World Religion Gallery

American Progress

Painting entitled American Progress, by John Gast, depicting Manifest Destiny (the religious belief that the United States should expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in the name of God). In 1872 artist John Gast painted a popular scene of people moving west that captured the view of Americans at the time. Called Spirit of the Frontier and widely distributed as an engraving portrayed settlers moving west, guided and protected by a goddess-like figure and aided by technology (railways, telegraphs), driving Native Americans and bison into obscurity. It is also important to note that angel is bringing the light as witnessed on the eastern side of the painting as she travels towards the darkened west. USA, circa 1872. (Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images)

© 2010 Getty Images

Bahai temple and gardens, Haifa, Israel

BahA?'A? World Centre in Haifa, the spiritual and administrative centre of the BahA?'A? Faith. The Terraces of the BahA?'A? Faith, or Hanging Gardens of Haifa. In the foreground, the Baha'i Eagle. In the center, the golden-domed Shrine of the BA?b (Ali Muhammad Shirazi), the Prophet of the BahA?'i Faith. The terraces represent the first 18 disciples of the BA?b with 9 concentric circles from each side providing the main geometry of the 18 terraces conceived as generated from the Shrine of the BA?b. The 18 terraces plus the one terrace of the Shrine make 19 terraces, a significant number within both the BahA?'A? and BA?bA? religions. A Unesco World Heritage site. Architect: Fariborz Sahba from Iran

© rhkamen

St. Michaels gold-domed cathedral, Kiev, Ukraine, Europe

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery is a functioning monastery in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Originally built in the Middle Ages, the monastery comprises the Cathedral itself, the Refectory of St. John the Divine, built in 1713 and the monastery's bell tower, which was added circa 1716-1719. The original cathedral was demolished under the Stalin regime in the 1930s, but was reconstructed and opened in 1999 following Ukrainian independence in 1991

© 2014 Frans Sellies