Holy Sites 451–500

The principal cathedral of Panama City, located in the historic Casco Viejo district.

The largest mosque in Africa, built dramatically over the Atlantic Ocean.

A UNESCO-listed group of Spanish colonial Baroque churches, exemplified by Paoay Church in Ilocos Norte.

A sacred hilltop settlement in Ondo State with ancient shrines and spiritual significance for the Yoruba.

An ancient clifftop monastery accessible only by climbing a 15-meter rope up a sheer cliff.

A golden mountain-top temple overlooking Chiang Mai, founded where a sacred relic was carried by a white elephant.

An island ensemble of 18th-century wooden churches on Lake Onega, built without a single nail.

The church of St. Nicholas of Myra, the historical bishop who inspired Santa Claus.

The cave where Prophet Muhammad hid from his Meccan pursuers during the Hijra migration.

A vast tent city where millions of Hajj pilgrims perform the symbolic stoning of the devil.

A pre-Islamic fortification with a mosque, dramatically set against the Al Hajar Mountains.

A cluster of mosques at the site of the Battle of the Trench, a pivotal defense of Medina.

The museum and tomb of the spiritual writer Khalil Gibran, in a former monastery in Bsharri.

A fortified island monastery in the White Sea that became one of the most important spiritual centers—and later a notorious Soviet gulag.

Scandinavia's largest cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden.

The best-preserved Crusader castle, with a chapel that was converted to a mosque.

A Hindu shrine in downtown Bangkok believed to grant wishes, drawing millions of devotees.

The 'Camelot of Africa' — a fortified royal city with castles and churches from Ethiopia's imperial era.

A UNESCO-listed 18th-century palace with stunning shebeke windows and religious murals.

A Balinese water temple famous for its sacred purification springs and bathing rituals.

The shrine of the beloved Sufi saint in Sehwan Sharif, a center of ecstatic devotion in Sindh.

A dramatic cliff-face monastery in the Judean Desert, one of the oldest inhabited monasteries.

A clifftop sanctuary in the Dordogne, home of the miraculous Black Madonna.

Central America's most important pilgrimage site, housing a revered 16th-century dark-wood crucifix.

A UNESCO-listed sacred hill and royal city of the Merina kings, the spiritual heart of Madagascar.

A sprawling complex of rock-hewn monasteries in the semi-desert on the Azerbaijan border.

The remnant of an 11th-century minaret from the Karakhanid capital of Balasagun.

Neoclassical cathedral in St. Petersburg housing the revered Our Lady of Kazan icon.

Andorra's national shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Meritxell, the patron saint of the principality.

A masterpiece of the Brâncovenesc style, the finest example of Romanian Renaissance architecture.

An underground mosque carved into a remote cliff in western Kazakhstan, a Sufi pilgrimage site.

The traditional and spiritual capital of the Swazi monarchy.

An iconic red-roofed church on the northern coast of Mauritius.

The palace of the Ooni in Ile-Ife, the sacred city regarded as the origin of the Yoruba people.

Finland's national shrine and mother church, a medieval cathedral in the country's oldest city.

A remote Pacific island that served as a sacred pre-Columbian cemetery and ceremonial site.

The oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery in the world, in the Vienna Woods.

The principal mosque of Sarajevo and one of the finest examples of Ottoman architecture in the Balkans.

The monastery where St. Gregory was imprisoned, with stunning views of Mount Ararat.

An iconic Buddhist pagoda built on a single stone pillar, a symbol of Hanoi and Vietnamese Buddhism.

A 13th-century monastery with frescoes considered among the finest achievements of medieval European art.

The site where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, sacred ground for Māori and New Zealand nationhood.

The shrine of Padre Pio, the stigmatized saint who drew millions to this Apulian hill town.

The holiest site in Wales, built where the patron saint founded a monastic community.

A Baroque masterpiece built by the Knights of Malta housing Caravaggio's largest painting.

A UNESCO-listed complex originally built as the residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Orthodox Metropolitans.

The largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, a stunning multi-tiered complex in the hills of Penang.

A 17th-century Benedictine monastery hiding one of Brazil's most lavish gilded interiors.

Ruins of a pre-colonial kingdom in Limpopo, where the golden rhino was found — a site of royal spiritual power.

The largest Gothic cathedral in Slovakia and the easternmost Gothic cathedral of its kind in Europe.