ORGANIZATION OF SACRED LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL PLANNING OF OCEANIC PEOPLES

Abstract

The paper is about the description and analysis of methods and forms of organization of sacred landscape and religious architecture of the autochthonous people of the Pacific, to be compared to the first primitive forms of architectural art in Eurasia and Australia. The article discusses such elements of religious architecture of Polynesian peoples as the communal houses of the Maori of New Zealand, megalithic structures of Easter (Rapa Nui) island, as well as the marae ritual areas in Polynesia. A hypothesis is discussed that some of the elements of the most ancient sacred landscape of the Pacific may be considered universal for the development of human culture and spirituality. Similar forms could be considered as prototypes of the ancient sacred constructions and settlement architecture of Eurasia.