About Sacred Destinations

The author and her trusty Canon in Oxford.


Tripod among tombstones at Oddington Church.


Admiring frescoes in Spiez, Switzerland.


Wells Cathedral poses for a photo.


Conquering Casablanca Cathedral, Morocco.


Stalking standing stones: Hurlers, Cornwall.


Exploring a snowy Liebrauenkirche in Trier.


Getting a good angle on Cologne Cathedral.


In the mikveh of the Alte Synagogue, Worms.

Thank you for visiting Sacred Destinations! Here is some background information about this website and its author.

About the Website

Sacred Destinations was founded in April 2005. It currently profiles more than 1,250 sacred sites and religious places in 61 countries, illustrated by over 25,000 photos. It is an ecumenical guide, encompassing the sacred places of a wide variety of faiths. It is generally objective and encyclopedic in tone, with a strong emphasis on history and art. To assist with travel planning, we also include resources such as maps, books, links to travel bookings, and information on major cities.

Sacred Destinations is not sponsored by any organization or travel agency, but was founded and is maintained by an interested individual. I have not personally visited all the sites profiled here (and probably never will, given the global scope) but for those I have, I include personal impressions and travel tips when applicable.

About the Author

My name is Holly Hayes and I'm the founder, author, and co-photographer of Sacred Destinations. I'm an American from the beautiful western state of Oregon. I'm not an expert on sacred places or religious art, but I have studied some related subjects. Below is a brief overview of my academic and travel experiences for anyone who might be interested.

After receiving a B.A. in Religion (and a minor in math!) in Oregon, I headed to Scotland for a one-year master's program in theology at the University of Edinburgh, where I got to live right on the Royal Mile. Then I returned to Oregon, where I got a "real job" for a few years to pay off the loans, while also working as an adjunct professor of religious history at a local university. A nice perk of the real job was meeting David, whom I married in 2004. David is the co-photographer and technical-support provider of Sacred Destinations.

In 2005, we left for England so I could do a two-year master's program (M.Phil.) in religious history at the University of Oxford. My area of emphasis was Early Christianity and my dissertation was on the transition from pagan religions to Christianity in Ephesus. In our spare time we traveled as much as possible, both in England and farther afield to Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Rome, Spain, and Morocco.

I completed my degree in June 2007, after which we moved into a rented flat in the beautiful village of Great Milton in Oxfordshire. Following my graduation ceremony in November 2007, we took a self-guided driving tour around continental Europe for almost a year, focusing especially on Germany, Italy and France, before finally returning to the USA in August 2008.

Throughout our three years abroad, we spent most of our free time visiting and photographing historic religious sites for this website and its new photo database. The resulting gazillions of photos are still being captioned, edited and published. In the meantime, you can check out a complete list of all our places visited and read all about our trip on the Sacred Destinations Blog (see especially the "Archives by Place" on the right).

About the Photos

Many of the photos published on Sacred Destinations were taken by me and my husband David. The places we've personally visited are mostly in Europe, but also a bit in Morocco and the western United States. All photos that were taken by us are available for licensing and several have already been published in books and magazines.

For places we haven't visited yet, or visited in the pre-digital days, or on an ugly rainy day, we publish photos by permission from other travelers and photographers around the world. These include the many photographers who have generously licensed their images under Creative Commons.

See About Images for more details or go to Sacred Destinations Photography to search and license our photos.

About Sacred Sites

For purposes of this website, sacred sites include:

• awe-inspiring natural sites (like sacred mountains);
• sites made special by their connection to a god, saint or hero (like Aphrodite, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Catholic saints, or even Martin Luther);
• sites where miracles or supernatural experiences occurred (like Lourdes or Sinai); and
• man-made structures made sacred by their use for worship or ritual (temples, pyramids, churches, synagogues, mosques).

Religious art and artifacts connected with sacred sites are also included in our guide, even if they are now in museums.

For many believers, spiritually-themed journeys to sacred sites is a deeply meaningful experience. And thanks to the (relative) efficiencies of modern transportation, more pilgrims than ever are able to visit sacred sites around the world, from Varanasi to Jerusalem to Lourdes.

But sacred sites have plenty to attract non-religious travelers, too. Religion has been central to nearly every culture that has populated this planet and has therefore significantly impacted these cultures' art and architecture. So sacred sites are thrilling in large part because they are history and spirituality made visible and touchable. Moreover, since the sacred has been of the utmost importance to most cultures around the world, no expense or labor was spared in building and decorating sacred sites - meaning that religious buildings are among the most beautiful and awe-inspiring examples of architecture you'll see in your travels. After all, religious or not, who visits Paris without visiting the grand Notre Dame, or Cairo without seeing the astonishing Pyramids?

About "The List" of Sacred Sites

The website is still relatively young and the to-do list remains very long. My ultimate goal is to provide useful, comprehensive information and quality photos on virtually all notable sacred sites around the world - so I imagine this will be a lifelong project!

There is no set way of prioritizing which sites are added first, so if a notable religious site doesn't yet appear on Sacred Destinations, it simply means I haven't gotten to it yet. Choosing what to work on next is usually governed by such personal factors as the places I've visited and photographed, places for which I have good information resources, places for which good pictures are available, and whatever happens to sound interesting on a given day. Often I'm prompted by an e-mail from an interested visitor, so if there's a site you'd like to see added, please contact me and let me know!

Intended Audience

The intended audience of Sacred Destinations is simply anyone who's interested or might find the information useful, which I think might include:

• religious pilgrims and spiritual travelers
• the ordinary traveler who wants to see interesting, historical or beautiful sights
• students and teachers of religion, art or history
• anyone interested in the religious heritage of the world
• anyone interested in history, geography, art or architecture

Information Sources & Disclaimer

The information on Sacred Destinations is based on a variety of reliable sources, including: academic textbooks on archaeology, architecture and religion; travel guidebooks; online resources, especially official websites; and my own travel experiences.

Obligatory disclaimer: Circumstances can change when it comes to travel and I am definitely human, so please always double-check important things like opening times before you travel and contact me if you spot an error in any article or photo caption.

How to Use This Site

You can browse religious places by country or by category using the top menu or our main category page. You can also search for keywords using the box at the top of every page or on the search page. To introduce you to some sites you may not know about, there are rotating photos on the home page and in our Google photo gadget.

I hope you enjoy this website, and happy exploring! Questions or comments? Contact me here.

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Except where indicated otherwise, all content and images © 2005-09 Sacred Destinations. All rights reserved.
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Sacred Destinations is an online travel guide to sacred sites, pilgrimages, holy places, religious history, sacred places, historical religious sites, archaeological sites,
religious festivals, sacred sites, spiritual retreats, religious travel and spiritual journeys. We are a Yahoo Pick!
Popular categories: Ancient Mysteries, Biblical Sites, Cathedrals, Catholic Shrines, Footsteps of Jesus, Luther Sites
Popular sites: Lourdes, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Oberammergau Passion Play, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Stonehenge
Popular destinations: Rome (Rome Map), Ravenna, Ephesus, Meteora, Athens, Assisi, Paris, Jerusalem