Sacred Sites International

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Sacred Sites International

Sacred Sites International Foundation advocates the preservation of natural and built sacred places.

We believe that protecting sacred sites is key to preserving traditional cultures and time-honored values of respecting the earth.

05/27/2026

This is Iya Moopa, the Mother Fertility Goddess worshipped in the Yoruba tradition. Her abode is the Osun River in Nigeria. She, along with other deities, are venerated in the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove. Nigeria declared it to be a National Monument in 1965 and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.

There are annual festivals that take place every August drawing hundreds of people from Yoruba land: Nigeria, Togo and Benin.

A feature of the site are the many sculptures depicting goddesses and gods along with their artfully decorated shrines.

05/22/2026

This is the Celtic menhir at Cwm Rhaeadr Fawr (valley near Aber Falls), Gwynedd, Wales. This is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), a Special Area of Conservation and a National Nature Reserves.

05/20/2026

This is the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, a Buddhist temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka, located in the Royal Palace.

Rituals are performed three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the evenings. On Wednesdays, there is a symbolic bathing of the relic with a herbal preparation made from scented water and fragrant flowers called Nanumura Mangallaya; this holy water is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed among those present. The Kandy Esala Perahera is conducted annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic.

05/19/2026

This is the partially frozen Gurudongmar Lake, a high altitude glacial lake located in the northeast Indian state of Sikkim. Located at an altitude of over 5,150 metres (16,900 ft), the lake is located to the north of the Himalayas, and is fed by glaciers of the Khangchengyao massif. It forms the headwaters of the Teesta river and is considered sacred by Buddhists and Sikhs.

05/15/2026

This is the Cathedral of Saint-Julien of Le Mans, France, which was built from 6th C to the 15th century CE. We are featuring it because of several unusual features: They have installed a menhir outside on one of the corners of the cathedral (were there pagan people at the site which predated the structure?) We have not been able find out anything more specific about the menhir. The menhir looks like it may have been carved? What do you think?

Also, the cathedral is architecturally interesting because of massive bifurcating flying buttresses. They split the load allowing for an even taller and thinner building.

05/13/2026

This is Takht-i-Bahi ("Throne of the Water Spring") an exceptionally well-preserved 1st-century CE Buddhist monastic complex located in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Perched on a 150-meter-high hill, this UNESCO World Heritage Site (1980) represents ancient Gandharan architecture and was a major center of learning until the 7th century

05/11/2026

These are some drawings and photos of Rapa Nui before it was managed and before large numbers of tourists were arriving by air and by sea. The earliest drawing is from 1772-1775.

05/06/2026

This is one of Easter Island's famous Moai lying on its back while gazing at the Milky Way. Taken at Abu Tongariki by Anne Dirkse.

05/03/2026

This is the Princes Road Synagogue, also called the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation located in England. It was an Orthodox Jewish congregation founded in 1780 who worshipped the Ashkenazi rites.

The congregation commissioned a place to worship and engaged Scottish brothers William & George Audsley as architects and they completed the structure in 1874.

The architecture is Moorish Revival in style with eclectic touches such as a Romanesque barrel vault all executed in a harmonious manner.

05/01/2026

Today is May Day, the cross-quarter day between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It is celebrated with numerous traditions, such as the lifting of a May Pole. In Ireland it is marked by Beltane with bonfires. In England there is Jack the Green festivities. Other symbols of the season include May baskets and bouquets and the Dancing around the May Pole.

04/29/2026

This is the Vedanta Temple, the first Hindu Temple in the Western World. It was built in San Francisco at the corner of Webster and Filbert. The cornerstone was installed in August of 1905 and the first 2 stories were completed in December of 1905. It was dedicated in January of 1906 and survived the Great San Francisco earthquake that took place in April of 1906.

Notice the historic photo dated 1915 of an adjacent Fire Station with their new motorized fire engine. The Temple is in the background.

Within several years a third story to the building was added and various shrines were installed on the roof. The architecture encompasses numerous styles: Queen Anne, Colonial, Moorish and Medieval.

These architectural styles are said to symbolize Vedic doctrine that all religions are different ways of approaching one God.

The Vedanta Temple stands today.

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1442 Walnut Street, # 330
Berkeley, CA
94707

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http://www.sacred-sites.org/

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