From the empty tomb in Jerusalem to the great pilgrim shrines of Europe, Christianity has gathered around a network of sacred places for nearly two thousand years. This guide is the home page for our growing series on the holy sites of Christianity – their history, the devotions that draw pilgrims, and practical advice on visiting, including where to stay on a budget. Each site below links to a complete series of its own.
The Holy Sites
- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem – the traditional site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and for many the holiest place in Christianity.
- The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem – built over the cave revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the town of the Christmas story.
More sacred sites – including Bethlehem, the Vatican, Nazareth, Santiago de Compostela, Lourdes and Fatima – are being added to this series.
A Faith of Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage has been part of Christian life since its earliest centuries. Believers travel to walk where Jesus walked, to honour the apostles and saints, and to visit places linked to visions of the Virgin Mary. Whether in the stone lanes of Jerusalem’s Old City or at a modern shrine welcoming millions a year, the journey itself – the prayer, the waiting, the shared devotion – is as much a part of the experience as the destination.
From the empty tomb in Jerusalem to the great pilgrim shrines of Europe, Christianity has gathered around a network of sacred places for nearly two thousand years. This guide is the home page for our growing series on the holy sites of Christianity – their history, the devotions that draw pilgrims, and practical advice on visiting, including where to stay on a budget. Each site below links to a complete series of its own.
The Holy Sites
- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem – the traditional site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and for many the holiest place in Christianity.
- The Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth – built over the cave revered as the home of the Virgin Mary, where tradition places the Annunciation.
- The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem – built over the cave revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the town of the Christmas story.
More sacred sites – including Bethlehem, the Vatican, Nazareth, Santiago de Compostela, Lourdes and Fatima – are being added to this series.
A Faith of Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage has been part of Christian life since its earliest centuries. Believers travel to walk where Jesus walked, to honour the apostles and saints, and to visit places linked to visions of the Virgin Mary. Whether in the stone lanes of Jerusalem’s Old City or at a modern shrine welcoming millions a year, the journey itself – the prayer, the waiting, the shared devotion – is as much a part of the experience as the destination.
From the empty tomb in Jerusalem to the great pilgrim shrines of Europe, Christianity has gathered around a network of sacred places for nearly two thousand years. This guide is the home page for our growing series on the holy sites of Christianity – their history, the devotions that draw pilgrims, and practical advice on visiting, including where to stay on a budget. Each site below links to a complete series of its own.
The Holy Sites
- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem – the traditional site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and for many the holiest place in Christianity.
- Lourdes, France – the Marian sanctuary where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Saint Bernadette in 1858, now one of the world’s great places of healing pilgrimage.
- The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem – built over the cave revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the town of the Christmas story.
More sacred sites – including Bethlehem, the Vatican, Nazareth, Santiago de Compostela, Lourdes and Fatima – are being added to this series.
A Faith of Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage has been part of Christian life since its earliest centuries. Believers travel to walk where Jesus walked, to honour the apostles and saints, and to visit places linked to visions of the Virgin Mary. Whether in the stone lanes of Jerusalem’s Old City or at a modern shrine welcoming millions a year, the journey itself – the prayer, the waiting, the shared devotion – is as much a part of the experience as the destination.
From the empty tomb in Jerusalem to the great pilgrim shrines of Europe, Christianity has gathered around a network of sacred places for nearly two thousand years. This guide is the home page for our growing series on the holy sites of Christianity – their history, the devotions that draw pilgrims, and practical advice on visiting, including where to stay on a budget. Each site below links to a complete series of its own.
The Holy Sites
- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem – the traditional site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and for many the holiest place in Christianity.
- Mont-Saint-Michel, France – the medieval abbey of the Archangel Michael rising from a tidal bay in Normandy, a pilgrimage site for over a thousand years.
- The Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth – built over the cave revered as the home of the Virgin Mary, where tradition places the Annunciation.
- The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem – built over the cave revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the town of the Christmas story.
- Ephesus & the House of the Virgin Mary, Türkiye – the hillside chapel where pilgrims honour the Virgin Mary above the ancient city of Ephesus.
- Assisi, Italy – the hillside town of Saint Francis, with its great basilica and message of peace.
- Guadalupe, Mexico – the most visited Marian shrine in the Americas, in the north of Mexico City.
- Saint Catherine’s Monastery & Mount Sinai, Egypt – one of the world’s oldest monasteries, beside the mountain of Moses.
- Meteora, Greece – Orthodox monasteries perched on towering rock pillars in central Greece.
- Częstochowa, Poland – the monastery of Jasna Góra and the Black Madonna, spiritual heart of Catholic Poland.
- Loreto, Italy – the Basilica of the Holy House, a major Marian shrine in the Marche region.
- Knock, Ireland – Ireland’s national Marian shrine in County Mayo, marking the apparition of 1879.
- Etchmiadzin, Armenia
- Canterbury, England
- Lalibela, Ethiopia
- Sergiev Posad, Russia
- Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine
- San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome
- Mount Athos, Greece
More sacred sites – including Bethlehem, the Vatican, Nazareth, Santiago de Compostela, Lourdes and Fatima – are being added to this series.
A Faith of Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage has been part of Christian life since its earliest centuries. Believers travel to walk where Jesus walked, to honour the apostles and saints, and to visit places linked to visions of the Virgin Mary. Whether in the stone lanes of Jerusalem’s Old City or at a modern shrine welcoming millions a year, the journey itself – the prayer, the waiting, the shared devotion – is as much a part of the experience as the destination.
5 thoughts on “The Holy Sites of Christianity: A Guide to the Great Sacred Places”