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Sacred Space

A sacred space is a location that has acquired an elevated, often spiritual status for

a specific group. This status may truly be religious, or it may be more connected to

territorialityandcultural identity. This is in contrast to profane space, which

does not carry the same status, and which is the location where everyday activities

take place. Generally speaking, a place identified as belonging to sacred space

requires a special reverence and behavior of those who recognize it, which is

usually expressed in the form of ritual or sanctity. Sacred space can be created

by human activity, or it can consist of a natural setting that acquires mystical,

religious, or nationalistic importance.

There are thousands, and probably millions, of examples of sacred spaces that

have been constructed by human activity. These range in size and significance

from a single tomb or gravesite to entire cities, such as the city of old Jerusalem,

almost all of which may be considered sacred either by Jews, Christians, or

Muslims (or in some cases, by all three faiths). Conflict can arise when more than

one group claims a space as sacred. The Temple Mount of Jerusalem is a prime

example, which both Jews and Muslims claim to be a vital part of their exclusive

religious tradition, but other conflicts abound. In 1992 in the Indian city of Ayodhya

a mosque was destroyed by a mob of Hindu believers because they believed that the

building occupied land on which the Hindu god Rama was born, and thus consid-

ered the Muslim structure to be intrusive and offensive. Before the mosque was

built in the 1500s, a Hindu temple had stood on the site. In some cases rather than

being destroyed, the sacred space of one faith may be adopted and converted by

another. A good example is the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, which functioned as a

Christian church for over 1,000 years, and since 1453 has served as a mosque.

Locations may be considered sacred that are tied to historical events that are

especially important to the identity of an ethnic group or country. Serbians, for

example, have a special reverence for the region of Kosovo, because they suffered

a dramatic loss there in 1389 at the hands of the Turks. For Serbians, the plain of

Kosovo represents a tragic, costly, but heroic sacrifice, and similar places may be

found across the world. In the United States, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Alamo

in Texas, and Pearl Harbor in Hawaii would all qualify in a similar way as sacred

space for many Americans. Natural features may also function as sacred space.

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