Sacred places by country: temples, churches, shrines and mosques of Vietnam and the world

ICountries In The Library

Click a flag or a highlighted country to open its own page. Countries in grey have no place in the library yet and will open in turn, following the roadmap below.

Bosnia and Herzegovina1

United Arab Emirates1

Republic of the Congo1

DR Congo1

Dominican Republic1

Central African Republic1

Saint Kitts and Nevis1

Saint Lucia1

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines1

Samoa1

San Marino1

São Tomé and Príncipe1

By continent

Asia41/49

VietnamAfghanistanIraqIsraelNorth KoreaPalestineSyriaTaiwanYemen

South America12/13

VenezuelaFalkland Islands

Oceania15/15

IIWhat This Section Is

A book about religion that cannot point to a single place to go has only travelled half the road. This section records where the traditions in this library are still lived: the pagoda, the temple, the Taoist hall, the church, the holy see.

What sets this apart from any travel page is the section on site and orientation. The ancients did not choose the ground for a temple by chance: Thien Mu sits on Ha Khe hill facing the Perfume River, Quan Thanh guards the northern quarter of the old capital. That section is written with a feng shui eye, and no one else writes it.

No opening hours, no ticket prices

Those change constantly, and a library that is wrong once loses its standing. Only what does not change is recorded here.

Images with clear licences

Every image carries its photographer and its licence. Without both, it is not published.

Description, not invitation

As with the whole library, this section records rather than invites, and ranks no place above another.

IIIHow It Will Grow

Stage 1Fifteen principal places in Vietnam
Done. Covering seven traditions, settling the form of the article, the images and the maps.
Stage 2A page of its own for each place
Done. History, architecture, site and orientation, festivals, and how to conduct oneself there.
Stage 3Province by province
Under way. Through the nationally listed sacred sites, then the founding temples of each school.
Stage 4Beyond Vietnam
Under way since 16 September 2026. The ten countries with the most readers go first: Japan, Poland, the United States, Germany, India, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Singapore and Australia. Each begins with its most significant places, the heartland of a tradition or a World Heritage site, then the places the Vietnamese diaspora frequents. Progress is logged in the Expansion Log below.

IVExpansion Log

The library records every step of its expansion beyond Vietnam in the open, country by country, so the community can follow and suggest places. Each country begins with its most significant sites.

If you know a place that belongs here for your country, write to thayungkhiem@gmail.com
Country	Places planned, in order of priority	Listed	Written	With photo
Japan	1. Ise Grand Shrine 2. Todai-ji 3. Sensō-ji 4. Fushimi Inari-taisha 5. Kongōbu-ji	5/5	5/5	5/5
Poland	1. Jasna Góra Monastery 2. Wawel Cathedral 3. Divine Mercy Sanctuary, Kraków 4. St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków 5. Gniezno Cathedral	5/5	5/5	5/5
United States	1. St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan) 2. Hsi Lai Temple 3. Washington National Cathedral 4. City of Ten Thousand Buddhas 5. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception	5/5	5/5	5/5
Germany	1. Cologne Cathedral 2. All Saints' Church, Wittenberg 3. Aachen Cathedral 4. Wartburg 5. St. Thomas Church, Leipzig	5/5	5/5	5/5
India	1. Mahabodhi Temple 2. Golden Temple 3. Sarnath 4. Meenakshi Temple 5. Jama Masjid, Delhi	5/5	5/5	5/5
Netherlands	1. St. John's Cathedral ('s-Hertogenbosch) 2. Westerkerk 3. Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam) 4. Basilica of Saint Servatius 5. St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht	5/5	5/5	4/5
United Kingdom	1. Westminster Abbey 2. Canterbury Cathedral 3. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London 4. Westminster Cathedral 5. St Paul's Cathedral	5/5	5/5	5/5
France	1. Notre-Dame de Paris 2. Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes 3. Mont-Saint-Michel 4. Sacré-Cœur, Paris 5. Grand Mosque of Paris	5/5	5/5	5/5
Singapore	1. Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum 2. Sultan Mosque 3. Thian Hock Keng 4. Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore 5. Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Singapore	5/5	5/5	5/5
Australia	1. St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney 2. Nan Tien Temple 3. St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne 4. Great Stupa of Universal Compassion 5. St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney	5/5	5/5	5/5

