Holy Sites 501–550

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.

Ottoman mosques amid the atmospheric ruins of Old Bar (Stari Bar).

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 principal Catholic cathedral of Papua New Guinea's capital.

A hilltop sanctuary in Minas, one of Uruguay's most important Marian pilgrimage sites.

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.

A 14th-century Serbian Orthodox masterpiece built by King Milutin.

The Catholic cathedral on Tarawa atoll in the central Pacific.

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.

One of the oldest churches in Eastern Europe, built in the 11th century.

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.

A clifftop fortress near Asenovgrad with a beautifully preserved medieval church.

A monastery at the tip of the Karpas Peninsula, sometimes called 'the Lourdes of Cyprus.'

A richly decorated Gothic church on Budapest's Castle Hill, coronation site of Hungarian kings.

One of the oldest mosques in West Africa, built in the Sudano-Sahelian style.

Luxembourg's principal cathedral, home to the revered 'Consoler of the Afflicted' icon.

Mysterious concentric circular terraces believed to be an Inca agricultural laboratory.

The oldest church in mainland Estonia, a medieval Lutheran cathedral on Toompea Hill.

One of the most visited Marian shrines in the Philippines, known for miraculous healings.

The seat of the Primate of Spain, a Gothic masterpiece in the historic 'City of Three Cultures.'

The oldest parish church in North America and the first church elevated to basilica status in the Americas.