Sacred Caves Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mayan

Found just outside the inland city of San Ignacio in the nation of Belize, Actun Tunichil Muknal is in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve and was once an important site for Mayan culture. An interesting archaeological site, many of the findings there have led scholars to believe the cave was once a place for ritual sacrifice, with the unique preserved (and crystallized) skeletons there.

Interestingly, the nearby Midnight Terror Cave was also believed to be used for sacrifices to the Mayan god Chaac, who provided rain to the lands. When it was discovered, it contained nearly ten thousand human bones.

Answer: Buddha

Found in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, Dambulla is home to an immense temple complex that started construction more than two thousand years ago. One of the best preserved temples of its kind on the island, it's built in and around eighty caves, all of which are adorned with golden statues of Buddha. Five of the eighty caves in the area are used more than the others, often as religious sites (monasteries, shrines, etc.), and most of which are covered in detailed cave paintings depicting the Buddha and his sermons.

Answer: Malta

Found beneath the town of Rabat in north Malta, St. Paul's Grotto and the nearby catacombs were constructed underground by the Romans in their early days on the island though they did fall into disuse by the 4th century AD. While the catacombs were sealed off (and reopened) over time, St. Paul's Grotto has been long-accessed, first by St. Paul himself when he was shipwrecked in Malta in 60 AD.

It was believed that during his time on the island, St. Paul healed people of their ailments from this spot, leading it to become a point of interest for Christian travellers. Paul proceeded onward from there to Rome, living the rest of his life there.

Answer: Mount Starius

Originally built and used as far back as the 4th century AD, the Church of Saint Peter, seen here, is found in the southern tip of Turkey in what was formerly the city of Antioch (now Antakya). The front structure seen in the photo is a facade while the actual church was carved into the side of Mount Starius.

In the modern day, the church has proven hardy, withstanding earthquakes over the centuries that would otherwise topple free-standing churches in the area. It's a particularly good thing, as people have, historically, come to the site to take advantage of its perceived healing waters.

Answer: A salt mine

Though the Wieliczka Salt Mine opened in the 13th century, it remained in use as a functioning salt mine until the twenty-first, becoming a sprawling complex of chambers and tunnels that include not one, but four underground salt chapels, one of which includes a salt version of "The Last Supper" carved into a wall. St Kinga's Chapel, the largest of these, is found more than one hundred metres underground and took seven decades to make in full.

Despite official closure of operations in the mines, mass continued to be held there.

Answer: War

Found in Gombak, the Batu Caves are a massive Hindu shrine built into the limestone cliffs. Though the caves have been the result of hundreds of millions of years of formation, the stairs leading in were constructed as recently as 1920, and with that followers made their way to the Temple Cave for prayer. Outside, the massive statue of Lord Murugan is amongst the tallest religious statues in the world.

In the twenty-first century, additional caves have been requisitioned and consecrated in the complex-- Ramayana Cave, built to worship Hanuman, was one of the first of these.

Answer: Colombia

Found two hundred metres underground, the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá is similar to the Wieliczka Salt Mine in that it contains a place of worship carved into an active salt mine, the difference being that it was constructed much later (in the 1930s).

The ground would be consecrated in 1954 and the site would be used for service not long after. In the 1990s, a second cathedral was built under the original, coming into use shortly thereafter with several naves and small chapels for the Stations of the Cross, all carved into the halite.

Answer: Sikhism

Located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra in Western India, the Ellora Caves were created with the intent to provide harmony to varied religions of the region, taking in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain followers and housing them for worship in close proximity in a series of basalt caves. Though there are more than a hundred caves in the Charanandri Hills, only about three dozen of them are used as sites of worship, split unevenly amongst the followings.

They've been a site of pilgrimage for all three faiths for more than a thousand years and contain religious rock art and sculptures that have withstood the test of time.

Answer: Muhammad

Jabal al-Nour is one of the more sacred mountains in Muslim faith because it's the site of the Cave of Hira, where the prophet Muhammad is believed to have received his first revelation. In the modern era, thousands of visitors still make their way up to the cave each day, especially during the Hajj, though the walk does take tourists up more than seventeen hundred steps. Nonetheless, for any followers of the Quran, it's a neat site; its first verses were received here. Mecca, and the Hajj, can be reached nearby; they're about ten kilometres apart.

Answer: Mount Parnassus

Found north of Delphi in Parnassus National Park, the Korycian Cave was believed at one time to be inhabited by nymphs, specifically those who tended to the sacred springs found nearby. At one time, rocks near the entrance are believed to have been used as an altar for rituals in worship of the god Pan.

In ancient Greek writings, Zeus was alleged to have been trapped in this cave while fighting one of mythology's deadliest foes, Typhon.