Explore 930 Religion Collections - Atlas Obscura
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statues

Found: A 400-Year-Old Buddha Statue, Hidden Under a Manmade Lake

Work on a hydropower gate revealed the statue's head.
Sarah Laskow January 12, 2017
Venice, Italy

Reliquaries of St Mark's Basilica Treasury

An extensive collection of reliquaries containing the bones of saints housed in the largest Catholic church in Venice.
Berriedale, Australia

Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)

This controversial museum includes such detested exhibits as a chocolate suicide bomber and fecal-smelling digestion machine.
The Magic Kingdom.
disney

Visiting Disney World is the Modern Version of Making a Medieval Pilgrimage

According to anthropologists, religious studies experts, and art historians.
Sarah Laskow December 30, 2016
Sea Ranch, California

Sea Ranch Chapel

This whimsical seashell-shaped place of worship was designed to blend into its surroundings.
Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst.
sacred spaces

Why Some Christians Are Forsaking Christmas

To them, Jesus is not the reason for the season.
Mariana Zapata December 21, 2016
Roadside Marker at Willie Keil's Grave
Raymond, Washington

Willie Keil's Grave

The founder of a utopian religious community based on the Golden Rule laid his son to rest on this grassy hill.
Independence Temple.
Independence, Missouri

Independence Temple

This otherworldly church spire reaches up toward the heavens.
Baghdad mosque houses Saddam's blood Quran.
Baghdad, Iraq

Saddam Hussein's Blood Quran

A 605-page Quran penned in the blood of a dictator is locked away in a mosque.
churches

Found: Very Old Peacock Graffiti Left Behind by Religious Pilgrims

Peacocks represented eternal life to early Christians.
Sarah Laskow November 23, 2016
Corpus Hermeticum: first edition, by Marsilio Ficino, 1471 CE, at the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (Ritman Library)

This impressive collection of rare books on ancient mysticism inspired author Dan Brown.
Crosses come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and material.
Grabarka, Poland

Holy Mountain of Grabarka

Crosses of all shapes, sizes and colors litter the mountain, the site of a huge yearly Orthodox pilgrimage.
Statue of Shiva (painted gold in 2012)
Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

Koneswaram Temple

An ancient temple to the Hindu god Shiva surrounded by jaw-dropping scenery.
A votive offering of two hands.
sculptures

Why Did Ancient Italians Bury Thousands of Clay Body Parts?

Feet, hands, eyes, ears, arms, legs, uteri, heads...thousands upon thousands of body parts.
Sarah Laskow November 18, 2016
sacred spaces

Watch a Celebration of the Cult of 'Saint Death'

"The skinny lady," a skeleton in fancy dress, is an unconventional usher into the afterlife.
Molly McBride Jacobson November 16, 2016
The derelict entrance to House of David Park. A sign below says "If I don't know u back off."
Benton Harbor, Michigan

House of David

The remains of a religious colony, its amusement park, zoo, and baseball empire.
To help preserve the meridian line—but also to draw more attention to it—the church has roped the line off from the feet of daily visitors. Just visible here, in a plaque in the marble floor, are the zodiac signs of Pisces and Scorpio. Both appear near the spring and autumn equinoxes, respectively.
churches

Why Catholics Built Secret Astronomical Features Into Churches to Help Save Souls

After centuries of war, Catholicism and science reconciled over meridian lines.
Geoff Manaugh November 15, 2016
The ex-votos extend all the way up the arches.
Paris, France

Basilique Notre-Dame-des-Victoires

A 400-year-old church covered floor to ceiling in ex-voto offerings from the faithful.