[1] Hierotopy accounts for the ways in which a vast array of media (e.g. religious images, ritual, song, incense, light) are used to organize sacred spaces.
[2] One can consider as hierotopic examples King Solomon's construction of the First Temple,[3] the erection of Hagia Sophia by Emperor Justinian,[4] as well as the work of Abbot Suger in the conception of first Gothic cathedrals.
This concept applies to the way in which the perception of architecture, light, image, ritual practice, as well as various other components forming sacred spaces, is unified into a single vision.
[18][19] According to his conception, an image-paradigm is a guiding image-vision that is created with the help of various media and that is aimed at evoking the same image in the mind of beholders of a sacred space.
An image-paradigm, which is essentially different from an illustrative picture or representation, is a means of communication between the creators of sacred spaces and their beholders.
As an example, the image of the Heavenly Jerusalem, which was present in Medieval churches without being directly represented, is one of the most significant image-paradigms in the Christian tradition.