New Zealand's most stunning sacred landscape, plus more around the world 1

[별고을]

New Zealand's most stunning sacred landscape, plus more around the world

Story by Rachel Truman

 • 3w

Awe-inspiring spaces©Jiri Foltyn/Shutterstock

From magic mountains to sacred stones, the world is scattered with deeply spiritual places. Here we take a look at some of the most stunning sacred landscapes that have a strong and enduring mystical appeal…

Crater Lake, Oregon, USA©Pung/Shutterstock

It's little wonder that Crater Lake – a vast water body formed by the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama some 7,700 years ago – is so highly revered. The violent volcanic eruption, which caused the collapse of a tall peak, was witnessed by Indigenous Americans and the story of the lake's creation has been passed down by the Klamath peoples, among others, in their oral legends. It became a sacred place to many who went to its waters to pray, mourn and seek understanding, as well as to hunt and forage. The deepest lake in the US, its startling clear blue waters still provoke feelings of awe.

Everest, Nepal©Vixit/Shutterstock

Soaring to 29,032 feet (8,849m), Mount Everest, on the Nepal-Tibet border, is a global symbol of expedition and adventure. But for the Sherpa community, who live on her foothills, the world's tallest peak is Chomolungma, or Mother Goddess, and where heaven is said to touch Earth. Many believe the sacred summit is home to the Buddhist goddess Miyolangsangma and whether climbers can summit successfully is down to her. Shrines and monasteries speckle Everest’s slopes.

River Ganges, India©Travelwild/Shutterstock

Flowing through India from the Himalayas out to the Bay of Bengal, the Ganges is the country's holiest river. It's thought by Hindus to embody the Goddess Ganga. Along her course are many places of pilgrimage, including the sacred cities of Rishikesh, Haridwar and Varanasi, where devotees gather to pray along the riverbanks and bathe in the waters to purify themselves.

Stonehenge, England, UK©Chuta Kooanantkul/Shutterstock

Steeped in spirituality, this prehistoric stone circle on the Salisbury Plain has long been a place of pilgrimage. While the monument’s mysteries endure, it’s generally accepted that the stones served as sacred places of ceremony and ritual. Carefully placed to line up with the movements of the sun, the stones are the focal point of neo-Pagan celebrations for the summer and winter solstice. The whole landscape is riddled with mystical prehistoric sites, including the arguably more awe-inspiring Avebury Stone Circle.

Devils Tower, Wyoming, USA©cy83rst0rm/Shutterstock

This striking rock rising from Wyoming's grasslands is the country's first national monument and it has a deep, spiritual significance to several indigenous American tribes, whose ancestors lived around it for thousands of years. The Cheyenne camped and hunted at what they called Bear's Lodge in the winter and considered it a holy place. It's also of great importance to the Lakota people, who see the wider Black Hills region as the place of creation: they traditionally held a sacred Sun Dance at the rock around the summer solstice. Climbing the steep butte is seen as disrespectful by many and there's a June Voluntary Climbing Closure to respect a culturally significant time when many ceremonies take place.

Mount Fuji, Japan©warasit phothisuk/Shutterstock

The perfect snow-capped cone of Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, is a defining symbol of the nation, interwoven in its culture and religion. Revered over the centuries, thousands of religions have sprung up around the flanks of the awe-inspiring volcano. It’s seen as many things, including a living being and the home of spirits and deities, as well as the spirits of ancestors. Today climbing the peak is seen as a path to transcendence by Japan’s two major religions, Shinto and Buddhism. Their shrines line its sacred slopes and torii gates mark the transition from the profane to the holy.

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia and Peru©Mezzotint/Shutterstock

High up in the Andes and lapping both Bolivia and Peru, the ethereal waters of this highly sacred lake brim with ancient myths and legends. Many believe that a lost city lies beneath Titicaca's waters and the ancient Incas believed it was where their god Viracocha arose to create the world and where their spirits returned in death. Its islands were sacred too: the largest, Isla del Sol, was home to the god Inti and Isla del Luna to the goddess Mama Quilla. Many ancient ceremonial sites have been found on and around its shores, including the remains of a temple discovered in its depths in 2000.

