Sacred and mysterious places
There are places that humanity has chosen, in different ages and cultures, to encounter the sacred: a cave on a headland, an island beaten by the waves, a hill on which to raise stone pillars, a cathedral floor on which to trace a labyrinth. This section tells the story of twenty such places, from Neolithic Anatolia at Göbekli Tepe to Orkney at Skara Brae, from the Mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace to the sanctuaries of the archangel Michael on the Gargano, in the Susa Valley and in Normandy. There are the great Christian pilgrimages, from Santiago de Compostela to Lourdes and Montserrat, the monastic communities of Mount Athos, Iona and Skellig Michael, the winter sun entering Newgrange and the silence of the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta. For each place we carefully distinguish documented history from the legends that surround it, such as the famous Saint Michael's line, presenting them for what they are: tales that say a great deal about those who created and handed them down.
Eleusis, the sanctuary of the Mysteries of Demeter and Kore
Eleusis and its Mysteries: the myth of Demeter and Kore, the Telesterion, the procession from Athens and a secret kept for nearly two thousand years.
3 min read2Sacred and mysterious placesNewgrange and the light of the winter solstice
Newgrange in Ireland is older than the pyramids of Giza: the passage tomb, the roof-box, the light of the solstice and the myth of Aengus.
3 min read3Sacred and mysterious placesThe labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral
The Chartres labyrinth, laid into the nave floor in the early thirteenth century: its shape, measurements, symbols and the tradition of the road to Jerusalem.
3 min read4Sacred and mysterious placesThe Sacra di San Michele, an abbey suspended over the Susa Valley
The Sacra di San Michele on Mount Pirchiriano: its founding in the late tenth century, the Stairway of the Dead, the Zodiac Door and the tale of fair Alda.
3 min read5Sacred and mysterious placesSaint Michael's line: the story of a modern legend
Saint Michael's line supposedly links seven shrines from Ireland to Israel: the origins of the legend, the places involved and what history and geography say.
3 min read6Sacred and mysterious placesMont-Saint-Michel, the abbey amid the tides of Normandy
Mont-Saint-Michel in history and legend: Bishop Aubert's visions, the Benedictines, the Gothic Merveille, the prison years and the great tides of the bay.
3 min read7Sacred and mysterious placesSantiago de Compostela and the tomb of the apostle James
Santiago de Compostela: the discovery of the tomb of James in the ninth century, the legend of the translation, the Pórtico de la Gloria and the botafumeiro.
3 min read8Sacred and mysterious placesThe Way of Saint James: history, symbols and the Codex Calixtinus
The Way of Saint James from the Middle Ages to today: the Codex Calixtinus, the scallop shell, the holy years, the Compostela and the pilgrim roads of Europe.
3 min read9Sacred and mysterious placesDelphi, the navel of the world on the slopes of Parnassus
Delphi as a place: the omphalos, the temple of Apollo, the Castalian spring, the Marmaria tholos, the treasuries, the theatre and the rediscovery.
3 min read10Sacred and mysterious placesMount Athos, the monks' republic in the heart of the Aegean
Mount Athos: the founding of the Great Lavra in 963, the twenty monasteries, the avaton, hesychasm, the Garden of the Mother of God and Byzantine time.
3 min read11Sacred and mysterious placesGöbekli Tepe, the oldest stone pillars in the world
Göbekli Tepe in Anatolia: T-shaped pillars carved over eleven thousand years ago, Klaus Schmidt's excavations and the debate on the first sanctuary.
3 min read12Sacred and mysterious placesSkara Brae and the sacred Neolithic landscape of Orkney
Skara Brae, the Neolithic village of Orkney uncovered in 1850, and the monuments nearby: Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness.
3 min read13Sacred and mysterious placesMalta and the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, an underground sanctuary
The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum in Paola, Malta: three rock-cut levels, the Sleeping Lady, the Oracle Room and the megalithic temples of the archipelago.
3 min read14Sacred and mysterious placesMonte Sant'Angelo, the archangel's cave on the Gargano
Monte Sant'Angelo on the Gargano: the traditional apparitions of Saint Michael, the heavenly basilica, the bronze doors and the cult of the Lombards.
3 min read15Sacred and mysterious placesLourdes and the grotto of Massabielle at the foot of the Pyrenees
Lourdes since 1858: Bernadette Soubirous, the eighteen apparitions in the grotto of Massabielle, the basilicas and the birth of a great Marian shrine.
3 min read16Sacred and mysterious placesMontserrat, the serrated mountain and the Moreneta
Montserrat in Catalonia: the abbey founded in 1025, the Black Madonna known as the Moreneta, the Llibre Vermell, the Escolania and the Grail legends.
3 min read17Sacred and mysterious placesGamla Uppsala and the temple of the Norse gods
Gamla Uppsala in Sweden: the great royal mounds, the temple described by Adam of Bremen, the nine-yearly sacrifices and the church built on the site.
3 min read18Sacred and mysterious placesSkellig Michael, the monastery suspended over the Atlantic
Skellig Michael off County Kerry: the beehive cells of the Irish monks, the steps cut in the rock, the Viking raid of 823 and the UNESCO site.
3 min read19Sacred and mysterious placesSamothrace and the sanctuary of the Great Gods
Samothrace in the northern Aegean: the mysteries of the Great Gods, the Arsinoeion, the initiation of Philip and Olympias and the finding of the Nike in 1863.
3 min read20Sacred and mysterious placesIona, the island of Saint Columba in the Hebrides
Iona in the Scottish Hebrides: the arrival of Saint Columba in 563, Adomnán's Life, the Book of Kells, the Viking raids and the tombs of the kings.
3 min read