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This study will examine unique monuments of the Baltic religion consisting of 231 stones with impressions reminiscent of human and/or animal footprints recorded in Lithuania. Data are drawn from archaeology, linguistics, folklore, ethnology, and history related to these stones. Footprint stones are autonomous natural holy places that rarely belong to complexes of archaeological and mythological sites. After the introduction of Christianity, Baltic chthonic gods and goddesses who were believed to have left traces of their presence on stones were either proclaimed evil spirits or granted the names of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Christ, or other Christian holy figures. Religious rites recorded at the footprint stones by historical sources and/or those which have survived to this day have left no clear archaeological traces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In various cultures around the world, past and present, many natural and cultural sites are deemed sacred. What are sacred landscapes? What are the spiritual foundations for their formation? How are they formed? How are they protected? The answers to these questions help frame a discussion of sacred landscapes within the context of their meaning, origin, and management processes as lived experiences of specific societies. In Tanzania the linkages between biodiversity and the worldview of a society have partly been acknowledged but remain unexplored. This paper applies a mixed research approach to studying sacred forests among the Bena community of Njombe in Tanzania. Rather than looking exclusively at the sacred forests in themselves as places, the paper underscores the linkage of human-nature-spirituality as key in explaining the history of sacred forests. It establishes that, among the Bena, the sacredness of a place was founded on the relationship between the visible and the invisible worlds – relations that led to the formation of various mystical-religious homelands' sacred places that are protected through mythologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Periegetica is the property of WSB University in Poznan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Water structures are sites of collective memory and have a vital role in providing ecosystem services in India. An alternative model of water sensitive urban design based upon the conceptual framework of regenerative urbanism is proposed in Ayodhya, a pilgrim town in Northern India. Reclamation of water bodies is salient to planning the soft infrastructure of blue-greenways for regenerating degraded sites and prevents loss of collective memories and place rituals, both significant forms of intangible heritage. With a focus on the urban periphery of Ayodhya, the article discusses water structures as sites of mythic memory, their current condition and context, and their potential as nodes in community spaces and green corridors of pilgrim movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gorkhaland agitation has been a popular uprising in India's Darjeeling Hills from 1986 to 2017. The sub-nationalist movement that witnessed the bloodiest phase between 1986 and 1988 was associated with threats and everyday risks faced by journalists. Undertaking three case studies of widely reported news events that were largely typical of the reportage during the period and triangulating them through in-depth interviews of the journalists who reported those stories and nine others who reported similar news events then, this paper examines how journalists strategically invoked myths to weave their stories at a time when reporting objectively became risky. Such rituals were invoked by news writers, often deliberately and sometimes unconsciously, as they struggled to narrate gory and unexplainable incidents. The paper argues that there is a clear pattern to such a mythic construction of news. Framing such social crafting of news in the region's historical and cultural context, the paper further posits that such employment of myths in the making of news drew inspiration from local folklore based on the popular regional archetype of the Yeti believed to protect the sacred land space of Ma'yel Lyang and Shangri-La – a myth traceable to the nature-religion connection intrinsic to the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article strives for a combined approach consisting of historical geography and art and church history in the research of Duklja and Raška in the times of Stefan Nemanja. The article's first part addresses the circumstances of the birth of Stefan Nemanja and the question of Nemanja's two baptisms. Moreover, data on the churches and monasteries, their patrocinia and the stećci (funeral monuments) in the area of research has been gathered and then analysed with digital tools to offer a map-based reconstruction of the "Sacred Landscape". The second part focuses on the early medieval church of St. Stephen in Sušćepan, located near Herceg Novi in today's Montenegro. Among its church furnishings and sculptural decorations, a parapet slab, most probably from the 11th century, stands out. Besides highlighting similar solutions on the parapet slabs of churches along the eastern coast of the Adriatic, the paper draws attention to iconographic solutions as well as floral and geometric motifs and their importance within the sacred space of the church. The third and final part of the article introduces an analysis of selected written sources illuminating the relationship of Duklja with the Latin Church, particularly with the Apostolic See in Rome, in the 12th and 13th centuries. It deals with the communication of the Papal Chancellery with the archbishops of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and Antivari (Bar) from the backdrop of the ongoing disputes over the church hierarchy in Southern Dalmatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sacred spaces, such as Iberian caves, with liminal location and character, had important ritual significance and socio-political meanings for their communities. Through the Geographical Information Systems –GIS– techniques, we can analyse these sacred spaces in context. In this paper, by using a regional study as an example, we show the main analysis undertaken with gis, such as visibility and mobility, considering diverse variables and formulas. This will allow to develop comparative perspectives with other similar Mediterranean contexts. A first approach to the sacred landscape of the Iberian Iron Age territory of Edeta, in Llíria, València, is presented, analysing two ritual caves in context: Cueva del Sapo and Cueva Merinel, located on the southern border of the territory and frequented between the fifth and the second centuries BC. By using diverse models, we propose access routes to them, with the final objective of thinking about the effort and symbolism that a ritual journey linked to these natural sacred locations would imply.

