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About Sacred Destinations
The author and her trusty Canon in Oxford.
Wells Cathedral poses for a photo.
Conquering Casablanca Cathedral, Morocco.
Tripod among tombstones at Oddington Church.
Stalking standing stones: The Hurlers, Cornwall.
Exploring a snowy Liebrauenkirche in Trier.
Getting a good angle on Cologne Cathedral.
Thank you for visiting Sacred Destinations! Here is some background information about this website and its author. (Want to use a photo? Please see About Images.)
About the Webmaster
My name is Holly Hayes and I'm the founder, author, webmaster and main photographer of Sacred Destinations. I'm from Oregon in the USA and am currently living in Bonn, Germany.
In June 2007 I completed an MPhil degree in the history of religion at the University of Oxford; my dissertation was on the transition from Greco-Roman paganism to Christianity in ancient Ephesus. I'm now taking another year to explore and photograph Continental Europe before returning to the USA in late 2008.
In producing this website I am helped a great deal by my husband David, who is a skilled photographer, an excellent travel partner, and always keeps my cameras, computer, and internet connection in working order.
About This Website
Sacred Destinations was launched in April 2005. It grew out of my academic interests in religious history combined with my personal enjoyment of travel, historic architecture and religious art.
This website currently profiles more than 1,100 sacred sites and religious places in 55 countries. It also provides lots of related travel resources, including glossaries, biographies, histories, maps, photo galleries, and visitor guides to major cities.
The majority of photos on this website were taken by me or my husband David. You can see a collection of our most recent photos on Flickr and read about our travel adventures in the photo-heavy Sacred Destinations Blog, which I update about once a week or so.
The places I've personally visited are mostly in Europe. For places I haven't visited yet, or visited in my pre-digital days, or on an ugly rainy day, photos are used 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.)
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 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).
Articles focus not only on sacred significance but also notable architectural features and historic importance. And artifacts connected with sacred sites are also included, even if they are now only in museums.
For believers, religiously-themed journeys to sacred sites can be a deeply meaningful spiritual 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 much to attract non-religious travelers as well. Religion has been a central part of nearly every culture that has populated this planet and has significantly impacted these cultures' art and architecture. So sacred sites are thrilling in large part because they are history and belief made alive, visual, and tangible. And, of course, religious buildings are among the most beautiful and awe-inspiring examples of architecture you'll see in your travels. Religious or not, who visits Paris without checking out the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral, 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 information and quality photos on virtually all notable sacred and religious 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 and 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 interest me 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 expect would 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 and 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 including 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 © 2005-08 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, Dead on Display, Footsteps of Jesus, Luther Sites
