Sacred Sites of the World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kedarnath

The temple is thought to have been built during the 8th century CE by Adi Shankara, an Advaitic philosopher. The temple itself was built from large granite stone slabs. The main inner hall is adorned with Hindu deities. The inner sanctum contains the great Shiva Lingam, which means "sign of Shiva." According to Hindus, the god Shiva left the Shiva Lingam as a promise to his followers that he would always remain in the temple.

Answer: Nazca Lines

One of the most bizarre theories as to the origin of the lines came from Swiss author Erich von Daniken, who claimed that the line carvings were used as ancient landing strips for alien spacecraft. Others believe that the Nazca people used the lines to point to water sources that would not have been found otherwise.

The Nazca people lived in the area until 700 CE. Historians believe these people used string attached to wooden posts to carve the lines.

Answer: Easter Island

Europeans discovered Easter Island in 1722. The inhabitants were the Rapanui people. Each statue is believed to represent a chief or someone of great importance. Paro, the largest statue, weighs more than 80 tons. The Rapanui positioned each statue approximately 1/2 of a mile apart in a line around the island.

Answer: Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II, the ruler of the Kmer empire from 1113 to 1150 CE. This King dedicated the temple to the Hindu god, Vishnu. The large wall surrounding the temple represents the earth's mountains while the moat beyond the wall represents the oceans and rivers.

The temple walls contain bas-reliefs depicting guardian spirits and scenes from Hindu myths. The main temple sits on a raised terrace while the temple itself is formed by three tiered galleries, the highest one marking the site of the main shrine underneath.

It is believed that the image of Vishnu was once located within this shrine. When a new ruler, trained as a Buddhist monk, came into power at the end of the 13th century, he changed the state religion from Hindu to Theravada Buddhism.

Answer: Uluru

Uluru has been sacred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara peoples for thousands of years. They follow the spiritual tradition of the Anangu, the indigenous Australians. According to Anangu mythology, the earth had no form until ancestral beings traveled across it, beginning the journey in central Australia.

A story is associated with every feature of Uluru and this knowledge is passed down to young Anangu during initiation ceremonies. Tourists still make the dangerous climb up Uluru which does not sit well with the Anangu people.

The Anangu want to preserve what they consider to be spiritual paths up to the top of the rock.

Answer: The Giant Buddha of Leshan

Money ran out before Hai Tong could finish carving the Buddha. It wasn't until 803 CE that the work was completed. The statue stands more than 230 feet tall. The shoulders themselves are 98 feet wide. This statue represents a future Buddha known as Maitreya Buddha.

Answer: Monte Alban

Only a small portion of this city has been excavated. Monte Alban's most significant ruins are built on a ridge 1,312 feet from the plain below it. Home to the Main Plaza, the ridge can still be reached by climbing huge stone staircases. Throughout the Main Plaza, stone carvings depict images of tortured prisoners as well as place names.

Historians believe the names suggest cities that the Zapotec conquered.

Answer: Sedlec Ossuary

Also called the Bone Church of Sedlec, the chapel contains the bones of over 40,000 people whose bones were used to decorate the roof and walls. The upper church was rebuilt in the early 18th century. During the 19th century, a woodcarver named Frantisek Rint was hired to clear up the bones left behind in the lower chamber.

Not only did he clear up the bones but he used them very creatively. Rint made a chandelier entirely from human bones and tied human skulls together and hung them from the vaults.

In keeping with the bone decor, he even made a coat of arms from human bones.

Answer: The Basilica of the Holy Blood

This basilica also houses the relics of St. Basil, a 4th-century bishop who helped to bring Christianity to Europe. The remains of St. Basil have been stored for centuries in the lower chapel of the basilica. The vial of Holy Blood was carried by Thierry of Alsace in 1134 after he returned from a crusade to the Holy Land.

The vial he brought back contained the cloth dipped in Christ's blood preserved by Joseph of Arimathea who, according to Matthew, tended Christ's body after the crucifixion.

Answer: The Big Horn Medicine Wheel

According to members of a local Crow tribe, the wheel was made by a boy named Burnt Face who got his name from being badly scarred by a fire as a baby. As he grew older, Burnt Face went on a vision quest to the Big Horn Mountains and built the wheel. While on his quest, he saved some baby eaglets which were being stalked by an animal. An eagle circling the sky above Burnt Face noticed his good deed, carried him off, and removed the burned scars.