Iremel is one of the most significant landscape objects in the sacred topography of the Bashkirs. Despite the status, there is very little specific information about the forms of veneration of the mountain in the sources. Perhaps the high level of sacredness is the reason why the local Bashkirs did not disclose information about it. In general, the few surviving information correspond to the manifestations of the cult of the mountains among the Bashkirs: you need to climb it with pure thoughts; before climbing, it is necessary to fast, read a prayer, etc. Its importance is reflected in many folklore works, including the epic Ural-batyr, which reveals the history of its appearance. In folklore, Iremel appears, on the one hand, as one of the notable locations, a geographical landmark, on the other hand, as a place of tribal gatherings-yiyin. It has been recorded many times in the sources that the veneration of the mountain is associated with the graves of the aulia saints located on it, but there is no more specific information about this. There is very little information on modern forms of veneration of Iremel by the Bashkirs, this is due to the fact that many Bashkir settlements in the vicinity of the mountain ceased to exist. Nowadays, it is better known as a tourist location, and at the same time as a popular object of worship in esoteric tourism

Introduction. The article describes a 3D documentation and visualization technique. Goals. The study seeks to preserve and reconstruct key forms and types of Kazakh memorial architecture with the aid of visual archeology tools. Materials and methods. The work started with determination of morphological characteristics inherent to the objects under study — mudbrick mausoleums. In accordance with the latter, a three-dimensional visualization technique was selected. The photography scenarios have been developed following recommendations of the software developers. The paper provides detailed insights into all stages of creating three-dimensional models, including data collection, feature description of the equipment used, pre-shooting computational analysis, shooting proper, and data post-processing. Special attention is paid to the most important and crucial moment of the survey — shooting, which was performed from different angles each to have yielded a distinguished set of photographs. It is urgent to take a sufficient number of high-quality photographs from different angles. A number of photographs for each angle should be as high as possible — from 30–40 to several hundreds and thousands. Results. The work notes that 6–8 sets were made for each mausoleum. Documentation of one object only (taking into account additional and spare photographs) includes a total of 500–600 photographs. Extensive efforts were made to process the obtained data, the latter work be implemented in a specific order to result in three-dimensional models and visualization patterns of the examined mausoleums. Preservation of mudbrick steppe monuments in digital format is an urgent need because those are a vanishing type of late medieval memorial architecture dating back to ancient times. Digital 3D-models of collapsing mudbrick mausoleums shall always be invaluable for science as historical sources, part of the Kazakh national cultural heritage.

