{"id":2580,"date":"2026-03-09T11:27:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/?page_id=2580"},"modified":"2026-05-06T13:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T11:41:35","slug":"house-of-worship","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/open-air-museum\/house-of-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"House of Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='a'  class='avia-section av-6boj-964839248dbaa131430c011e9e66912b main_color avia-section-default avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  avia-bg-style-scroll container_wrap fullsize'  ><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" itemprop=\"mainContentOfPage\"  class='template-page content  av-content-full alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-2580'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<div  class='flex_column av-xke3-96c4b674a30a3471a9bbcaf7b1f7955b av_one_full  avia-builder-el-1  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  first flex_column_div  '     ><p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-lw9ee3ch-93ca340e17c98da48df132566e216b7a\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-lw9ee3ch-93ca340e17c98da48df132566e216b7a{\npadding-bottom:10px;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-lw9ee3ch-93ca340e17c98da48df132566e216b7a .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-lw9ee3ch-93ca340e17c98da48df132566e216b7a .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-lw9ee3ch-93ca340e17c98da48df132566e216b7a av-special-heading-h3  avia-builder-el-2  el_before_av_textblock  avia-builder-el-first '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >House of Worship<br \/>\nThe Chariot as a Vehicle for the Celestial Bodies<\/h3><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-lw6p7skz-3879436eebab07eb7e420d4d7b81001b '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p>The sun and the moon \u2013 and one need not be a scientist to know this \u2013 have been moving solemnly along their paths across the firmament since the dawn of time. Observation of the sky reveals this: the sun by day, the moon by night. But how do they move? Where does the sun hide at night?<\/p>\n<p>Since the 4th millennium BC, the chariot has appeared in religion and cult as a vehicle for celestial bodies. Ships and depictions of stylised human figures are also found in the visual imagery, not only as bronze objects, but also in rock carvings and as clay models. The vehicles are often accompanied or drawn by horses, waterfowl, bulls or deer.<\/p>\n<p>Cult vehicles did not merely keep the celestial bodies in motion. Humans, too, travelled to the afterlife in a chariot at the end of their lives \u2013 at least important figures did. Their bereaved relatives erected impressive burial mounds for them and laid them to rest within magnificent cult chariots. The common people, by contrast, were cremated with numerous grave goods during the Late Bronze Age.<\/p>\n<p>The Trundholm cult chariot depicts the sun as a disc: gleaming gold on one side, dark on the other. When the chariot moves to the right, the golden side is visible, and the sun shines brightly, illuminating the day. When the chariot moves in the opposite direction, the disc is dark, and night falls.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the duck doing on the chariot?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Small figurines of horses and people, some wearing and some without military gear, are often permanently attached to Bronze Age ritual chariots. They also appear carved into rocks. But the star of the show was an animal you certainly wouldn\u2019t have expected: the duck. Ducks were particularly revered back then. Why? Because this animal can do more than any other. It can swim in water, fly in the air and walk on land. Well, waddle, really. Ducks can be found on breastplates, greaves, cauldrons and on both small and large chariots. They were probably meant to bring good luck and protect people. Even from the wheel slipping off their chariot: there were also axle pins shaped like ducks.<strong> Can you spot the duck-shaped pin?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1692,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2580","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2580"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4967,"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2580\/revisions\/4967"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i.pfahlbauten.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}