Sanctuary

A sanctuary is a place, building, object or the like of central religious significance. In the religions, a sanctuary is accorded special veneration and esteem, which is expressed by visiting or tabooing the holy site, or by protecting it or taking it with them.

Occasionally, entire cities are called Holy Cities (Greek: Hierapolis), such as Rome or Jerusalem, because of the multitude of holy places. The latter is considered a holy city by Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the case of Palestine, one also speaks of the Holy Land.

Archaeological identification of sanctuaries

It is often difficult to identify earlier places used by humans as sanctuaries. Written tradition, place names, pictorial monuments and ground finds are available as aids. In Europe, although Tacitus described a number of sanctuaries, none of these sites has been identified so far. The same applies to the tradition of Slavic and Scandinavian sanctuaries. The dating of place names is controversial. Evaluable pictorial monuments have only existed since the end of the imperial period and in the Migration Period. As a rule, only the archaeological findings remain. In this context, three criteria for a sanctuary have been developed:

• The continuity of the sacred site, which often survives a change of religion.
• Discovery. Sanctuaries are not planned. They can be anywhere and need not be tied to particular landscape formations. The reasons for the choice of location no longer have to be archaeologically verifiable.
• But predominantly it is the unusual, a topographical peculiarity, that is taken up.

See also

• Geomancy
• Hieron (Architecture)