Copyright of Studia Periegetica is the property of WSB University in Poznan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A ceremonial monument cannot function without those people who carry knowledge of its metaphysics and practice, and it cannot continue into the future without instruction in its meaning. In this paper, we attempt to recover the meaning of Neolithic tradition as enacted on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall where prominent hills can be viewed at a great distance. It has long been recognised that hundreds of prehistoric monuments in Cornwall in some way 'pay tribute' to Rough Tor, a phenomenon known as the Rough Tor Effect. We discuss the Rough Tor Effect with particular reference to viewframes, granite structures made by positioning slabs through which Rough Tor – and a second significant tor on Stowe's Hill – could be viewed. Through the form and orientation of viewframes we deduce some of the possible values communicated, and the community benefits conferred, through this mechanism of guiding perception of Rough Tor and Stowe's Hill. We also note how Rough Tor was not only subject to distant observation. Direct interventions, especially cairn building, took place on and between Rough Tor's three tors. We propose a tentative explanation of the reasoning behind these interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper arises from a research-based teaching project (“Die Biographie eines Heiligtums. Computergestützte Visualisierung und Analyse mit georeferenzierten Datenmodellen”), held during the summer term 2019 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Based on a case study focussing on the area of Sounion and the Laureotike, with the authors, aided by a group of students, developed a data structure concept for the critical analysis of ancient sanctuaries that takes into account their landscape setting, cults and worshipped deities, as well as ancient worshippers. In order to facilitate the evaluation of large amounts of data sets, a preliminary GIS-based graph database was established and first data sets were entered. The paper presented here outlines the data structure as well as the configuration of the provisional tool and aims to illustrate how our understanding Greek religion is improved by large and highly diverse data sets.

As powerful Mongolian sacred landscape components, mountains bear witness of an intimate and long-standing relationship between the Mongolian people and its intangible cultural heritage. The senses of these places come from an affective bond as well as religious, symbolic, and emotional engagements with mountains. Since the 1990's, democratization and the independence of Mongolia paved the way for heritage processes of sacred mountains. Raised as national heritage, they integrated collective imaginaries of Mongolian sacred landscape. However, the experience of these places has been reinvented throughout popular practices like pilgrimage, tourism and other recreational activities. Bringing the interconnexions between the sacred, symbolic landscape and tourist practices to light, this article explores the plurality of the relationship to the sacred that manifests in the Mongolian geography nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ad Limina. Revista de investigacion del Camino de Santiag y las peregrinaciones is the property of AD LIMINA Turismo de Galicia SA de Xestion do Plan Xacobeo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Nanaia is a Babylonian deity who was associated with Artemis in Hellenistic times. She is identified as a moon goddess as well as a deity of love and war, and as a protector of the sovereign and the country. The reason behind the assimilation between this oriental deity and Artemis lay in the commonality of functions between the two. The presence of a goddess called Artemis Nanaia is attested in Attica by an inscription found at Piraeus which is the only testimony of the presence of this cult in Greece. Like the goddess Nanaia, Artemis was a moon goddess, identified as a protector of political order. This function in Attica is expressed by the adjective Boulaia and by the practice, widespread since the second century B.C., of offering a sacrifice to Artemis Boulaia and Artemis Phosphoros before political assemblies in the Athenian Agora. The aim of this paper is to put into perspective the characteristics of the cults of Artemis Nanaia as attested in two important sanctuaries in the Middle East, including the sanctuary of Nanaia at Susa and the sanctuary of Artemis Nanaia at Dura-Europos, with the testimonies related to the cult of Artemis attested at Piraeus. The testimonies, and the characteristics of the cult attested in these three areas will be analysed together in order to better understand the reasons behind the dedication of Axios and Kapo and its original location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protestant refuge churches were built in Silesian Protestant principalities, and in the borderline areas of Saxony, Brandenburg and Poland before the end of Thirty Years’ War and the signing of the Peace of Westphalia. In the most part, the churches were erected by means of adapting Catholic churches to the needs of Protestant believers, e.g. by building emporas (choir galleries), a pulpit and an altar inside the church. The acquisition of churches in Silesia was peaceful, without any violence almost everywhere, and it was not a rare phenomenon that a single church was used by two religions at the same time. At the end of the eighteenth century, there were approximately 110 refugee churches in Silesia. Currently, there are no churches of this type in Lower Silesia, and their extraordinary decoration was preserved in only a few of them. The main aim is to analyse this specific, forgotten sacral Protestent heritage, i.e. refuge churches in Lower Silesia, from the historical, sociological and architectural perspective. The main objective is to focus on the historical importance of the refuge churches in Lower Silesia – restoring identity as exemplified by the church in Großburg (Polish: Borek Strzeliński), analyse the degree to which the Protestant cultural legacy was preserved in the material rural architecture of Großburg and analyse the acceptance of the Evangelical heritage in the mentality of the local community.

