Sacred Caves and Cave Temples
Below is an illustrated index of the 16 Sacred Caves and Cave Temples profiled on Sacred Destinations so far. For photo credits, please see corresponding articles.
A series of 29 Buddhist cave temples dating from as early as the 2nd century BC, the Ajanta Caves contain some of the best masterpieces of Buddhist art in India.
Located on Gellert Hill overlooking Liberty Bridge is a unique grotto chapel of Hungarian Paulite monks. Closed during the Communist years and now reopened, it offers a peaceful respite from the city.
This ancient cave church is believed to have been dug by St. Peter himself. Fronted by a Crusader-era facade, it still hosts worship services and attracts pilgrims.
This sacred grotto is believed to mark the spot where St. John received his visions from Christ that he recorded in the Book of Revelation.
According to legend, seven Christian boys were locked in this cave by the Romans in c.250 AD, fell asleep, and woke up in the 5th century. It became a place of burial and pilgrimage.
An important shrine to several religions, this is said to be the very cave in which the Hebrew prophet Elijah is believed to have lived and taught.
The Ellora Caves are a magnificent complex of 34 Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples extending over more than 2 kilometers in central India.
Cappadocia's most famous attraction, for good reason, is the Göreme Open Air Museum, a complex of medieval cave churches carved out and painted by Orthodox monks.
Although not generally accessible to the public, this cave is worth mentioning for the important frescoes and inscriptions that were found inside.
This volcanic cave on the west coast of Oahu is where the local people believe mankind was born, emerging from the womb of the earth goddess.
This famous cave complex in southwest France contains some of the oldest and finest prehistoric art in the world. The paintings, which mainly depict majestic animals, are some 17,000 years old.
Stretching for a half-mile along the west bank of a river, this site includes some 1,350 caves and 40 pagodas, filled with thousands of Buddhist statues carved out of the hard limestone cliffs.
According to tradition, Mary nursed Jesus here and spilled a drop of milk, turning the ground white. Christian and Muslim women collect stone scrapings from the cave for fertility.
These Buddhist cave temples were a center of culture on the Silk Road from the 4th to the 14th centuries and contain well-preserved religious murals and carvings spanning that entire period.
An 8th-century Buddhist cave temple in the hills above Bulguksa, this is the only structure surviving fully intact from the Silla era.
This hilltop monastery in Subiaco enshrines the sacred cave in which St. Benedict lived as a hermit before he organized his first monastic community. Its church is covered in beautiful Gothic frescoes.
