to the front and sides of the altar. This altar is very important to the people, who regard it highly and it’s highly respected. It has been in existence for quite a long time and many people have high regard for the altar. Due to this fact, the altar of Pergamon is well preserved and taken care of. Ancient Egyptian pyramids held similar themes in architectural designs. The pyramids were erected on the west bank of the River Nile. This was in accordance with Egypt’s religious doctrine which stated that the dead should rest where the sun sets.2 In addition, most pyramids were covered with limestone, which was meant to give them a shiny appearance from a distance. Despite the fact that the pyramids were designed as tombstones for prominent persons such as kings and queens, they were embalmed with religious material. Outstandingly, the pyramids were meant to purify bodies in wait for the afterlife. Within the pyramids were sculptures, paintings and carvings, which portrayed spirituality. In addition, there were illustrations upon the tomb walls, also known as the Book of the Dead, which were meant to guide the deceased in their atonement of sins in preparation for the afterlife. The pyramids also consisted of airways and tunnels, which served to prevent decomposition. The Suleymaniye Mosque was named after Sultan Suleyman who requested it to be built after the Sehzade Mosque was not deemed as satisfactory. Sinan had built the Sehzade Mosque to commemorate the death of Prince Mehmed who had died of smallpox. The Suleymaniye Mosque was completed in 1557 and was of remarkable interior spa ce, height and intricate detail.3 The mosque consisted of four lengthy and thin minarets and a dome, which had a height of over 50 meters. Surrounding the mosque was a kulliye comprising of public baths, schools for teaching Quran, Hadith and primary school children, library, soup kitchen and a hospital. The public baths were situated near the entrance of the mosque since Muslims would take off their shoes before

ANALYTICAL REPORT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

ANALYTICAL REPORT - Essay Example The research was carried out by using interviews and surveys in collecting the data, the researcher was able to accomplish the projected goals of the study. The main sections of the body were created to provide response to the numerous research questions. The weighted ranking, which showed the critical success factors for the company, was tabulated and used in analysis (DuBrin, 2005). Interview Method Under this data methodology, the participants were drawn from four departments within Wal-Mart stores (Selim, 2007). The different categories under which the participants were divided were based on the management level, with few senior managers participating. Figure 1: Percentage of participants based on job type Procedures In carrying out the research, the researcher already had set questions for the interview, thus the process was semi-structured (Scribner, 2008). However, the questions did not have a particular structure. Measures The interviewees were asked three questions related t o the organizational culture and stress. Since the questions were open-ended, the participants were expected to give their opinion on each problem (Coates, James & Baldwin, 2005). The three basis questions for the interview in this case were, What words come to mind when asked to describe the ‘feel’ of this department as it is now? Second, can you tell me about events that are usually stressful at work for you? Finally, what are the most common things that trigger the experience of stress at work? Surveys This was another method that the researcher used in collecting the data. In this case, all the employees from the four departments were allowed to participate (Derouin, Fritzsche & Salas, 2005). The researcher used non-convenience sampling because it does not employ probability that could bar someone from participating (Tabachnick, Fidell & Osterlind, 2001). Due to its non-probability mature, 225 people participated with an average age of 37.06, standard deviation of 1 0.18 whose ages range from 17 to 61 years. The research also established that the average worker in the industry has stayed for 6.61 years, with a 5.90 standard deviation (Dholakia & Kshetri, 2004). Participants According to Department Figure 2: Percentage of participants based on department There was also a group who strongly believed that the company procedures and legislations caused strain since most of them were so elaborate and needed more time for implementation. Factor Analysis Age and Tenure per Department Table 2: Age and tenure by mean and standard deviation per department Department 1 Department 2 Department 3 Department 4 Total Age Mean 42.00 37.66 35.07 35.05 37.06 St Dev 10.84 9.18 9.51 10.65 10.18 Tenure Mean 9.73 6.25 6.08 5.57 6.61 St Dev 7.24 4.70 6.26 5.41 5.90 The research also indicated that the majority of participants were people with adequate experience in the internal affairs of the company, thus consisted of 196 respondents who were permanent and full time employees. Figure thee gives more details. Employment Type According to Department Figure 3: Number of participants by their employment type for the overall dataset. In other findings, the researcher realized that the males and females were almost evenly distributed in the first, second and third departments. However, the second departed showed disparity with 67 females to only 17 males. This was attributed to the nature of work that was