This essay explores the relationship between two geographical and literary genres, the diyārāt (Books of Monasteries), which disappeared in the 11th century, and the ziyārāt (shrine pilgrimage guides), which appeared in the 13th century. The relationship is discussed in the context of the transformation of the Syrian sacred landscape, which became thoroughly Islamized through the erection of Islamic public buildings including shrines and mausolea between the 11th–13th centuries. I argue that these two genres had a similar function of spatially inscribing the political order through the invitation to liminal practices in the marginal sites of the monastery and the Islamic shrine/mausoleum. The diyārāt registered the caliphal order and courtly culture, while the ziyārāt served to sanctify the professional scholar whose authority emerged in the post-caliphal sultanic age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zephyrus is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Housing Environment / Środowisko Mieszkaniowe is the property of Chair of Housing Environment, Faculty of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of History / Habaršy Tarihi Seriâsy is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Protestant refuge churches were built in Silesian Protestant principalities, and in the borderline areas of Saxony, Brandenburg and Poland before the end of Thirty Years' War and the signing of the Peace of Westphalia. In the most part, the churches were erected by means of adapting Catholic churches to the needs of Protestant believers, e.g. by building emporas (choir galleries), a pulpit and an altar inside the church. The acquisition of churches in Silesia was peaceful, without any violence almost everywhere, and it was not a rare phenomenon that a single church was used by two religions at the same time. At the end of the eighteenth century, there were approximately 110 refugee churches in Silesia. Currently, there are no churches of this type in Lower Silesia, and their extraordinary decoration was preserved in only a few of them. The main aim is to analyse this specific, forgotten sacral Protestent heritage, i.e. refuge churches in Lower Silesia, from the historical, sociological and architectural perspective. The main objective is to focus on the historical importance of the refuge churches in Lower Silesia - restoring identity as exemplified by the church in GroBburg (Polish: Borek Strzelinski), analyse the degree to which the Protestant cultural legacy was preserved in the material rural architecture of GroBburg and analyse the acceptance of the Evangelical heritage in the mentality of the local community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spal: Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueologia de la Universidad de Sevilla is the property of Spal. Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueologia de la Universidad de Sevilla and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article examines the practice of constructing a sacred landscape on the example of the modern Orthodox Church of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior in Novokuznetsk (2008). The analysis concerns the concepts introduced by A. M. Lidov: “hierotopy” (a special type of creativity aimed at creating sacred objects) and “image-paradigm” (a multi-layer complex of meanings that is a tool of communication with the watcher). The concept of cultural-semiotic transfer by S. S. Avanesov is used to explain the mechanism of transferring images of the Holy Land to the modern sacred space. The research is aimed at the multi-layer and multi-meaning sacred landscape, which simultaneously reproduces the North Russian “Kizhi”, Jerusalem “Golgotha” and the Athos “Garden of the Virgin”. The transfer of various geographical and temporal topoi of the Holy Land into a single hierotopic project raises questions about the reasons, mechanisms, and necessity of constructing “New Jerusalem”. Besides, this Church is known for the history of finding a newly appeared icon, which is an example of the image-paradigm, that allows to use anthropological and ethnographic methods to explore the interaction of the believer with the sacred image and to fill it with new meaning. The article describes the main image-paradigms of the temple space: “Golgotha”, “Cup of Patience”, “Garden of the Virgin”. The author explores the process of their creation, as well as the relationship of the watcher with the image. Textual data was obtained by in-depth personal interviews with participants and eyewitnesses of the creation of sacred objects, as well as by collecting “secondary” data from the Church parishioners. Both sources provide information about the interaction of the watcher with the image and the process of hierotopic creativity. The author emphasizes multi-layering and organicism (the integrative image of “New Jerusalem” is constructed on the basis of image-paradigms) as features of the sacred landscape. The article describes the connection of the sacred landscape with the specific topos of the Holy Land. The connection appears as partly vivid and partly