Shrine is also used as a conventional translation of the Japanese Jinja.

A shrine, from the Latin scrinium (‘box’; also used as a desk, like the French bureau) is originally a container, usually in precious materials, especially for a relic and often a cult image, and/or a holy or sacred place containing the same, dedicated towards a certain deity, saint, or similar religious figure. Secular meanings have developed by association, as noted below.

Religious shrines

As distinguished from a temple, a shrine is usually houses a particular relic or cult image, which is the object of worship or veneration, or is constructed on a site which is thought to be particularly holy, as opposed to being placed for the convenience of worshippers. As such, shrines are associated with the practice of pilgrimage.

Religious traditions which have founded public places of worship frequently called shrines include: Christian denominations, such

Muslims have differing opinions on shrines and the Intercession of saints:"And the mosques are for Allah (Alone): so invoke not anyone along with Allah" Sura Al-Jinn:18 (72:18)). The only major mosques according to Sunni Muslims are in the following order; 1- Masjid al Haram 2- Masjid al-Nabawi 3- Al-Aqsa Mosque (A mosque on the holy Temple Mount, which is a place visited by both Jewish and Christian pilgrims). Shi'ism maintains a tradition of venerating late religious leaders (as there is no hierarchical church, the bond is very personal; but often a 'successor', sometimes even a son, maintains a following) and/or martyrs (usually at their grave); thus the Persian word imamzadeh. There are also sunnite equivalents, as among the ascetic marabouts of West Africa and the Maghreb.

A Buddhist shrine is sometimes called a stupa, requiring a symbolic architecture.

In Shinto, small portable shrines are often carried in religious processions.

In the Roman Catholic Code of Canon law, canons

The word is also used to designate a small altar in a home or place of business, or a room or item of furniture which is furnished with religious symbols and used for private worship, as was common in the polytheist periods of Classical Antiquity. Devotions are generally to ancestral or tutelary spirits.

Secular shrines

In the United States, several landmarks are called "historic shrines." High ranking Freemasons may join the Shriners, a benevolent and charitable organization.

By extension the term shrine has come to mean any place (or virtual cyber-place) dedicated completely to a particular person or subject.

Notable shrines

• The Shrine of Remembrance is a war memorial in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Australia
• The Shrine of Remembrance is a war memorial in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Roman Catholic

• The shrine of the Apostle Saint James the Great at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, historically the third Catholic pilgrimage destination after Jeruzalem and Rome
• The shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Loreto in Italy
• The shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Walsingham in England
• The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC in the United States
• The National Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic Church in Royal Oak, MI.
• Shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary at Czestochowa, Poland
• Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral
• The shrine of Our Lady at Scherpenheuvel in Flanders
• Shrine Vailankanni Basilica Vailankanni in India
• See also :
  • Shrines to the Virgin Mary
  • basilica

Shinto

Japanese shinto temples — jinja and jingu— are conventionally called "shrines". See Category:Shinto shrines

U.S. historic shrines

• The Alamo
• Fort McHenry
• Saint Anne Parish and Shrine in Fall River, Massachusetts
• Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island

Schrein Schrijn