Features / Bristol airport
I went on a pilgrimage to Bristol Airport’s world famous multi-faith area
I thought my visit had been a wasted one. I wasn’t here to catch a flight to a far-flung destination. I was here on a pilgrimage to Bristol Airport’s new multi-faith area which has caught the attention of the world, with more than 14m views since first being revealed on social media on Thursday.
But I couldn’t find it anywhere. Until a free shuttle bus from the terminal to the silver zone parking brought me closer to the promised land.
After a fruitless search around much of the car park, I first saw the multi-faith area next to the free waiting zone. Its translucent windows were like a beacon as the setting sun cast long shadows over Lulsgate.
is needed now More than ever
A car was parked just a few feet away from the multi-faith area on Saturday afternoon
Bristol Airport really is just a giant car park with an aiport in the middle of it. And now to the side of one of these car parks is the multi-faith area.
Some disparaging online commentators have compared the multi-faith area to a bus stop or smoking shelter.
But in situ, there is absolutely no confusion because there is a smoking shelter literally next to the multi-faith area, whose frontage is well-protected by a pair of bollards doing the lord’s work.
Since Bristol Airport workers in hi-vis first revealed its glory to the world, half a dozen prayer mats have been carefully positioned on the asphalt floor of the multi-faith area.
A sign hanging from the ceiling points to ‘Quibla’. It should say Qibla, but who’s quibbling?
A glimpse inside Bristol’s newest place of pilgrimage
Another sign inside says: ‘Shelter only to be used for religious or meditation purposes’. The logo of Bristol Airport is at the bottom of this particular sign in case in the midst of a transcendental state, you forget that you are meant to be flying to Tenerife with the lads.
On closer investigation, I deduced that among the multiple faiths who might one day gather here, a meditating Buddhist and a prostrate Muslim would easily be able to leave room for an incense-swinging Christian, but only if a Jedi protected the interior from inclement weather.
An actual smoking shelter is next to the multi-faith area which some unkind online comments have likened to a smoking shelter
My own pilgrimage ended with a silent prayer that I would remember to claim back on expenses the £15 cost of a return ticket on the Airport Flyer bus.
Cambodia has Angkor Wat. Istanbul has the Blue Mosque. Barcelona has the Sagrada Familia. And now Bristol has our multi-faith area.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, multi-faith area
Praise be to the multi-faith area
All photos: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Following all 44 miles of Bristol’s boundary on foot
- Celebrating the religious diversity of Bristol
- ‘It is important to call out Bristol Airport’s greenwashing for what it is’
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