A sacred place or holy site is one that is worthy of religious veneration of reserved for the worship of a deity. The word holy is cognate with the word whole. In its original sense, holy meant "dedicated to or belonging to a deity."
Holy places are, on the one hand, natural sites perceived and acknowledged by people as holy and, on the other, places built by human hands for a religious purpose. Holy places are usually where specific events in the history of a religion are venerated. Natural sites may be sacred because the gods have revealed themselves there or because they are believed to reside there, for example Mount Olympus in Greece or Mount Fuji in Japan. Sacred places can also be where the relics of saints or founders of religions are kept. They can be the birthplace of saints or prophets, or the locations where they received their callings, lived and carried out their work, or died. Some holy places are built by a religious community specifically to glorify or please its gods and as a place where the faithful can perform their principal ceremonies and rituals. Places of worship can be churches, temples, and mosques-but also trees, forests, rivers, caves, and mountaintops. It is interesting to note that mountains in particular, which are often regarded as the adobe of the gods (perhaps due to their proximity to the heavens), are venerated in almost every religion.