Tomb of St. John the Baptist, Umayyad Grand Mosque, Damascus, Syria
Several different locations claim to possess the severed head of John the Baptist. The current official place for the Catholic Church is the Shrine of Saint John the Baptiste inside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. The place was visited by Pope John Paul II in 2001 who "paused for a minute's silent meditation at the tomb of St John the Baptist".
Previously, the Catholic Church believed that it was kept in the San Silvestro in Capite in Rome; and then that it was held by the Knights Templar at Amiens Cathedral in France (brought home by Wallon de Sarton from the Fourth Crusade in Constantinople), at Antioch in Turkey (fate uncertain).
Other traditions assume that it was in Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany (official residence of the Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria from 1385 to 1918). or even the parish church at Tenterden in Kent, where it was preserved up until the Reformation.
Tomb of St. John the Baptist, Umayyad Grand Mosque, Damascus, Syria
Several different locations claim to possess the severed head of John the Baptist. The current official place for the Catholic Church is the Shrine of Saint John the Baptiste inside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. The place was visited by Pope John Paul II in 2001 who "paused for a minute's silent meditation at the tomb of St John the Baptist".
Previously, the Catholic Church believed that it was kept in the San Silvestro in Capite in Rome; and then that it was held by the Knights Templar at Amiens Cathedral in France (brought home by Wallon de Sarton from the Fourth Crusade in Constantinople), at Antioch in Turkey (fate uncertain).
Other traditions assume that it was in Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany (official residence of the Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria from 1385 to 1918). or even the parish church at Tenterden in Kent, where it was preserved up until the Reformation.