Wat Phra Kaew

The Wat Phra Kaew is the most important temple in Thailand, housing the Emerald Buddha. This 45 cm jade statue clothed in gold is said to have been created in 43 BC, but some historians date it much later. In any case it seems to have appeared in better-documented history in the 15th century. When King Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Chakri Borommanat Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (say that three times fast - is it any wonder he's also called Rama 1?) moved the capital of Siam (Thailand) to Bangkok in 1785, the temple was built to house the Buddha statue. In addition to the interesting roofline and colorful detailing, perhaps the most striking details to the casual observer (me, anyway), are the two five meter tall statues of Yaksha, or guardian demons. Anyway, Legoland Billund has a great model of the Wat Phra Kaew.




Photo credit to Barman. BTW, I should note that I'm always open to corrections on my historical notes, particularly on non-Western traditions. I'm pretty reliant on Google and Wikipedia for finding out some of these facts for those traditions more foreign to me.

So Noah, he built him, he built him an arky arky

Built it out of, LEGO brickies brickies, children of the Lord.

Or at least that's what kids at Harvest Bible Chapel did recently. Last week, over 150 grade school kids built a 12-foot LEGO Noah's Ark, I'm guessing as part of a vacation Bible school or something. They also made a giant LEGO rainbow. Unfortunately, I don't find any pictures of the actual completed structure, just pics of the kids building. So if any AFOLs are around Elgin, Illinois, in the next couple of weeks, drop in, take some photos, upload them to Flickr or whatever and let me know. Here's just an odd connection. While searching around for photos, I found that the same firm, Themed Structures, Inc. made Old Tesatment-themed classrooms for this church and also a roller coaster for Legoland Windsor. Not out of LEGO or anything - this just seems to be a construction firm that specializes in odd projects.


I love this picture - these two kids seem so serious.

Photo credit to the CourierNews Online.

Habemus Benedict II

Right around the same time as yesterday's creations, Michael Jasper created his Habemus Papam to note the new Pope Benedict.

Habemus Benedict

In the Catholic Church, "sede vacante" (literally "vacant seat") is declared when a Pope passes away or resigns. Within twenty days, the Cardinals are assembled in private in the Sistine Chapel to choose the new Pope by two-thirds majority. After each vote, the ballots are burned, and black smoke is let out through a chimney to let the surrounding city, and world, know that they have not yet come to a decision. When they make their choice, white smoke is released and the bells of the city ring, celebrating the declaration "habemus papam" (literally, "we have a Pope"). On April 2, 2005, John Paul II passed away. That April 18, Johannes Koehler posted sede vacante to note the first day's work of the College of Cardinals. The next day altered his creation to make habemus papam, noting the choice of Joseph Ratzinger, who took the name Pope Benedict XVI.

Dresdner Frauenkirche

The Frauenkirche was a Lutheran cathedral built in Dresden, Germany, in the early 1700's. It was almost completely destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in WWII. For over four decades, it was a pile of rubble. In 1989 an effort was started to rebuild the church, and in 1993 construction began, using the original plans by Georg Bähr. As far as possible they used stones from the original building. In a labor of love, the building was recreated and reconsecrated on in 2005. In another labor of love, Holger Matthes produced a LEGO version. Be sure to follow the link to his website to see the incredible details, both on the exterior and the interior.

Would you like one lump or two?

I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but it's fun. A couple of months back there was an April Fools contest on Eurobricks asking what a fool does for a living. Eti's fool is trying to bring God a cup of tea but can't quite reach high enough.

Antichrist

Sir Nadroj illustrates the Rise of the Antichrist with details from the book of Joel.

The life of Martin Luther

October 31 is Halloween, but some people instead recognize it as Reformation Day in celebration of Martin Luther. For several years in a row, Johannes Koehler has produced a LEGO scene illustrating events from Luther's life on this date.

In 1505 Luther was caught in a tremendous thunderstorm while traveling in the countryside. He prayed to Saint Anne for protection, and promised to become a monk if he survived the storm.



As a monk, Luther became disillusioned by certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the selling of indulgences. On October 31, 1517 he nailed 95 theses to the door of the Wittenburg church, calling for a debate on these issues.



In April of 1521, he was called before the Diet of Worms, over which Emperor Charles V presided. Luther refused to recant his views and was labeled a heretic.



As he returned from Worms, Luther was seized by the forces of Prince Frederick III of Saxony and hidden in Wartburg castle. Frederick was a patron of Luther and wanted to protect him from others who would likely execute him.



While in Wartburg, Luther started his translation of the Bible. There is a legend that one night in his study, Luther was accosted by the Devil himself. Luther threw an inkwell at him and Satan ran away.



