BBC to air series about most sacred places on earth

A brand new landmark series for BBC One reveals what people do for faith in some of the most stunning sacred places on earth.

Many of the world’s best-known landmarks are inspired by faith, and today more worshippers than ever are flocking to these sacred places. For some, they are sanctuaries for quiet contemplation, whilst for others they are sites of astonishing acts of worship, dangerous challenges and extraordinary deeds of devotion, rarely seen by outsiders.

Hundreds of years after they were first built, many of them remain places of deep spiritual significance. From Angkor Wat in Cambodia ,the largest religious site in the world, to Masada in Israel, location of one of the oldest synagogues on earth, and from the Sikh’s unique Golden Temple in Amritsar to one of the world’s largest cathedrals in America. For some, these sacred places are part of the natural world, whether it is Shinto devotees at the Nachi falls in Japan or the Mescalero Apaches sacred tepees in New Mexico.

This series will uncover the power and inspiration that sacred wonders offer to worshippers from different faiths across the globe.

In the first episode of the series, in Cambodia at Angkor Wat, a man who believes the temples are home to his ancestral spirits risks his life to save them from the jungle. At Al Aqsa in Jerusalem, a young Muslim paramedic battles his own hunger and exhaustion to help other fasting worshippers during Ramadan. And at the Shaolin Temple in China, home of Kung Fu, a Buddhist warrior monk faces a test that could change the course of his life forever.

The first of three episodes broadcasts on 7th August at 21:00 on BBC One.