constructed. The article shows that informants have a necessity to be in the space of the sacred Jerusalem topos, which is the part of the traditional Orthodox identity. В статье исследуется практика конструирования сакрального ландшафта на примере современного православного храма Святого мученика Иоанна Воина в городе Новокузнецке (2008). Анализ осуществляется в контексте понятий, введённых А. М. Лидовым: «иеротопия» (особый вид творчества, направленный на создание сакральных объектов) и «образ-парадигма» (многослойный комплекс смыслов, являющийся средством коммуникации со зрителем). Применяется понятие «культурно-семиотического трансфера» С. С. Аванесова для объяснения механизма переноса образов Святой земли в современное сакральное пространство. Выбор конкретного предмета исследования обусловлен многослойностью и многозначностью сакрального ландшафта, воспроизводящего одновременно северорусские «Кижи», иерусалимскую «Голгофу» и афонский «Сад Богородицы». Трансфер различных географических и временных топосов Святой земли в единый иеротопический проект вызывает вопросы о причинах, механизмах и необходимости конструирования «Нового Иерусалима». Кроме того, храм известен историей обретения новоявленной иконы, являющейся примером формирующегося образа-парадигмы, что позволяет с помощью антропологических и этнографических методов исследовать взаимодействие верующего с сакральным образом и наполнение его новым смыслом. В статье рассматриваются основные образы-парадигмы храмового пространства: «Голгофа», «Чаша терпения», «Сад Богородицы». Исследуются процесс их создания, а также отношения зрителя с изображением. Текстуальные данные получены методом глубинных личных интервью с участниками и очевидцами создания сакральных объектов, а также путём сбора «вторичных» данных от прихожан храма. Оба источника сообщают информацию о взаимодействии зрителя с изображением и о процессе иеротопического творчества. Среди выявленных свойств исследованного сакрального ландшафта обнаруживаются его многослойность и органицизм (на основе различных временных и «региональных» образов-парадигм складывается интегративный образ «Нового Иерусалима») и его связь со специфическими топосами Святой земли, отчасти возникшая как «явленная», отчасти – сложившаяся в ходе целенаправленного конструирования. Выявляется свойственная восприятию информантов естественная необходимость их присутствия в пространстве сакральной иерусалимской топики, что является частью традиционной православной идентичности.

Ritual movement, i.e. the movement of individuals or groups on a more or less fixed route for religious reasons or purposes (e.g. processions), always played a major role in Roman religious life. Such kind of rituals could have a place-making function: through their continued and repeated performance they contributed to the cultural, social, and physical creation of religious places, ultimately becoming embedded in Rome’s sacred landscape. The case studies of ritual movement considered in this paper will be an ancient one, the ritual celebrated by the Salians, and the procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

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Copyright of Spal: Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueologia de la Universidad de Sevilla is the property of Spal. Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueologia de la Universidad de Sevilla and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

More than 4000 graffiti are scattered throughout the Theban necropolis. Among them, around 2500 graffiti can be dated to Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Dynasties. These New Kingdom graffiti were made by members of the community of workmen from Deir el-Medina. Only a small group of no more than 120 graffiti consist of depictions of deities and veneration scenes. The interpretation of graffiti with depictions of Amun-Re on rock surfaces in the Valley of the Kings reveals valuable information regarding their locations. This study thus attempts to identify particular locations in the valley where the workmen of Deir el-Medina venerated Amun-Re in different forms. These spots may have been considered to be of religious significance to the workmen of Deir el-Medina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There is a paucity of research on the branding of sacral landscapes as a regional strategy in tourism marketing. On the one hand, the concept of place branding, to date, has been transferred very little to sacred destinations, while on the other hand, religious content and modern tourist marketing barely fit together. Nonetheless, the perception of religion in a postmodern society opens up new opportunities for sacred places to reposition themselves in the competition faced by tourist destinations. The aim of this article is to show how German tourism regions with a religious focus build their brand. Through analyzing six case studies and distilling the extant literature, this study aims to investigate whether sacral messages really do have religious depth, or whether the sacral landscape is only used superficially to attract attention.

