INTRODUCTION

Sacredness

Caves

Stones

Mountains

Trees

Water

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1998 (text only)Christopher L. C. E.

Witcombe

An exploration of how and why places become invested withSACREDNESS and how the SACRED is embodied or made manifest

through ART and ARCHITECTURE

WATER AND THE SACREDWater is a primordial element which underlays creation myths andstories around the world. The Egyptian Heliopolitan creation storyrecounts that the sun-god Atum (Re) reposed in the primordial ocean(Nun). In Assyro-Babylonian mythology, first the gods andsubsequently all beings arose from the fusion of salt water (Tiamat)and sweet water (Apsu). The holy books of the Hindus explain that allthe inhabitants of the earth emerged from the primordial sea. At thebeginning of the Judeo-Christian story of creation, the spirit of God isdescribed as stirring above the waters, and a few lines later, Godcreates a firmament in the midst of the waters to divide the waters(Genesis 1:1-6). In the Koran are the words We have created everyliving thing from water.

Water divinities of various kinds appear in the mythologies of manycultures. And not surprisingly, the world abounds in sacred springs,rivers, and lakes. Even within the Judeo-Christian tradition, whichgenerally avoids the veneration of the various phenomena of Nature,there are numerous examples of sacred springs or wells, and rivers.In most cases, the spring or river has acquired sacredness throughconnection with a significant or miraculous event. The water of theRiver Jordan is sacred because Jesus Christ was baptized in it bySaint John the Baptist. The spring at Lourdes is sacred because of itshealing properties in connection with the appearance of the VirginMary to Bernadette. In some cases, such as the holy well at Chartres,or the Chalice Well at Glastonbury were probably already sacred inpagan times.

While sacred in their own right, sacred springs also draw attention tothe sacredness of water itself, reminding the Christian, for example,that water is a symbol of grace (and as such is used for baptism).

Water is also one of the four elements possessing fundamentalcharacteristics. In the Canticle of the Sun, St. Francis of Assisi praisesGod for water: Praised be Thou, O Lord, for sister water, who is veryuseful, humble, precious, and chaste. In many cultures, water appearsas a reflection or an image of the soul. In Japan, water prefigures thepurity and pliant simplicity of life. It can be both calm and animated,and the Japanese may contemplate the unruffled surface of a templepond or make pilgrimages to waterfalls. The lotus-stream of theBuddha or Boddhisattva rises up from the waters of the soul, in thesame way the spirit, illumined by knowledge, frees itself from passiveexistence.

Lascaux France

Giza Egypt

Stonehenge England

Newgrange Ireland

Abu Simbel Egypt

Delphi Greece

Athenian Acropolis Greece

Holy Sepulchre Israel

Dome of the Rock Israel

Chartres France

Lourdes France

Shrine at Ise Japan

Bodh Gaya India

Teotihuacn Mexico

St. Peter's Basilica Italy

Mecca Saudi Arabia

Mosque ofCrdoba

Spain

Kata Tjuta Australia

In India, the sacred River Ganges embodies for Hindus the water oflife. Bathing in the Ganges frees the bather from sin, the outwardpurification serving as symbolic support of inward purification. Thesource of the Ganges lies in the Himalayas, the mountains of theGods, and descends to the plains of India as if from Heaven.

The identification of the sources of rivers, streams, springs, and wellsas sacred is very ancient. Springs and wells were perceived as thedwelling place of supernatural beings, and stories and legends grewup around them. Often it was claimed that the waters healed theinjured or cured the sick with the result that well or stream came to beregarded as a sacred shrine. The Roman philosopher Senecadeclared that Where a spring rises or a water flows there ought we tobuild altars and offer sacrifices. This was frequently undertaken.

