Archaeology Ireland is organizing a one-day conference (Encountering the sacred) focusing on the importance of sacred places and spaces and our human experience of them. The conference is presented by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in partnership with the Office of Public Works and will take place in the Print Works, Dublin Castle, on 5th October, 2019. The conference will focus on the importance of sacred places and spaces and our human experience of them. Central to virtually all religions—global or local, oral or religions of the book—is the idea that there are places where the otherworld, the numinous or the sacred can be encountered and contacted by carrying out rituals or religious practices at specific times.
Sacred places can be natural, such as caves, mountaintops, islands or springs, or they can be constructed. Such monuments and buildings often deliberately incorporate and literally build on the existing significance of the place where they are located. These sacred sites are not only testaments to the beliefs of the people who built and used them but are also an outstanding feature of the archaeological record.
The conference programme will focus on the significance of sacred sites in a range of religious and cosmological contexts and will explore the central role of pilgrimage: people journeying to sacred places for spiritual purposes. For more information on the Conference visit https://archaeologyireland.ie/ encountering-the-sacred/. The conference programme is available to view by clicking here - https://archaeologyireland.ie/ conference-programme-2019/