Site type guide
Shrine
Shrines are often intimate centers of devotion, memory, petition, healing, and pilgrimage, ranging from local roadside places to major international destinations.
91 shrine sacred sites. Use the country and tradition filters to narrow in.
Atlas summary
Shrine sacred sites overview
Shrine sacred sites span countries, traditions, pilgrimage routes, and sacred landscapes represented in the Pilgrim Map atlas.
Use this guide to compare major country clusters, represented traditions, UNESCO-tagged places, and the map distribution before opening individual site pages.
| Coverage | 91 shrine sacred sites across the current atlas. |
|---|---|
| Major countries | |
| Traditions | |
| UNESCO heritage | 3 UNESCO-tagged shrine sites appear in this browse view. |
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91
Showing 1-48 of 91 sites in this site-type guide
Ak Ishan
Baharden, Ahal, Turkmenistan
In the hills west of Ashgabat, pilgrims have journeyed for over a century to the tomb of Ak Ishan, a Sufi saint who memorized the Quran by age twelve and served as advisor...
Amanoiwato Shrine
Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
In a forested gorge in Kyushu's Takachiho region, pilgrims have gathered for centuries at the cave where Amaterasu, the sun goddess and ancestress of Japan's Imperial...
Arslankaya
Afyonkarahisar, Döğer / İhsaniye, Turkey
Rising fifteen meters from the shore of Emre Lake, Arslankaya is one of the best-preserved Phrygian rock shrines in existence....
Atago Shrine (Atago Jinja)
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Atago Shrine crowns Mount Atago at 924 meters, the highest point surrounding Kyoto....
Atsuta Shrine
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Atsuta Shrine houses Kusanagi-no-tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword—one of three sacred objects that legitimize Japan's Imperial throne....
Basilica of Notre-Dame du Port
Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Built from the dark volcanic stone of Auvergne, Notre-Dame du Port stands among the finest Romanesque churches in France—one of ten major examples within thirty kilometers....
Basilica of Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland
County Mayo, Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District, Ireland
On a wet evening in 1879, fifteen people watched an apparition appear at the gable of a small parish church in the west of Ireland. No words were spoken....
Basilica Shrine of Caravaca de la Cruz, Spain
Caravaca de la Cruz, Region of Murcia, Spain
One of only five Catholic Holy Cities in the world, Caravaca de la Cruz holds a relic believed to contain a fragment of the True Cross....
Bayazid Bostami
Bayejid Bostami, Chittagong Division, Bangladesh
On a hillock above Chittagong, a shrine attributed to the ninth-century Persian mystic Bayazid Bastami draws thousands of daily pilgrims....
Black Madonna of Breznice
Capital City of Prague, Prague, Czechia
Created in 1396 for King Wenceslas IV, the Madonna of Breznice is among Europe's most explicitly intentional Black Madonnas....
Black Madonna of Częstochowa (Eureka, MO)
Eureka, Missouri, United States
Hidden on a wooded hillside in the Missouri Ozarks, the Black Madonna Shrine is the life's work of Brother Bronislaus Luszcz, a Polish Franciscan who spent 23 years...
Black Madonna of Daurade
Toulouse, Occitania, France
Notre-Dame la Noire—Our Lady the Black One—has protected mothers in childbirth since at least the tenth century....
Black Madonna of Dublin
Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
In Dublin's Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church, a life-sized oak Madonna stands near the high altar, her original gold and blue paint stripped away by centuries....
Black Madonna of Kaltenleutgeben
Kaltenleutgeben, Lower Austria, Austria
In this baroque church south of Vienna, a copy of the famous Altotting Black Madonna has drawn pilgrims since 1712....
Black Madonna of Langenzersdorf
Langenzersdorf, Lower Austria, Austria
Since 1708, this copy of the famous Einsiedeln Black Madonna has kept vigil in St....
Black Madonna of Lavanttal
Sankt Andrä, Carinthia, Austria
In the Carinthian town of St. Andra, within a baroque basilica modeled after Italy's Holy House of Loreto, a Black Madonna has drawn pilgrims for nearly four centuries....
Black Madonna of Loretto Burgenland
Loretto, Burgenland, Austria
In the Austrian village that took its name from Loreto, a 1644 replica of the famous Black Madonna has outlasted the Italian original....
Black Madonna of Maria Loretto Peninsula
Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria
On a peninsula reaching into Lake Woerthersee, this 17th-century chapel replicates the Holy House of Loreto in Italy....
Black Madonna of Moulins
Moulins, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
In Moulins Cathedral, a Black Madonna holds the Christ child who blesses the world with one hand while clutching the closed book of gospels to his chest....
Black Madonna of Naples
Naples, Campania, Italy
In a basilica at the edge of Naples' ancient market square, an icon with a dark face gazes down from above the high altar....
Black Madonna of Pontoise
Pontoise, Metropolitan France, France
The Miraculous Virgin of Pontoise stands over two meters tall, fine and slender, carved in the thirteenth century....
Black Madonna of Vichy
Vichy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
In November 1793, Revolutionary authorities in Vichy condemned a medieval Black Virgin—tried her like a traitor, sentenced her, beheaded her, and set her burning....
Black Virgin of the Recollects
Verviers, Liège, Belgium
In the Belgian city of Verviers, a 17th-century statue of the Virgin Mary holds a singular place in Black Madonna veneration....
Casa de Yemanjá
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
On a beach in Salvador's Rio Vermelho neighborhood, a former fishermen's weighing house has become one of the most publicly visible shrines to Yemanjá, the Candomblé...
