shrine

shrine

1. a place of worship hallowed by association with a sacred person or object

2. a container for sacred relics

3. the tomb of a saint or other holy person

4. RC Church a building, alcove, or shelf arranged as a setting for a statue, picture, or other representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Shrine

A place, building, or structure made sacred by association with a historic event or holy personage; an altar, tomb, or chapel.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

shrine

A receptacle to contain sacred relics; by extension, a building for that purpose.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Shrine

 

a large casket in the form of a sarcophagus or box, or sometimes an architectural structure, often decorated with various pictures, precious stones, and the like and used to hold the remains of saints.

Shrines were set up in churches, usually in an elevated place under a canopy. Some shrines have great aesthetic value, such as the shrine of St. Sebaldus in the Church of St. Sebaldus in Nuremberg (bronze, 1508–19; sculptors, P. Fischer and sons) and the shrine of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Trinity Cathedral of the St. Sergius Trinity Monastery (silver, 16th century, with a silver canopy from the 18th century).

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.