In some cases wells or streams were oracular. Pausanias (VII, 21. 11)[see BIBLIOGRAPHY] reports that a sacred stream in front of the sanctuaryof Demeter at Patras served as an infallible mode of divination using amirror. Wells and springs inhabited by spirits with the gift of prophecywere places of pilgrimage. The Celts venerated natural springs ofwater for their sacred and medicinal value and many examples of holywells are known, many of them were later Christianized throughrededication to a saint. This practice of venerating sacred wellscontinued into the Christian era in the West, though they were nowreferred to as wishing wells.

Springs and wells also took the form of sacred fountains which wereclaimed to be the Fountain of Youth, or the Fountain of Immortality, orthe Well of Knowledge. A Fountain of Youth was believed to exist inthe newly-discovered Americas, and the Spanish conquistador Poncede Lon set out in 1513 on an expedition to find it in Florida. In China,the water of the fountain at Pon Lai was believed to confer a thousandlives on those who drink it, according to Wang Chia, writing in theChin Dynasty (265-420 CE), and a similar reputation was attached tothe springs of Mount Lao Shan.

Wells and springs were often associated with a god or goddess andthe sacred water dispensed there could ensure life, health, andabundance. The Babylonian moon goddess, Ishtar, was associatedwith sacred springs, and her temples were often situated in naturalgrottoes from which springs emanated. Sacred springs wereenshrined by the Ancient Greeks who erected artificial basins andplaced icons of the deity or deities nearby. Goddesses and nymphswere connected with certain rivers, springs, and wells by the Celtsand Romans. Often the river was named after the goddess, such asthe Shannon River, after Sinann,and the Boyne, after Boann, inIreland, and the Seine, after Sequana, in Gaul (France). In 1963, atthe Gallo-Roman Fontes Sequanae sanctuary at the source of theSeine, 200 wooden figures were exacavated carved from the heartwood of oak to represent all or part of the human body (heads, limbs,trunks; with internal organs carved in relief on wooden plaques).These ex votos indicate that the goddess of the sacred spring wasbelieved capable of curing a whole range of infirmities.

A special sacred significance was attached to springs and wellswhose waters could heal. In the New Testament, St. John (5:2)describes the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, surrounded by fivecovered colonnades, where a great number of disabled people usedto lie -- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed waiting to be the first to

to lie -- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed waiting to be the first toenter the pool when the water is stirred. When in the mid-19th centurysoon after Bernadette's vision of the Virgin Mary, the water issuingfrom the grotto at Lourdes began to bring about cures in people, thespring was designated a place of miracles.

From these underground sources also bubbled forth mineral waterwhich could be imbided or bathed in to effect cures. Later, thesesprings became baths and spas. The hot (120 degree Fahrenheit /46.5 degrees Celsius) mineral springs at Bath in England werealready being used 7000 years ago. The Celts subsequentlyestablished a shrine there dedicated to Sulis, and later the Romansbuilt on the same spot a temple to Sulis Minerva (and renamed thetown Aquae Sulis).

The Romans also developed other mineral springs. In Germany thewaters at Aquae Aureliae became the famous spa of Baden-Baden(bath bath). In 218 CE, after defeating the Romans, Hannibal and hisarmies stopped to imbide the waters at Perrier in the south of France.The water at Evians-les-Bains, on the southern side of Lake Geneva,was discovered in ancient times; in 363 CE, the Roman emperorFlavius Claudius Jovianus stopped there on his way to Germany. Thenatural spring waters at Evians-les-Bains are marketed today asEvian. The waters at San Pellegrino in Lombardy in northern Italyhave beenknown since Roman times. Rediscovered in the 12thcentury, one of the famous pilgrims (pellegrino means pilgrim) whocame to take the waters there was Leonardo da Vinci. The spa wasestablished there in 1848, and bottling of the water begun in 1899.

1. Sacredness

2. The Sacred Cave

3. Stones and the Sacred

4. Mountains and the Sacred

5. Trees and the Sacred

6. Water and the Sacred

SACRED PLACES is written and produced by Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, Professor,Department of Art History, Sweet Briar College, Virginia, 24595 USA