Place Experience of the Sacred

This book explores the topography of Mount Athos, emphasizing the significance of silence and communal ritual in its understanding. Mount Athos, a mountainous peninsula in northern Greece, is a valuable case study of sacred topography, as it is one of the world’s largest monastic communities and an important pilgrimage destination. Its phenomenological examination in this book highlights the importance of embodiment in the experience of religious places. Combining insights from different disciplines – architectural theory, philosophy, theology, anthropology – with archival and ethnographic materials, the book brings a fresh contribution to both Athonite studies and scholarship on sacred space. By focusing on the interrelation between silence and communal ritual, it offers an alternative to the traditional art historical, objectifying approaches. It reintroduces a phenomenological understanding of place, investigating also how this is expressed through a number of narratives, suchas travel literature, maps and diaries.

Dr. Christos Antonios Kakalis is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, UK.