Entrance to the Holy city

This piece is from a series of environments that I'm doing as a means to push my skills and portfolio. I've been busy with freelance lately, so for now will stay with just values. I will be updating it with adding process as well as prop explorations.
This is the first image of a series of at least 3 that relate to each other. This is meant to be a holy city in the middle of the desert. The city is home to at least four different major religions that govern the city peacefully. People do pilgrimages to the city from all over the world and on its entrance they leave charms and trinkets to help keep the city protected, even though it has its own protection against evil.
My intention with the other two images is to explore different areas of the city. Currently blocking in maya the base for a market/slum area and third one will be most likely the council room where all high ranking members of each religion come together and discuss city matters.