A Sacred Piece of Home:
WASHINGTON D.C.
A Sacred Piece of Home
A Documentary Series
Presented by Cultural Literacy Associates, LLC
Hosted by Ori Z. Soltes
Sacred structures are among the most impressive and permanent examples of architecture in the world, some lasting for millennia. Monarchs, nations, and communities have invested vast resources to construct these magnificent and inspiring edifices and people often travel far to see the pyramids of Egypt, the great cathedrals of Europe, exquisite mosques and tombs in the Islamic world and the fascinating Hindu and Buddhist temples of Asia. Every region and religion has a distinctive style and character.
Americans are from everywhere and they have brought their faiths and their building traditions to their new home. Except for Native Americans, the entire population consists of immigrants – by choice or by force - and their descendants. A SACRED PIECE OF HOME: WASHINGTON D.C., is a documentary series of four, half-hour films, intended for public broadcast. It will bring to viewers a visual feast of distinctive architecture in styles from all over the world that have found a home in the Washington area, making the capital region a Noah’s Ark of sacred architecture. Viewers will discover iconic places of worship both monumental and intimate, and learn about the communities that envisioned, built and commissioned them over the last two and a half centuries. These wonderful edifices are an important part of America’s cultural and architectural heritage.
Why this series?
American Pluralism offers an active effort to understand each other across lines of difference. Learning about diverse sacred architecture is an instrument for building a more inclusive and connected society, increasing cultural literacy, and expanding tolerance into embrace. Interfaith education is no longer an option. It is a necessity.
As new people and religions come into the nation, at an ever-accelerating rate —particularly in the Washington area—neighborhoods are increasingly mixed, but not necessarily integrated. Mysteries multiply. Why are there carved snakes on the railings of the Buddhist temple? Why do Carpathian structures have onion-shaped domes? What is the symbolism of the seven-branched menorah on a synagogue facade? Our Host’s commentary will help answer these questions. These films celebrate an array of immigrant communities - European, South and Central American, African and Asian - that have made the United States their home since its founding, and the sacred structures they have built.