Chak Chak
دهستان رباطات, Yazd Province, Iran
High in a desert cliff near Yazd, Chak Chak (Pir-e Sabz) is the most sacred mountain shrine of Zoroastrianism....
Chapel of Soyartze
Uhart-Mixe, France
Crowning a hill at about 286 metres above Uhart-Mixe, this small open chapel is a Marian sanctuary descended from a twelfth-century Premonstratensian foundation....
Church of St Jean du Grund (Black Madonna of Grund)
Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Nestled in the ancient Grund valley beneath Luxembourg's fortress walls, the Church of St Jean du Grund houses one of Europe's most evocative Black Madonnas....
Church of the Black Madonna
Letnicë, Gjilan District, Kosovo
High in Kosovo's Karadak hills, the Roman Catholic sanctuary of Letnica holds the Black Madonna, a darkened wooden Virgin believed to work miracles....
Difunta Correa shrine, San Juan
Vallecito, San Juan, Argentina
In the desert east of San Juan, at a place called Vallecito, a shrine complex has grown from a single grave into a small city of offerings....
Diocesan Shrine of the Captive Lord of Ayabaca
Distrito de Ayabaca, Piura, Peru
In the mountains of northwestern Peru, near the border with Ecuador, stands a Christ with bound hands—the Captive Lord of Ayabaca....
Dome of the Rock
Jerusalem, Israel
Completed in 691/692 CE, the Dome of the Rock is one of the oldest surviving works of Islamic architecture....
Fushimi Inari-taisha
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Since 711 CE, pilgrims have climbed sacred Mount Inari through tunnels of vermilion torii gates—each one donated by someone whose prayers were answered, or who hoped they...
Futarasan Shrine (Nikkō Futarasan Jinja)
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Futarasan Shrine connects three sacred spaces in a vertical axis of worship: the main shrine at the base of Mount Nantai, the Chuguji by Lake Chuzenji, and the summit...
Hiro Shrine
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
At the base of Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall, Hirou Shrine offers something rare: direct worship of natural phenomenon....
Hiyoshi Taisha
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
At the foot of sacred Mount Hiei, Hiyoshi Taisha has served as spiritual guardian for over two thousand years....
Huaca Pachatosa
Cusco, Cusco, Peru
Huaca Pachatosa is a sacred site in Cusco where excavations revealed evidence of burnt offerings spanning pre-Inca and Inca periods.
Huaca Sapantiana
Cusco, Cusco, Peru
Huaca Sapantiana is a sacred Inca site in Cusco's San Blas neighbourhood where a carved limestone bedrock sits in a ravine beside a colonial aqueduct....
Ise Grand Shrine (Ise Jingū)
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Deep within a sacred forest in Mie Prefecture stands Ise Jingu, the most venerated Shinto shrine in Japan....
Izanagi Shinto Shrine, Awaji Island
Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
On Awaji Island—the first land formed in Japanese creation mythology—stands the shrine built over the tomb of the god who created Japan....
Izumo Taisha (Izumo Grand Shrine)
Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Each October by the lunar calendar, something extraordinary happens in Izumo. While the rest of Japan celebrates Kannazuki, the Month Without Gods, this corner of Shimane...
Kashan
Kashan, Isfahan Province, Iran
On the desert edge of Kashan, Tepe Sialk is one of Iran's oldest settlements — more than seven millennia of occupation layered into two mounds, with ancient necropolises...
Kashima Shrine
Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
For over two millennia, Kashima Shrine has enshrined Takemikazuchi, the god of thunder and martial power born from the blood of Izanagi's sword....
Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine
Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada
On Mohawk Territory beside the Saint Lawrence River, a small stone church holds the tomb of Kateri Tekakwitha, the Mohawk-Algonquin woman canonized in 2012 as the first...
Katori Shrine
Katori, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Katori Shrine enshrines Futsunushi, the deity of swords and victory who pacified Japan for the heavenly lineage....
Kibitsu Jinja Shinto Shrine, Okayama
Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Kibitsu Jinja preserves the origin story of Momotaro, the Peach Boy. Here Prince Kibitsuhiko defeated the demon Ura seventeen centuries ago, and the demon's severed head...
Kifune Shrine
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Nestled in the forested mountains north of Kyoto, Kifune Shrine has stood for over sixteen centuries as the dwelling place of Kuraokami, the dragon god who governs water....
Kotohira shrine, Kotohira, Japan
Kotohira, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
On sacred Mount Zozu rises Japan's most beloved guardian of sailors. For centuries, fishermen and naval crews, merchants and mariners have climbed up to 1,368 stone steps...
Kumano Hayatama Taisha
Shingū, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
Kumano Hayatama Taisha stands at the mouth of the Kumano River where it meets the sea, one of three grand shrines that have drawn pilgrims for over a millennium....
Showing 1-48 of 91 sites
Key questions
Shrine sacred-site questions
- What shrine sacred sites are included?
- Shrine sacred sites are places where this site type carries religious, ritual, cultural, or pilgrimage significance. This guide lists 91 in the current Pilgrim Map atlas.
- Where are these shrine sites located?
- Major country clusters include Japan, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Iran.
- Which traditions are represented?
- Traditions represented here include Christianity, Shinto, Islam, Pre-Columbian, Ancient, Indigenous.
- Can I view shrine sacred sites on a map?
- Yes. Compare the country and tradition clusters, switch to map view for geography, then use site pages for practical context and related places.