Roadtrips
DESTINATIONS
Meet Hilma af Klint, Swedish artist and mystic! Before Wassily
Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich or Piet Mondrian, af Klint was painting abstract art. She felt a higher consciousness speaking through her and was strongly influenced by spiritualism & séances.
“Group Immersions into modern contemplative and devotional music through site-specific audio and visual performance.”
“Former home of the Harry Everett Smith Memorial Library, a member of the Beats, the barn is designed from the ground up for wonder, inquiry, and contemplation. A 24 x 36' post and beam structure stocked with volumes of poetry, the barn serves as poetry resource to the community by sponsoring workshops, readings, craft talks, and book arts for all ages.”
“Grace Farms is a welcoming new place for people to experience nature, encounter the arts, pursue justice, foster community and explore faith.”
“Champing,” Camping in Historic UK Churches
Ever thought about having a church all to yourself overnight? They did in the UK! “It genuinely hasn’t been done before (apart from a few weary pilgrims. And monks and a tired vicar or two, probably).”
Thich Nhat Hanh’s Blue Cliff Monastery is a “mindfulness practice center and monastic training center founded by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author, and peace activist.”
Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s colorful large-scale public artwork, featuring seven 30-35 foot high dayglow totems made of painted, locally-sourced boulders.
Ideas Island, Stockholm, Sweden
Creative heaven on earth? A private island in Sweden that you can stay on for free, for one week, to work on a creative project of your choice. Courtesy of the island’s owner, Fredrik Haren.
The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum
Devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe.
Art Stations of the Cross: Troubled Waters
An interfaith art installation of 14 stations, plus one, held this year in Amsterdam. Website includes the artwork and locations.
Built 200 meters underground inside a salt mine north of Bogotá, Colombia, this Roman Catholic cathedral (no official status) has been described as a "Jewel of Modern Architecture" and a place of pilgrimage. Construction of the cathedral began in 1815.
MindTravel SilentHikes with Murray Hidary
“MindTravel brings together Murray's passions for contemporary classical music, visual art, theoretical physics and wisdom traditions. They are the four pillars of an integrated experience that seeks to explore an understanding of the universe at both the visible and hidden levels.”
Founded in 1966 by Mattie Caruth Byrd, the Dallas, Texas museum features Biblically themes art and programs and includes 11 galleries, The National Center for Jewish Art, an on-site Art Conservation Lab, Via Dolorosa Sculpture Garden.
No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man
David Best, who designed and built approximately half of the Burning Man Temples, has his large scale Temple on view at the Smithsonian through January 5, 2020. Seen as sacred places of reflection and prayer, they are adorned with inscriptions and ritually burned. The online gallery includes video of the artist.
"Accumulations: Hanukkah Lamps”
The Jewish Museum, New York City, through Feb. 9, 2020
More than 80 menorahs from around the world showcased in a recently launched exhibit. Representing six centuries of artistic production, the museum’s collection of Hanukkah lamps is the largest in the world at nearly 1,050 pieces.
Malta’s underground oracle chamber, believed to be the oldest prehistoric underground temple in the world and one of the world's best preserved prehistoric sites.
Built to resemble mountains that inspired the poetry and paintings of Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist monks and other scholars, The New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden is a Staten Island, NY urban oasis. Features eight pavilions, a bamboo forest path, waterfalls, a Koi-filled pond, Chinese calligraphy, and a 15-foot rock formation.
Biblioteca Del Convento de San Francisco de Asis
Built in 1546, this Lima, Peru library features Franciscan chronicles from the 15th-18th Centuries, the famous Regia Bible published in Antwerp between 1571-1572, and more than 6,000 parchments, numerous works of Jesuits, Augustinians, Benedictines and Carmelites.
Pilgrimage chapel in Ronchamp, France considered a place of “great historical, artistic and spiritual value. Le Corbusier built a chapel there in 1955. Jean Prouvé made a three-bell portico in the 1970's and recently, in 2011, Renzo Piano also worked on the hill.” The architectural complex is comprised of the Monastery of St. Clare, the tourist entrance pavilion (la Porterie), the Bell Tower (le Campanile) and the chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut.
Visionary Swiss artist and telepathic healer Emma Kunz (1892-1963) was inspired to draw by her spiritual evolution. Her works are geometric abstracts, many of them mandela-like, and she reportedly drew each in a single sitting which could last more than 24 hours.
Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves, India
Spellbinding Buddhist cave monuments carved into rock faces in a mountainous area east of Mumbai. At Ajanta, the cave monuments date from the 1st and 2nd centuries B.C. The Ellora Caves include the Kailash temple, one of the largest rock-cut ancient Hindu temples and carved from a single rock.
Twenty miles north of Joshua Tree National Park in California, this "historical structure is a resonant tabernacle and energy machine sited on a powerful geomagnetic vortex in the magical Mojave Desert. Its creator, George Van Tassel (1910-1978), claimed that the structure is based on the design of Moses’ Tabernacle, the writings of Nikola Tesla and telepathic directions from extraterrestrials.” Open by appointment only.
Newgrange Passage Tomb, Ireland
A Neolithic monument constructed 5,200 years ago in Ireland’s Boyne Valley. An ancient temple and passage tomb, its entrance aligns with the rising sun on the winter solstice.
