Talk:Wayside shrine

Divide column shrines and niche chapels
Shouldn't be column shrines and niche chapels separated to two different articles? --ŠJů (talk) 03:21, 16 July 2014 (UTC)


 * If by niche chapel you mean the chapel shrines in the article, I don't think so. They're both types of wayside shrines and they both generally have niches. The latter are larger and more complex structures, but are not chapels. Doremo (talk) 11:13, 16 July 2014 (UTC)


 * I don't know what is the best term in English - "niche chapel" is a literal translation of Central-European terms. The fact that two different types of structures are mixed in one article causes disorder in interwikis. The German Bildstock (or its Czech or Slovak equivalents) are surely not identic to the Polish Kapliczka. Is there some non-English page which treats both column shrines and niche chapels together? Should we have 3 Wikidata item for it - meaning 1, meaning 2 and the English meaning 1+2?


 * Niche chapels are considered as a type of chapels in many countries - they are even more similar to church-like chapels than side chapels inside churches which are also counted in "chapels". You may be right that the article Chapel is very incomplete and insufficient. However, I think, exterior niche chapels are mentioned as "wayside chapels" in the article. --ŠJů (talk) 21:08, 18 July 2014 (UTC)


 * By every definition I've found, a chapel is a structure (small building, room, etc.) that one can walk into for worship. The chapel shrines (Sln. kapelica, Pol. kapliczka) imitate the shape of a miniature building, but these shrines cannot generally accommodate a human being. Structurally, they are large square columns with a roof and deep niche. Doremo (talk) 15:20, 19 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Thus, take into account that continental tradition in many countries considers niche chapels as a kind of chapels (maybe, covered by the "etc." in your definitiion). The diminutive words kapelica, kapliczka or kaplička mean simply "small chapel" and are used for small "building" chapels as well. Niche chapels have their patrocinium (in most cases) and are counted into chapels by parishes and dioceses. However, niche chapel are distinguished from column shrines and hardly any non-English Wikipedia articles merged both together. Surely, English Wikipedia should respect the English-language concepts, but we have problem with interwikis. Maybe, we need three different Wikidata items: 1) column shrines (Bildstock, boží muka...), 2) niche chapels (Nischekapelle, chapel shrines), 3) wayside shrines (1+2 together). --ŠJů (talk) 00:48, 10 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Currently there are only a few sentences on chapel shrines in this article, and so the topic does not seem well-developed enough to merit a separate article at this point. However, if it is better developed, I have no objection to a separate English article on chapel shrines, and the Wikidata suggestion 1) column shrines, 2) chapel shrines, 3) wayside shrines (= 1 + 2) is a good one. Doremo (talk) 04:54, 10 August 2014 (UTC)


 * As seen from the above, it seems reasonable to keep niche chapels and column shrines as subheadings of the wayside shrine. A similar discussion was recently opened at Commons after redirecting the category Wayside shrines in the Czech Republic to Column shrines in the CR, despite what had been said two comments above.--cheva (talk) 07:05, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

Ad-hoc memorials?
Is this article specific to permanent structures, or would it also include more ad-hoc memorials constructed in the present day in memory of accident victims? Such things show up on roadsides in, say, the US, consisting of a cross, pictures, candles, etc. Morfusmax (talk) 19:59, 21 October 2016 (UTC)

Potentially merge kandilakia here?
Is kandilakia actually the name normally used in Greece? Does anyone know? A search of καντηλάκια on Google Images turns up some of these shrines, but also other things; and, generally, it doesn't seem to be a specific designation. The Greek Wikipedia article on this topic is called εικονοστάσιο στην άκρη του δρόμου (ikonostásio stin akri tu drómu, literally "shrine at the roadside"), suggesting iconostasium or ikonostasio ("shrine") would be a better name for the kandilakia article. (A search of "ikonostasio" on Google Images yields similarly mixed results.) The Greek article begins, "In Greece, there are shrines along roads or pilgrimages," and makes no mention of the word καντηλάκια (kandilakia). — the Man in Question (in question)  22:34, 26 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Carried out the merge, but moving minimal content across given that the descriptions there duplicate those already on the page and are unreferenced. I also added the alternative (perhaps preferred) name to the article. I'm no expert on this topic, so feel more than free to correct my edits! ✅ Klbrain (talk) 11:38, 28 August 2018 (UTC)

This doesn’t seem to be a shrine, is it?
I would categorize this as column and not as shrine as there is no enclosed space: Dieterdreist (talk) 19:33, 24 October 2022 (UTC)


 * The "column shrine" (1, 2, 3) or "pillar shrine" (1, 2, 3), not necessarily containing a niche or other enclosure, seems to be a type of shrine in the dictionary sense of "an object, structure, or place that is considered sacred by a religious group" (Merriam-Webster). Doremo (talk) 02:54, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Wayshrines?
I've seen these things also being called wayshrines, e.g. this or this. But this contracted form may have originated in the Elder Scrolls game series. 2804:D4B:79BD:8F00:A1C2:B558:D8ED:7857 (talk) 01:43, 18 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Wayshrine does not appear to be a term with any significant usage per Google Ngram. Doremo (talk) 02:12, 18 July 2023 (UTC)