They also insist they have taken action against attacks by Salafists, everywhere from the American embassy to sacred Sufi shrines and art exhibitions deemed to be profane.

BBC: Clouds gather over bellwether Tunisia

Nachi no Dengaku is a Japanese folk performing art with a deep connection to Kumano Sanzan, a sacred site in Nachisanku.

UNESCO: Intangible Cultural Heritage

Erected in one of the busiest areas in Helsinki the chapel looks like a giant wooden bowl that has accidentally landed in the heart of the city and feels almost like a piece of conceptual art -- architecture with spiritual and intellectual connotations -- as sacred buildings should, of course.

CNN: Spectacular forms in wood

He was an evangel for photography, insisting that it be recognized as an art, and so he crowed that "The Metropolitan Museum has opened its sacred halls to Photography" when the museum accepted his gift of 22 photographs in 1928.

WSJ: Swimming Pool, Stieglitz and Color

Even though writing the sacred words is so closely bound up with the Islamic faith, she says she experiences her art as liberating and profoundly universal.

BBC: The Koran through the ages