Sacred Places: Religious and Secular. Clashes and Synergies

This article explores the evolving relationship between the public secular sacred and the religious sacred in the context of contemporary global religious and political dynamics. The study develops a comparative typology of sacred sites, analyzing how post-secular dynamics manifest in four Christian pilgrimage contexts – Sacré-Cœur in Paris, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, and La Sagrada Família in Barcelona. Each illustrates a distinct configuration of historical, political, and social forces shaping the sacred, from state – church entanglements to plural, globalized appropriations. The article argues that today’s post-secular age is characterized by a contested redefinition of the sacred, in which national identities, state powers, global religiosities, and economic interests compete to inhabit, regulate, and reconfigure sacred spaces.