Uluru, Australia©Stickybeak TV/Shutterstock

The sacred heart of Australia, Uluru is a powerfully spiritual site to the Anangu people, who believe it was formed by ancestral beings during the Dreaming. They regard the majestic rock as a resting place for ancient spirits. After decades of controversy around visitors climbing the massive sandstone monolith, the Anangu’s wishes were respected in 2019, when climbing was forbidden. It’s not just the rock that is revered, however: the entire landscape of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is scattered with highly significant sites, some of which are off-limits.

St Nectan's Glen, Cornwall©Richard Bowden/Shutterstock

Deep in an ancient forest lies a sacred pool and magical realm of pixies and fairies, or so local legend has it. St Nectan’s Glen, an ethereal nature reserve in north Cornwall, certainly feeds the imagination. Seen as a sacred site to both Christians and pagans, a riverside path leads through the woods to a series of waterfalls. Above St Nectan's Kieve, the plunge pool of the main waterfall, is a hermitage, which was built where medieval hermit St Nectan is supposed to have lived. It’s also said to be where Arthur and his knights came to cleanse before going in search of the Holy Grail.

Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar, Scotland, UK©Francesca Taylor/Shutterstock

With their wind-whipped cliffs and ancient stone circles, the rugged and remote Orkney islands have plenty of mystical appeal. They were a stronghold of ancient pagan traditions, which you can still get a deep sense of at the ceremonial Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar (pictured). These age-old sacred sites form part of a group of pre-historic monuments that make up the UNESCO-listed Heart of Neolithic Orkney site. The intriguing stones still lure people today for both seasonal rituals and as a spiritual setting for alternative life event ceremonies.

Mount Agung, Bali©K. Arjana/Shutterstock

All of Bali’s mountains are revered as sacred dwellings of the gods, but none more so than Mount Agung, an active volcano and the island’s highest peak. It's said to be the home of Mahadewa, the supreme manifestation of Lord Shiva, and is the site of the largest and most sacred of Bali’s Hindu temple complexes, Besakih. The compound consists of many temples strewn over a vast area up to and near the holy peak’s summit.

Mount Kailash, China/Tibet©Msiudmak/Shutterstock

One of the world’s holiest peaks, Mount Kailash, in remote western Tibet, is hugely sacred to a number of religions (Buddhist, Hindu, Bon and Jain) and an ancient pilgrimage site. While pilgrims trek the circuit around its dramatic black-stone façade, climbing up to the sanctity of its summit, thought by many to be the gateway to heaven, is forbidden. Hindus believe the mountain is the home of Lord Shiva and, along with Buddhists, that it's the central axis of the universe, or the axis mundi, where heaven and earth are connected.

Adam’s Peak, Sri Lanka©Melinda Nagy/Shutterstock

Another of Asia's mystical mountains is Adam’s Peak, which rises majestically in Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands. As the country’s holiest natural landmark, it attracts thousands of pilgrims, as well as tourists looking to hike up its flanks. The peak is also known as Sri Pada, or sacred footprint, as its summit is thought to be the footstep of Shiva by Sri Lanka’s Hindus and Buddha by Buddhists. Christians and Muslims, meanwhile, believe it was where Adam first set foot on Earth after he was exiled from the Garden of Eden. Most climbers ascend after dark to get to the summit before sunrise – the pathway is illuminated during the pilgrimage season (December to May). 

Blue Hole Pool, Australia©Cre8 design/Shutterstock

Tucked in the lush foliage of Daintree Rainforest in far north Queensland, the bright blue waters of this natural waterhole are deeply special to the traditional custodians of the land, the Kuku Yalanji people. It is revered as an ancient women’s place, linked to healing and birthing, and men are strictly forbidden. The Kuku Yalanji people also share a special relationship with the world's oldest living rainforest, which is home to many more spiritually significant sites.