holy sanctuary

Jewish Temple (miqdash), Islamic masjid al-haram, Hindu mandir, Buddhist temple — sacred architecture built as divine dwelling appears universally. The holy sanctuary is the axis mundi where heaven meets earth in every tradition.

The sanctuary (miqdash) is the place of divine light — the menorah burned perpetually within it. Darkness and the holy are fundamentally opposed: light defines sacred space, darkness marks its absence.

English 'holy' and 'whole' share the PIE root *kailo- (undivided, whole, healthy) — holiness is wholeness. Hebrew shalom (peace, completeness) expresses the same concept: the sacred is the integrated and undivided made present.

Hebrew miqdash (sanctuary) and qadosh (holy) share the same root q-d-sh — the sanctuary IS the holy place. The cognate relationship shows that sacred space is defined by holiness, not architecture.

Consecration (haqdashu) is the act of making something holy (qadosh) — the process and the result are theologically unified in the sanctuary, both involving separation to God's service.

Sanskrit svarga (heaven), Latin caelum, Greek ouranos — multiple PIE roots describe the sky as the divine realm. The sanctuary is heaven on earth: the same upward metaphor for transcendence made accessible in sacred architecture.

Both derive from the Hebrew root q-d-sh (to be set apart) — the verb qiddesh (to sanctify) and the noun miqdash (sanctuary/holy place) are the same root concept in different aspects.