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Sacred Spaces

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Pāhoa, Hawaii

Raëlian UFO Peace Park

A model of a galactic embassy is hidden in plain sight along the highway, proposed by a UFO religion to find the aliens that created life on Earth.
The Druid or Altar Stone of Blidworth in May, 2017.
Mansfield, England

The Druid Stone

An enigmatic natural rock formation with a manmade passage cut through the center.
The nave has been repurposed to include the reception, restaurants, and guest spaces.
Maastricht, Netherlands

Kruisherenhotel

A luxury hotel housed in a former 15th century Gothic church.
BlessU-2, in a slightly more threatening pose, smile notwithstanding.
robots

In Germany, You Can Get Blessed by a New Robot Priest

BlessU-2 is meant to be controversial.
Cara Giaimo May 30, 2017
Hong Kong

A Sky Full of Gods and Buddhas

Thousands of abandoned statues of deities are taken to this hillside in southern Hong Kong.
Saint Therese of Lisieux in a bathtub, in front of a house in Somerville, MA.*
statues

Getting to Know the Bathtub Marys of Somerville, Massachusetts

A local anthropologist has spent a decade photographing the unlikely statues.
Cara Giaimo May 26, 2017
Oakland, California

Phap Duyen Tu: The Buddha Shrine of Oakland

A hardware store Buddha statue installed to deter vandalism wound up attracting Vietnamese immigrants who came to pray.
Church of St. Mary in Luebeck, the bells, partly melted during the fire in WWII.
Lübeck, Germany

The Broken Bells of St. Mary's

The bells remain in a shattered heap exactly as they fell when the church was bombed in World War II.
Cowboy Church
Waxahachie, Texas

Cowboy Church of Ellis County

Baptisms in troughs and post-sermon rodeos at the world's biggest cowboy church.
Temple Beth Shalom.
Cayman Islands

Temple Beth Shalom

This tiny, charming synagogue in the Cayman Islands was built by a man as a present for his Jewish wife.
Bearded St. Wilgefortis, seen in a 15th-century manuscript, was the recipient of many toad votives.
objects of intrigue

The Tale of the Toad and the Bearded Female Saint

European women used to leave toad votives in holy places as pleas for divine help.
Sarah Laskow May 10, 2017
The devil sits on the stone slab, smiling at passers-by
Lübeck, Germany

The Devil's Stone

A statue honors the local legend that the devil helped build St. Mary's church after being tricked into thinking it was going to be a wine bar.
Often they are images from the Gospels or of the Virgin Mary.
Clinton, Massachusetts

The Icon Museum and Study Center

This old mill and former police station now present a world-class collection of Orthodox iconography.
It contains museums, a market, and a number of exhibits celebrating Russian art.
Moscow, Russia

Izmailovo Kremlin

Moscow's other, lesser known kremlin is a fairytale-like cultural complex modeled after Old Russia.
sacred spaces

The Religious Feud in England Over Asparagus

Some say "Gus the Asparagus Man" doesn't belong in a British cathedral.
Cara Giaimo April 28, 2017
The Eldridge Street Synagogue and Museum.
New York, New York

Museum at Eldridge Street

America's oldest Eastern European synagogue provided the immigrants of crowded Lower East Side tenements a space of sanctuary.
The face in the window.
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Face in the Window at St. Paul's Church

The profile of one ill-fated deacon was emblazoned forever on this church window during the Halifax explosion.
Thimmamma Marrimanu
Edurudona, India

Thimmamma Marrimanu

The world's largest banyan tree is followed by a community of worshippers.