Legends and Folk Myths

World Heritage Sites connected to 'Legends and Folk Myths':

  • Ancient Nara Tame deer roam through the town, according to the legend, a mythological god Takemikazuchi arrived in Nara on a white deer to guard the newly built capital of Heijô-kyô. Since then the deer were regarded as heavenly animal to protect the city.
  • Budapest Gellert Hill - St. Gerard (Gellert) was killed by the pagans during the great pagan rebellion in 1046. He was put in a barrel and rolled down into the deep from the top of the hill.
  • Burgos Cathedral The legend of El Cid
  • Chief Roi Mata’s Domain Legends around death of Roy Mata
  • Costiera Amalfitana A boat transporting an icon of the Ascention of the Lady heard a mysterious voice 'posa, posa' ('put,put'), so they stopped their ship at Positano's shore and left the icon at its central church. This is the origin of Positano's name
  • Curonian Spit Neringa and the creation of the Spit: "According to Baltic mythology, the Curonian Spit was formed by a strong girl, Neringa, who was playing on the seashore."
  • Dolomites King Laurin and his Rose Garden; link
  • Giant's Causeway Legend of the Irish giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill
  • Great Smoky Mountains The Cherokee considered the waters of the Oconaluftee sacred. Dora Woodruff Cope, who lived in the Oconaluftee valley near Smokemont around 1900, recalled a legend her Cherokee neighbors told her: ...part of the river was called Ya'nu-u'nata wasti'yi, "Where the bears wash." It was a deeper part of the river, where all the animals came to wash and heal their wounds when they had been hurt by hunters. No white person had ever seen this place because evil had blinded us to its existence. The animals knew how to find it, and diving into it meant instant healing. (wiki)
  • Hal Saflieni Hypogeum Dissappearing school parties and a hidden cave featuring Humanoid beings ; link
  • Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump About a young Blackfoot found with his skull crushed by the weight of the buffalo. ; link
  • Himeji-jo In feudal Japanese folklore, the ghost story of The Dish Mansion at Banchô centered around Okiku's Well, one of the wells at Himeji Castle that remains to this day. According to the legend, Okiku was falsely accused of losing dishes that were valuable family treasures, and then killed and thrown into the well. Her ghost remained to haunt the well at night, counting dishes in a despondent tone. (wiki)
  • Hollókö Called the Raven Mountain due to the legend telling ravens destroyed the constructions of the village during its erection every night
  • Island of Pátmos Mythology tells of how Patmos existed as an island at the bottom of the sea and how the island emerged from the water by intervention of Zeus.
  • Kronborg Castle Legendary home of Hamlet
  • Lake Baikal Natives believe that Burkhan, a modern religious cult figure of the Altai peoples, lives in the cave in the Shaman Rock on Olkhon.
  • Liverpool The "Liver Bird"
  • Luang Prabang Luang Prabang's legend of the city spirit guardians - Pu No and Na No; link
  • Mahabalipuram Legend of Seven Pagodas
  • Mount Taishan Legend of Pan Gu
  • Mount Wutai Legend of unburnable Tripitaka making Chinese Emperor convert to Buddhism and built Xiantong Temple
  • Ohrid Region The existence of the ancient town of Lychnidos is linked to the Greek myth of the Phoenician prince Cadmus who, banished from Thebes, in Boetia, fled to the Enchelei and founded the town of Lychnidos on the shores of Lake Ohrid (Wiki).
  • Prague The Golem of Prague
  • Provins Provins recieved its name from the wine belonging to Roman general named Probus (Probi vinum).
  • Rapa Nui Rapa Nui mythology
  • Rome Romulus & Remus, the Aeneid
  • Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca Cuenca is considered a candidate for the mythical city of gold, El Dorado.
  • Segovia The legend that the devil built the aqueduct for exchange of the soul of a girl who has to carry water to the city
  • Siena According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena.
  • Sighisoara Legend of Vlad the Impaler
  • Sulamain-Too Women who ascend to the shrine on top and crawl though an opening across the holy rock will, according to legend, give birth to healthy children. (Wiki)
  • Taj Mahal Black Taj Mahal; link
  • Telc Within the [castel's] chapel in a white marble sarcophagus lie the remains of Zacharias z Hradec and his wife Katharina Valdstejn. According to legend, the young wife was implicated in her own death. She allowed her portrait to be painted while she was pregnant - despite warnings that this meant she would die within a year of her birth.
  • Tower of London The Ravens
  • Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 'Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten'
  • Troy Trojan Horse
  • Upper Middle Rhine Valley Lorelei