Temple of Solomon of the Universal Church as “a space for all”

tourism and its experimentations

Abstract

This paper analyzes the processes and dynamics of the construction of the Temple of Solomon of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God as a space conceived for all, through the lens of tourism and its various modalities. The study focuses on visits and tourism, investigating the institutional intentions behind the promotion of the Temple as a tourist destination. The methodology combines ethnographic fieldwork carried out at the Temple in 2018 with documentary research on the Church’s official websites and pages, as well as journalistic reports from multiple media outlets. The findings indicate that tourism plays a key role in shaping the identity of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God by producing a reconstructed traditionalism. This traditionalism, built on elements referencing a mythical Israel, is mobilized by the institution as a strategy to “bring the Holy Land to everyone.” The different forms of tourism developed at the Temple of Solomon highlight the place that the Universal Church seeks to occupy within the Brazilian religious field, positioning itself as a relevant actor in religious tourism, a space historically dominated by the Catholic Church in the country.