Religious Statues From Around the World

Ailsa’s Travel Theme this week is “Statues.”

Sorting through my photo archives, I realized that many of my statues were of a religious nature. So here is an assortment of statues from different world religions.

A tranquil and serene Buddha statue

I found this shrine to Mother Mary (La Virgen) in Costa Rica:

Shrine to La Virgen, Mother Mary

A large cross with the crucified Christ towers over the grape vines in the vineyards of the Black Forest, Germany.

Cross in the Vineyards

I was surprised to find a statue of St. Michael (or is it St. George) slaying the dragon on a wooded trail near the village of Sasbachwalden in Southern Germany:

Dragon Slayer

Not nearly as unexpected were these two statues of Francis of Assisi at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC (yes, that’s a real bird on Francis’ head):

Francis of Assisi

St Francis with a wolf or dog

Demons, dragons, devils, and pranksters are also part of every religion, as they represent our not so desirable human qualities that we want to eliminate. Here is a large statue of such a demon prankster at the Tirtagangga Water Palace in Bali. The fact that the character is showing us his soles is the equivalent of flipping the finger: it is very rude.

Rude Demon

This small goddess statue was beautified with bright yellow marigold flowers, at the Yoga Kafe in Ubud:

Goddess statue with marigolds

Probably my favorite: an altar statue overlooking a magnificent lily pond in Candidasa:

Altar Statue in Candidasa