What is a sacred site?
Sacred sites are locations that have been set aside from the places we encounter in our everyday lives and generally fall within two general categories: built structures or natural places. They have been set aside because they are deemed to have a spiritual or religious purpose and sacred meaning within a cultural context. These places may be associated with sacred stories, ceremonies, rituals and practices.
Some general categories and types of sacred sites are:
Built Sites
Built sites may have remarkable architecture and/or a historic relationship with sacred land and/or environments. They may include:
- Temples
- Churches
- Shrines
- Altars
- Places of pilgrimage
- Ruins, sites previously occupied
- Firepits
Natural Sites
Natural sacred sites are often part of a greater sacred landscape (on land or below water) with many sacred sites that are related to one another and therefore interconnected. These sites may include:
- Rivers and their sources
- Springs and their sources
- Wells
- Mountains
- Rocks and rock outcroppings
- Trees and tree groves
- Forests
- Caves
- Islands
- Cultural Sacred Landscapes, storyscapes
- Origin Sites
- Pilgrimage Routes
- Sacred Ceremonial areas
- Rock/Plant Shrines – Mani stones
- Gathering places for sacred plants
- A place for entering the spirit world
Archaeological Sites:
- Archaeoastronomy and calendric sites
- Megaliths: stone circles, menhirs, dolmens
- Traditional architecture like historic American Indian dwellings
- Kivas
- Pictographs and petroglyphs
- Temple Ruins
- Totem Poles
- Significant alignments
Burial Sites and Massacre Sites
- Burial grounds of native peoples
- Historic cemeteries
- Mass burial sites
- Massacre sites
- Memorials, including contemporary sites like Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial
- Shellmounds and other cultural mounds
Sacred sites are located all around the world. Sacred Sites International has compiled a list of endangered, lost/damaged, and saved sites, along with a brief description of each.
Endangered Sacred Sites | Lost Sacred Sites | Saved Sacred Sites