BTW, these are Jojo's offerings from 2006, 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2003, respectively. If he produces another illustration this year for Reformation Day, I'll be sure to post it here.

Wear green for freedom

This is really more political than religious, but Nolnet's Go Iran supports the protesters in Iran, who have been wearing green, a color associated with Mousavi's campaign. The reason to put it on this blog comes from the questions, why green? Green has been associated with Islam since its inception. Surah 18:31 of the Quran says of those in paradise that "For them will be Gardens of Eternity; beneath them rivers will flow; they will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and they will wear green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade." Greenery represented paradise to a desert people. It is said that Muhammad wore green and had a green banner, and green has been used in mosques, the graves of saints, covers of the Quran and the flags of Islamic nations. So in choosing green as their color, protesters are both linking with Mousavi and with their religious roots.



Via the Brothers Brick.

Mosques

These two mosques by Micha are not based on one particular real structure, but instead are generally inspired by mosques found around Uzbekistan, such as this one. Micha really captured the decorative details you find in these mosques.

Dalai Lama

Tibetan Buddhists believe that in a prior age, a compassionate monk was so dedicated to others that he achieved perfect enlightenment, becoming Avalokiteśvara, the Buddha embodying universal compassion. Avalokiteśvara was incarnated in the 15th century as Gendun Drup, the first Dalai Lama. To continue his work in bringing others to enlightenment, his spirit was reborn again and again in a continuous line of religious leaders. By the time of the fifth incarnation the Dalai Lama was also recognized as the political leader of Tibet. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, came into his role in 1950, the same year that the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet. He later fled the country, and ever since has been the leader in exile of Tibet. In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his continued efforts to peacefully resolve the liberation of Tibet. This minig was created by Dunechaser as part of a series of important world figures and personal heroes of his.

Solomon's Temple

I've previously noted Thomas's (Tbone tbl's) Solomon's Temple project. He's recently added some images of the whole thing put together.

Falun Gong

Falun Gong is a spiritual movement that started in China in 1992 and gained up to 100,000,000 followers in less than ten years. The Chinese government has seen these people as a threat to their power, and they have faced extensive persecution. There is even an accusation (denied by China but supported by various independent journalists and human rights organizations) that they are harvesting organs from live (unwilling) Falun Gong members. Rocko made this vig at the time of last summer's Olympics, hoping that the media attention on Beijing would highlight these human rights abuses. Sadly, NBC at least was much more interested in the spectacle of the opening ceremonies and the beautiful facilities that the PRC had constructed than they were in the dirty secrets behind the scenes.

Giant church

Last Christmas, the Addis family decorated their home with a giant church based on the All Saints Church in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire. According to the article it took them 48 days to build and it was up in their home until Twelth Night, when the bricks all got taken apart and put away until next year's Christmas display.

Eternal punishment

Last winter Classic-Castle, a LEGO site devoted to castle builders, held their annual contest. One of the categories was "crime and punishment." Luis Baixinho was inspired by Dante's Inferno to come up with an eternal punishment in Murder gives you Hell.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Jonathan Edwards was a Congregational minister in colonial America and a key figure in the First Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s. He is perhaps best known for his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, here illustrated by Mr. Mandolin. Edwards' sermon emphasized the reality of Hell and the fate of all unrepentant sinners in the absence of God's mercy. Coincidentally, the Internet Monk blogged on Edwards' sermon just a couple of days ago. He's got an interesting blog and podcast that I would recommend.

Great Buddha of Kamakura

The city of Kamakura, Japan, is perhaps best known for the giant statue of Amida Buddha in the courtyard of the Kōtoku-in Temple. This bronze statue, probably made in 1252, weighs approximately 93 tons. This model is found in Legoland Billund. Photo credit goes to "raisin bun".

The almighty dollar

The relationship between money and religion has always been problematic. Dante placed simonists - those who bought and sold clerical positions - in the eighth circle of Hell. The Protestant Reformation was, in part, driven by Luther's reaction to the selling of indulgences. In recent years we've seen scandals related to money with prominent televangelists. Zelimir Peris created Father, son and holy money for a politics MOC contest.

Love leads to sacrifice

Milan CMadge came up with this great sculpture: Love leads to sacrifice.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a parody created during the debates over teaching intelligent design in schools. In essence, Bobby Henderson argued that it was just as reasonable to teach that a big plate of pasta created the universe. The initial parody has grown in popularity, leading to books, t-shirts and a twist on the fish emblem you'll see some Christians put on their cars. Chris Doyle came up with his own LEGO Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, full of details such as the "Touched by his noodly appendage" mural seen on the side of the building.