Sacred Spaces

This daunting 1st century fortress was purportedly the site of one of the most dramatic revolts of the Jewish-Roman wars.

Mongolian Buddhists believe this monastery in the Gobi desert to be the center of the world's spiritual energy.

This fairy-tale, neo-Gothic church in the Azores is a world of magical realism.

The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead still cares for the skulls at this mini-Fontanelle.

One of the largest Marian shrines on the West Coast stands rather unexpectedly in Silicon Valley.

The peaceful space is adorned by paintings by the famed abstract artist Mark Rothko.

Now nearly abandoned, Kaskaskia was once the capital of Illinois and one of the most important towns on the upper Mississippi.

The press that first printed the Book of Mormon.

Macabre symbols of death and mummies on display set the tone of this Italian purgatory church.

A neo-Gothic temple in central Mexico featuring a labyrinthine network of crypts.

Beautiful stained glass depictions of the history of human flight fill this surprising chapel.

One of the last surviving ancient Buddhist sites in the region, it escaped the brunt of several Hun invasions thanks to its remote location.

An overlooked oasis of quiet on the grounds of Washington's monumental basilica.

Hidden treasures belonging to Mongolia's most revered and multi-talented monk spent decades buried in the Gobi desert.

Ohio's 19th-century communist micro-society.

Centuries before the modern seismograph, Armenian monks measured quakes with this tilting pillar.