“Healing gardens where art and nature merge.” A whimsical garden in Goshen, Massachusetts filled with fantastical environmental
folk art.
Pilgrimages and Medieval Summer Holidays
Apparently even pilgrims from the Middle Ages went holiday tripping! This British Library blog recounts medieval travelers’ excursions.
Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
Founded in 1945 by a pioneering American woman, Jacques Marchais, this Staten Island, NY museum was the first in the US dedicated to the art and culture of Tibet and the Himalayas. Meditations at 11:30 am most Saturdays.
The Black Madonna at Montserrat
A magical mountain retreat near Barcelona, Spain and home to approximately 80 Benedictine monks, the monastery features Our Lady of Montserrat, a 12th century Romanesque polychrome carving, popularly known as La Moreneta (the Dark One).
At the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, the museum includes illuminated manuscripts featuring the newly acquired Rothschild Pentateuch from 1296, along with Christian prayer books from the Middle Ages.
Envisioned by the renowned abstract artist as “a site for joy and contemplation,” the nondenominational structure at the University of Texas’ Blanton Museum of Art features a “2,715-square-foot stone building with colored glass windows, a totemic wood sculpture, and fourteen black and white marble panels.”
Founded in 1904 in New York City and one of the oldest Jewish museums in the world, it maintains a collection of nearly 30,000 works of art “reflecting the global Jewish experience over more than 4,000 years.”
“A traveling carnival, village, and school for social change bridging the worlds of art, activism and faith.” Check their site for residency schedules.
Westminster Abbey Evensong, London
“This service follows the traditional pattern in The Book of Common Prayer and consists of choral music (psalms, canticles, and anthems) from the rich Anglican musical tradition, scripture readings, and prayers.”
James Turrell Light Installation
Burial chapel at Dorotheenstädtischer cemetery in Berlin with light installation by light and space artist James Turrell.
Manuscripts and printed works primarily in the field of the Christian-Hermetic tradition, the Amsterdam library currently has more than 23,000 volumes.
Ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, this canyon in Palm Springs, California is regarded as the home of Tahquitz, guardian spirit of all shamans. The sacred hike leads to a 60-foot waterfall and includes rock art, rock shelters and artifacts more than 2,000 years old.
Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
This Temple Museum of Religious Art in Cleveland, Ohio includes ritual objects, sacred books and scrolls and fine art from around the world. Also includes the light-filled Temple-Tifereth Israel Gallery.
Cultural Center of H. H. the Dalai Lama in New York City, presenting Tibet’s ancient art and culture traditions. Includes a gallery, library, and archives. Founded by Columbia University professor Robert Thurman, actor Richard Gere, and composer Philip Glass, among others.
The New York City museum features 150 paintings of the Russian-born artist, writer, set designer, archaeologist and theosophist. Roerich’s paintings “explore the mythic origins, the natural beauty, and the spiritual strivings of humanity and of the world.”
Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church
Sharing the message of the great jazz saxophonist’s spiritual journey including his 1965 album, A Love Supreme, this San Francisco church offers weekly services, meditation, music and more.
Roman Catholic church southwest of Paris, this masterpiece of French Gothic art is perhaps best known for its 176 medieval stained glass windows, many of them original from the 13th Century. The famous Chartres labyrinth also resides here.
The Gnostic Church of L.V.X. in Hoosick Falls, New York. “A sanctuary for human genius and creativity.”
Tomek SÄ™towski’s magic realism paintings in CzÄ™stochowa, Poland. By appointment.
A 100-seat living tree church and labyrinth walk, set within three acres of gardens.
Labyrinths Worldwide
Database of labyrinths around the world.
Museum of Russian Icons
One of the world's largest collection of Russian icons.
The Tarot Garden/Niki de Saint Phalle
Built atop Etruscan ruins and based on the Tarot Cards, Niki de Saint Phalle’s esoteric sculpture garden in Tuscany, Italy.
The Rothko Chapel
Sacred non-denominational meditative space created by American abstract artist Mark Rothko in Houston, Texas. Fourteen of his paintings are displayed in the chapel.
Sainte-Chapelle
Gothic medieval Holy Chapel on Paris’s Ile de Cité containing an extensive 13th-century stained glass collection. Commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion relics.
Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
“Art sanctuary and trans-denominational interfaith church, founded by Alex and Allyson Grey in Wappinger, New York."
Israel Bible Museum
Artist Phillip Ratner's Biblical Museum.
The Angel Museum
Joyce Berg's and Oprah Winfrey's angel collection in Beloit, Wisconsin.
Kenny Hill Sculpture Garden
Sculpture garden filled with concrete angels built by Outsider artist Kenny Hill along the bayou in Chauvin, Louisiana.
Cornwall Museum of Witchcraft and Magic
Oldest and largest collection of occult items, on the North Cornwall coast of England.
Petroglyph Beach
Native American petroglyphs in southeastern Alaska.
Tzfat, Israel
Ancient town famously known as the City of Kabbalah.
Medieval island monastery in northern France.
​
Comprehensive art collection from the Himalayas and surrounding regions, including one of the finest Tibetan collections. Bridges the gap between spiritual and secular art.