I’m not trying to be disrespectful to mosques in any way, and yes, I know they’re not allowed to use pictures so they resort to geometrical patterns. But still, when I look at images like this, something just feels ‘off’ – much like it does when you look at a haunted house. It just feels sort of otherworldly and unsettling to me. And the feeling is baked in to the visuals. It does not feel like it comes from a human world.
The same goes for something like this tbh:
Especially if I encountered it outside a church, it would really creep me out. It feels like it wants to bite me.
A lot of mosques aren’t that glittery. There are different styles to building mosques; I found the Blue Mosque in Istanbul to feel somewhat like a cathedral, but lighter and with patterns instead of iconography. The only mosque I’ve been in that felt off was the Hagia Sophia, and that is because it was converted from an Orthodox cathedral so it feels different.
I’ve also been to an Art Deco cathedral in Brussels that felt off too. It is the only Art Deco cathedral I’ve been to, which makes sense given what was generally built with Art Deco. Also, the modern Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City feels like a Catholic Space Mountain given that the style of architecture used for the basilica was heavily used in Disney’s Tomorrowland.
I think that, for you, maybe a lot of it is that you’re seeing some places of worship in a vastly different architectural style that you’re used to. The combination of grandeur and out of context architectural presentation makes the place feel alien.
This. I feel like OP encountered one example of a very ornate mosque and is generalizing the rest of them based on that. I know the ones near me are a lot more plain.
By example, compare the architecture of small community christian churches to grand cathedrals in Europe. You’ll find similar extravagance, yet it would be weird to ask why all churches are so ornate just based on those examples.
I love the second example. The Catholic Church needed so much money to build the place that it caused a religious schism.