Timeline

12/10/2026Master Ung Khiem's notes from a field visit on 9 October 2026 with Feng Shui Grand Master Thuận Thiên. His Eight Mansions plan and the drawing Mother Năm Nghĩa made by hand from what the fallen soldiers told her match at six points, the rock, the pond, the main hall, the wind chime, the place to rest and the great trees. The page has a photo gallery, a short film, a map and a YouTube video.
06/10/2026Tan Ha Church in Bao Loc, Lam Dong, joins the library: a parish church of Our Lady of the Rosary at the centre of a village whose eight roads radiate from the hilltop. It is the first page with a gallery and a short film recorded on site by Master Ung Khiem.
05/10/2026Openly licensed photographs obtained for 17 of the 24 places in the sixth batch of stage 5, from Nan Madol, the Wassu Stone Circles and Regina Mundi Cathedral in Bujumbura to the atoll churches of Tarawa, Majuro and Funafuti. Seven places still need a correct photograph (N'Djamena, Kinshasa, Nkembo, Manzini, Bangui, Honiara, Koror).
05/10/2026Stage 5, one place for every country, sixth batch: 24 articles written for 24 more countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania (Nan Madol, the Wassu Stone Circles, the Grand Mosque of N'Djamena, Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, the carved wooden columns of Saint-Michel de Nkembo, the atoll churches of Tarawa, Majuro and Funafuti, and others). Every country outside current conflicts and territorial disputes now has one place. Awaiting openly licensed photographs.
05/10/2026Openly licensed photographs obtained for 27 of the 30 places in the fifth batch of stage 5, from Konye-Urgench, Ajina-Tepa, Chinguetti and Debre Bizen to Kilwa, Tsodilo, Kong and the wooden St George's Cathedral in Georgetown. Three places still need a correct photograph (Muxima, Freetown, Port Moresby).
04/10/2026Stage 5, one place for every country, fifth batch: 30 articles written for 30 more countries in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, South America and Oceania (Konye-Urgench, Ajina-Tepa, Chinguetti, Debre Bizen, Kilwa, Tsodilo, Muxima, Kong, Cidade Velha, the wooden St George's Cathedral in Georgetown and others). Awaiting openly licensed photographs.
30/09/2026Openly licensed photographs obtained for 24 of the 30 places in the fourth batch of stage 5, from the Malé Friday Mosque, Sulayman-Too and Old Orhei to the Temple in the Sea, Ambohimanga and Agadez. Six places still need a correct photograph (Kuwait, Kingston, Cap-Haïtien, Kibeho, Mulivai, Nukuʻalofa).
29/09/2026Stage 5, one place for every country, fourth batch: 30 articles written for 30 more countries in the Gulf, maritime Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the European microstates, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Greenland, Africa and Oceania (Malé Friday Mosque, Sulayman-Too, Old Orhei, Nidhe Israel Synagogue, the Temple in the Sea, Kibeho, Ambohimanga, Grand Bassin, Agadez and others). Awaiting openly licensed photographs.
29/09/2026Openly licensed photographs obtained for 29 of the 30 places in the third batch of stage 5, from Roskilde Cathedral, Hallgrímskirkja and the Gate of Dawn to Ostrog Monastery, Esquipulas and Larabanga. A suitable photograph of Caacupé is still being sought.
29/09/2026Stage 5, one place for every country, third batch: 30 articles written for 30 more countries in the Nordic and Baltic region, the Balkans, Latin America, the Caribbean, Oceania and Africa (Roskilde Cathedral, Hallgrímskirkja, the Gate of Dawn, Ostrog Monastery, Copacabana, Esquipulas, Larabanga and others). Awaiting openly licensed photographs.
29/09/2026Openly licensed photographs obtained for all 30 places in the second batch of stage 5, from St. Stephen's Cathedral, Rila and Svetitskhoveli to Djenné, Namugongo and Luján.
28/09/2026Stage 5, one place for every country, second batch: 30 articles written for 30 more countries in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America (St. Stephen's Cathedral, Rila Monastery, Svetitskhoveli, Etchmiadzin, al-Qarawiyyin, Djenné, Namugongo, Luján and others). Awaiting openly licensed photographs.
25/09/2026Openly licensed photographs obtained for 29 of the 30 places in the first batch of stage 5. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque has no suitable photograph yet and keeps a colour card for now.
24/09/2026Stage 5, one place for every country, first batch: 30 articles written for 30 countries that had no place yet, one of the most notable places in each (Bulguksa, the Temple of Confucius in Qufu, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, Masjid al-Haram, St Peter's Basilica, Guadalupe and others). Awaiting openly licensed photographs.
24/09/2026Openly licensed photographs for 29 of the 30 second-batch places, each checked by eye, 3 swapped. The Basilica of Saint Servatius has no suitable photograph yet and keeps a colour card.
24/09/2026Stage 4, second batch: 30 new articles, three per country, bringing places outside Vietnam to 50. The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam is the first Jewish site in the library. Awaiting openly licensed photographs.
16/09/2026Openly licensed photographs (Wikimedia Commons) obtained for the first 20 places, each checked by eye, 15 swapped and 3 re-searched to show the right building. The 20 pages go live.
16/09/2026Stage 4 opened. Maps and flags for ten countries, a priority list of 33 places, and the first batch of 20 articles written (two per country), awaiting openly licensed photographs and English versions.

VHelp Us Build This

This library is open and free, and it records its own progress in public. Three things you can help with today:

Name a place we missedA founding temple, a church, a mosque, a shrine the table above does not have. Send the name, the province, and one line on why it belongs.
Send a photograph with an open licenceNothing is published without both the photographer and the licence. Your own photograph with your permission, or an openly licensed one, are both welcome.
Report an errorA wrong date, a wrong Chinese name, a wrong lineage, a wrong address. A library that is wrong once is not trusted again, so corrections are very welcome.

Write to thayungkhiem@gmail.com

?Quick Questions

Why are there no opening hours or ticket prices

Because they change constantly. A library that is wrong once about a practical detail loses its standing on everything else. Check with the place itself before you travel.

Where do the images come from

From Wikimedia Commons under open licences, each credited to its photographer, or photographed by UK MASTER ACADEMY. No image is published without both its author and its licence.

How were these places chosen

Four tests: it is officially listed as a heritage site, it belongs to a tradition this library covers, its site and orientation can be read in feng shui terms, and an openly licensed photograph exists.

Why is my country still grey

The library opens one country at a time, beginning with the countries that have the most readers, and within each country with its most significant places. A grey country is simply one whose turn has not come. Suggestions are welcome through the page of Master Ưng Khiêm.

Sacred Places