Religious Relics
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Aachen Cathedral | Since 1349 the Aachen Pilgrimage has attracted pilgrims from all over the world every seven years, to come and visit the city of Charlemagne, which has been Episcopal residence since 1930. Shown are the Aachen cloth relics, which according to tradition have been worshiped as baby Jesus’ diaper, John the Baptist’s decapitation cloth and Christ’s loin cloth. | |
| Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch | A relic of St. Lazarus was stored in the church until a fire in 1090 which destroyed it | |
| Anuradhapura | Ruwanwelisaya - Lord Buddha relic | |
| Arles | Some parts of St. Anthony, in the Church of St. Trophime | |
| Assisi | At Santa Chiara: "Against the back wall of the crypt are some holy relics, including tunics worn by Francis and Clare, a shirt she embroidered, and some locks of hair Francis sheared from her head." – The Basilica of San Francesco holds the remains of Saint Francis in the crypt in the Lower Church. | |
| Brugge | Holy Blood at Heilige Bloed Basiliek | |
| Champagne | Hautvillers Abbey: "In 841 a priest from Reims stole the relic of the body of Saint Helena from Rome and the reliquary was transferred to the abbey. (...) The remaining relics of St. Helena stayed in the monastery until the French Revolution broke out. The monastery was destroyed but the cellarer was able to hide the relics until they could be safely transported to Paris for public veneration again. They were then entrusted to the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and installed in their church, Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles de Paris, in 1819." | |
| Chartres Cathedral | Since 876 the cathedral's site has housed a tunic that was said to have belonged to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sancta Camisa. The relic had supposedly been given to the Cathedral by Charlemagne who received it as a gift during a crusade in Jerusalem. | |
| Churches and Convents of Goa | St Francis Xavier | |
| Costiera Amalfitana | Saint Andrew's relics | |
| Echmiatsin and Zvartnots | Echmiatsin: The Holy Lance that pierced our Lord?s side by the Roman soldier during His crucifixion is among them. According to the tradition it was brought to Armenia by Apostle Thaddeus when he came to evangelize. The Lance is kept in the Cathedral Museum. The greatest relic of Armenian Church is the Right Hand of St. Grigor Lusavorich (St. Gregory the Illuminator). The relic is housed in a gold artwork depicting the sufferings of the saint. The third major relic is the piece of Noah?s Ark (kept in the Cathedral Museum). According to the tradition, it was given to St. Hakob (Jacob), Patriarch | |
| Ferapontov Monastery | "Securing the relics of Martinian and his subsequent canonization made it a place of pilgrimage and attracted many gifts and endowments." (AB Ev) | |
| Ferrara | The relics of San Leo are preserved in the right nave of the church of Santo Stefano. | |
| Florence | San Miniato al Monte: "The crypt is the oldest part of the church and the high altar supposedly contains the bones of St Minias himself". | |
| Incense Route of the Negev | Some human remains were found in one of Mamshit's churches. It is assumed they were connected to a Christian ritual. | |
| Istanbul | (Topkapi) The Sacred Trusts (inc a Hair from the beard of Mohammed) | |
| Kandy | Tooth of the Buddha | |
| Longobards in Italy | Benevento - The church of S. Sophia: " The building was probably completed by May 760, when in the course of a most solemn ceremony, the relics of the twelve Holy martyr Brothers were moved to the apse from various cities around Italy. In 768 the temple, symbol of longobard spirituality, became the resting place for the relics of St. Mercurius and later for a further thirty-one martyr saints and confessors." (Nomination file, p. 199) | |
| Mantua and Sabbioneta | Basilica di Sant'Andrea: relic, called Preziosissimo Sangue di Cristo ("Most Precious Blood of Christ"), is preserved in the Sacred Vessels, according to the tradition was brought to Mantua by the Roman centurion Longinus. It was highly venerated during the Renaissance. The shrines are displayed only on the Good Friday, to the faithful and then brought out along the streets of Mantua in a procession. (wiki) | |
| Monastery of Geghard | The monastery was famous because of the relics that it housed, the most celebrated the spear that wounded Christ on the Cross. Relics of the Apostles Andrew and John were donated in the 12th century (AB ev) | |
| Nalanda | "In Nalanda there is only one relic stupa which is the core of site no. 03. It was constructed by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC to consecrate the bodily remains of Sariputta." (AB ev) | |
| Naples | Blood of St.Januarius | |
| Nikko | Okusha Hoto enshrines the remains of Tokugawa Ieyasu | |
| Ohrid Region | Saint Clement's relics can be found in the Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon in Ohrid. | |
| Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles | St. Anthony's chin and tongue at the Basilica of St. Anthony | |
| Paris, Banks of the Seine | ||
| Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) | "The church (...) contains the bones of St. Ranieri, Pisa's patron saint". | |
| Polonnaruva | When it was capital, it housed the tooth of Buddha (which now is in Kandy) | |
| Provins | The Empress Galla Placidia is said to have presented Ancona with the relics of Judas Cyriacus. However, the saint's head was situated at Provins, which was brought over from Jerusalem by Henry I of Champagne, who built a church in this town to display it. | |
| Quedlinburg | One of Mary's hair is kept at Quedlinburg Abbey. | |
| Ravenna | "The relics of Saint Apollinaris were transferred from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe" to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo "because of the threat posed by frequent raids of pirates from the Adriatic Sea." | |
| Reichenau | Head of St. George, the relics of St Mark the Evangelist, and many others | |
| Reims | In the Abbey: the remains of St. Remi (died 553), the Bishop of Reims who converted Clovis, King of the Franks, to Christianity | |
| Rome | Basilica of st John Lateran - Table from thre Last supper | |
| San Marino and Mount Titano | The Basilica di San Marino houses the relics of Saint Marinus, the founder and patron of the Republic. | |
| Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries | "Tongdosa Temple does not enshrine an image of the Buddha, because there are relics of the Buddha enshrined in the Diamond Precept Platform." - ICOMOS | |
| Santiago de Compostela | bodies of Saints James, Theodorus and Athanasius | |
| Siena | The Basilica of San Domenico "contains several relics of St. Catherine of Siena, whose family house is nearby." | |
| Silk Roads: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor | The relics of Xuanzang are preserved at Xingjiao Temple | |
| Syracuse | "As of 2015 the cathedral holds a number of relics of St. Lucy, the patroness of the city: a number of bone fragments, a robe, a veil, and a pair of shoes." (wiki) | |
| Trier | The Seamless Robe of Jesus, kept in the dom of Trier | |
| Val di Noto | San Giacomo, Caltagirone: "the interior houses a relic, putatively the arm of St James, inside a silver box engraved with reliefs depicting the life of the saint". | |
| Vatican City | St Peters eg Part of the "True Cross" | |
| Venice and its Lagoon | Relics of St Mark in the Basilica | |
| Vézelay | relics of St Mary Magdalene |
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