From where can we draw inspiration to cultivate an intimate sensibility into the spiritual nature of landscape, the foundation for designing gardens for meditation and healing? Through various spiritual lenses, this inquiry penetrates fundamental grounds for our subtle relationship with landscape. Beginning with excerpts of a private audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Middlebury College, at which I present my proposed plans and designs for Milarepa Center in Barnet, Vermont, this inquiry looks into the profound links between spiritual inquiry and the practice of designing gardens, making design of landscape integral to a spiritual path, and the profound relationship between Landscape and Divinity. It is presented in three parts: (1) spiritual inspiration; (2) setting terms on the table; and (3) expressions of sacred landscape.

In this study, we present some results from the Mazi Archaeological Project (MAP), a diachronic regional survey in northwest Attica, Greece. We focus our discussion on the presence of the Middle Byzantine Monastery of Hosios Meletios and its relationship to local communities as well as to the surrounding natural and built environment. In doing so, we focus on three main strategies employed by the monastery: (1) large-scale building projects, (2) the redirection of movement in the area and (3) the exploitation of the natural environment and its economic resources. We also pay attention to the establishment of the paralavria (monastic dependencies) as a fundamental mechanism employed by the monastery to map its presence and influence and connect it to other sites of economic and religious importance in the region. We argue that the spatial, material and symbolic connections between the paralavria, the main monastery and key natural features in the area created a visually, spiritually and economically coherent and distinct monastic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose is to create models of sacral space and the task is to analyze the structure and genesis of sacral space. Research methods. The creation of sacred space models in geography is predominantly driven by naturalistic, phenomenological and temporal approaches. The methods of their study include: a) habitual structure of geographical space and its forming natural, anthropogenic and natural anthropogenic landscapes; b) perceptual-cognitive interpretation of the sacral space, which is significantly different from the previous version; c) eschatological perception of processes in the landscape. Results. In forming the models of sacral space, the study paid attention to the peculiarities of space and place. The authors noted that their concepts could be quite antagonistic, which would have an impact on the research model. This approach allows creating models of sacral space with elements of its filling: natural and phenomenological; given the time aspect – eschatological. The natural model is built on the juxtaposition of "sacred" and "profane" in the sense of "heterotopia" as a territorial component. Covers both anthropogenic, natural-anthropogenic, and natural objects and landscapes. The categories "sacral" and "profane" form a vertical bipolar system, the axis of which is "hierophany." Heterotopia includes anthropogenic cores – religious (cult) objects and landscapes, and natural ones – part of the polytheistic subclass of the pagan and neo-pagan group of variants of the class of sacral landscapes, as well as places of force associated with geoactive structures. Phenomenological model is developed based on formation in the person of feeling and contact with the "divine", for the formation of which perceptual-cognitive interpretations of space are applied. It is proposed to include a liminal space in the structure of the phenomenological model, which will include the extension of the hierophony axis above and below the "heterotopic" plane. The eschatological model is based on the theory of catastrophism, which assumes that abrupt and global environmental changes are caused by abrupt natural processes (flood, volcanic eruption, earthquake, impact event, geomagnetic inversion). In religious sources, similar processes are analyzed in eschatology, where cyclical and linear concepts of sacral space development are predominant. The eschatological model has certain features: the singular point coincides with the point of the "apocalypse"; the level of sacralization increases, but with its increase, the time of natural rhythms and cycles decreases and shifts, and the amplitude oscillations become larger, which is reflected in the manifestation of the main eschatological features; after passing the singular point, the amplitude oscillations of the natural rhythms are slowed and smoothed; a new landscape sphere is forming. Scientific significance. Research aspects define the interpretation of sacred space as one that combines material and spiritual; certain places in the ethnocultural region that have signs of the interaction between the ethnos and the sacred. In the model of sacral space it is expedient to distinguish the categories of topical (hierophany) and choral (hierotopia) components; to distinguish in hierotopia: sacral and profane, sacred and religious space, heterotopia and liminal component. The natural model is part of the space landscape sphere and consists of ritual and cult objects that form an ethnocultural region and in a heterotopic sense, sacral landscapes. The selection of the phenomenological model allows