Paper short abstract:

Within the last 30 years, more than 75 holy places of European ethnic, autochthonous and native religions have been built, while some have been already vandalized; and hence, beside the unveiled places, due to fear of persecution, many are still kept in secret. “The Pagan Map” addresses the issue.

Paper long abstract:

A study project called “The Pagan Map” commenced in 2020 with a purpose to get insight into the dynamics, distribution, architecture and issues of the new-built (especially since 1990) sacred sites of European ethnic religions. The overt interim result of this study is an updatable map and a list, intermittently published on the Facebook page with the same name, indicating how many and where such places are located across the World. However, soon it emerged that the established holy places get desecrated, vandalized or annihilated, and that their keepers face discrimination or persecution. Consequently, several groups choose to keep their places in secret. The initial focus of the study was extended in 2023 by adding a survey to assess and raise awareness of the overall environment of well-being of so-called Pagans and the status quo of rights communities enjoy in their respective countries.