Culture as a drive for art and architecture: Ugarit’s religious architecture as cultural and societal manifestations

Religious buildings are representatives of the cultural and ritual dimensions of ancient civilization, contributing to city morphology and systems. Their architecture provides interpretations and information about past societies’ experiences of place, space, and everyday social and cultural practices. Therefore, this paper focuses on the city of Ugarit, the capital city of a Bronze Age civilization that occupied the northwest part of present-day Syria, and explores the relationship between Ugaritic people’s ritual and cultural dimensions and the architecture of their central and local religious building (temples and sanctuaries). Through an in-depth investigation of archeological reports and text excavated in the city, as well as onsite architectural analysis and observation, this article investigates how the architectural forms and planning of large and small religious buildings in Ugarit were informed by Ugaritic people’s religious practices and cults. The work points out that the Ugaritic people carefully planned their religious buildings on both architectural and urban scales. To fulfill their rituals, the Ugaritic people designed the architecture, structure, and form of their religious buildings based on their religious practices and beliefs rather than being influenced by temple design principles shared in the region. This approach resulted in building forms and architectural/interior arrangements that are distinctive from those of surrounding civilizations and regions.