[Pilt ei vasta võistuse teemale:  ajaloolised, teadaolevalt enne 20. sajandit kasutusele võetud looduslikud pühapaigad. Korraldaja. --- This picture does not match the requirements of the contest: historical, natural sacred sites, known to be used before 20th century. Team of Sacred Groves Photography contest 2016.]

   This burnt out Redwood tree houses a sacred shrine to Mother Mary of Guadalupe. It is located on the monastery grounds of the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California where monks protect over 800 acres of coastal forest and scrub oak. The monastery has been in there since 1963 when 10 monks came from Italy to seek deeper solitude and silence. I discovered this tree on a walk with a monk. He showed me the tree and told me about his experiences there giving spiritual direction and praying. He told me that during a forest fire in the 1980s, the tree was burnt. After the fire was out the tree continued to smolder creating the large cavity where the shrine is now located.