us to consider the sacral space from the standpoint of liminal space, and accordingly – it can be irregular, spatial and go beyond the chronological and spatial perception of the sacral. The eschatological model will reveal the temporal aspects of sacred space, the evolution of which is subordinated to a "global catastrophe". The change in the structure of the sacral space occurs abruptly, with partial or complete destruction of the landscape sphere and elimination of the biotic component. Practical significance. The proposed models of sacral space significantly expand the existing subject of sacral geography, anthropogenic and ethno-cultural landscape studies. Their application will allow to deepen connections in the interdisciplinary fields of geography, religious studies, philosophy, and cultural studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There is a paucity of research on the branding of sacral landscapes as a regional strategy in tourism marketing. On the one hand, the concept of place branding, to date, has been transferred very little to sacred destinations, while on the other hand, religious content and modern tourist marketing barely fit together. Nonetheless, the perception of religion in a postmodern society opens up new opportunities for sacred places to reposition themselves in the competition faced by tourist destinations. The aim of this article is to show how German tourism regions with a religious focus build their brand. Through analyzing six case studies and distilling the extant literature, this study aims to investigate whether sacral messages really do have religious depth, or whether the sacral landscape is only used superficially to attract attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Complutum is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

For most religions, nature has been an important medium and, to a smaller or greater extent, all religions use nature or its sacredness as a metaphor for religion. However, changes have occurred in the twenty-first century, and so nature, and especially natural sacred places, have become significant signs in major Christian trends, in pagan traditions emphasising continuity, and in vernacular contemporary religious practices. In terms of world view, alongside ethnic and new religions, the sacralisation of natural places (and nature as a whole) is among the messages of many humanistic movements until the ultra-green groups and regarding the equality of humans and nature. Although different religions use nature in very different ways, one of the most intriguing outputs in Estonia has been putting sacred places under state protection, which in 2008 was formulated as a state development plan. This article gives an overview of how sacred space is created or adopted, along with any monuments located there. The leaders of spiritual movements, as well as societies and organisations that valued cultural history and religion, served as initiators. Later on, the marking of public space with figures expanded to citizens' and village movements, municipal powers, museums and individuals used to enrich the landscape. By such means, an ordinary landscape was rendered multi-dimensional and connections were forged between more distant history and folklore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Sikkim, Padmasambhava blessed the sacred land and came to Lho mha' 'gro gsang phug, Mkha'spyod dpal ri and Bkra shis dgings and here has brought his protection to this pure land of prophecies (gter ma) and their legate notably Rig'dzin rGod kyi ldem phru can (1337-1408). In this paper, based on a presentation given at the Seminar of IATS in June 2016 at Bergen (Norway) and on my thesis fieldwork, post-doctoral studies, on primary and secondary sources, I discuss, the formation and origin of this sacred landscape (I): its formation based on sacred texts and natural properties connoted with high sacred places. I would like to show that the sacred landscape is a natural and cultural entity (geo physical). Then, I will attempt to demonstrate that there is a model into the landscape with the concept of state-mandala (II part), indeed I will describe a territorial model, delimiting space, populations and environment in order to explain the socio-territorial formation of a hidden land, the Beyül Demojong (Sbas yul bras mo ljongs) (II part) and state-mandala. The conservation of this sacred landscape which must be kept pure (III part) and beyond the reach of human and spiritual pollution. Finally, we discuss in the last part of this article on the transmission of the heritage which belongs to immaterial heritage such as the sacred landscape. As I pointed earlier, I will show the context of the formation of a sacred landscape of Tibetan origin where I develop and approach the idea of mandala and state-mandala within the structuration of the agrarian landscape, then finally prove the importance of the inheritance of this pure patrimony in the conservation and transmission of this sacred landscape by Lepcha and Bhutia communities. We wish to explore and associate the circular space and sacred geography to circumambulation when the places gained into sacred with the venue of pilgrims and tourists visitors which takes on a great importance in the process of sacredness of a new sanctuarized landscape. In fact, the spiritual themes parks are a new aesthetic representation of the religious landscape including religious tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]