There are no signs pointing out these structures and no guides to walk visitors through the niceties of their meaning and design, but their pleasing aesthetic nature and the air of mystery that surrounds them makes such stops a good use of an explorer’s time.
Similar attractions don’t seem to have quite the same appeal when they’re encountered just down the road in sunny South Africa. But if you keep your eyes open and you’re not in a rush, similar experiences are to be had all over the place.
Take the circle of white-washed boulders constructed halfway up a hill just a few hundred metres away from the tiny settlement of Lions River in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
It doesn’t have the history of the miniature Stonehenges that suddenly loom out of a farmer’s field in Cornwall, but it’s no less meaningful to its creators than those lichen-encrusted edifices were to the druids who lined them up with the celestial bodies.
This glaring white formation is a symbolic creation, representing the “heavenly Jerusalem”, or “Zion” for a local community of Zionist Christians (as opposed to Christian Zionists: the latter believe the modern state of Israel is playing a role in the fulfilment of a Biblical prophecy; the former is the biggest Christian denomination in South Africa). It serves a more practical purpose as a gathering space for believers who don’t have an expensive church building in which to meet.
Stepping into such a circle doesn’t require any special effort – there are no fences or alarm systems – and there is no immediate sensation of a sense of the past rushing up to meet you. If you’re there alone, it’s the visual impact of the structure that is most striking.
It’s an unnatural form that nevertheless complements the landscape. And when the congregants who built it are gathered in their robes, it appears to take on a solidity in excess of what you’d expect, given its design.
In the same way that any other sort of church is defined by more than its size and architecture, a simple hillside Zion substitute is clearly a site of real importance to those who worship there.
It may not fulfill that same purpose for you, but it should provide enough food for thought to encourage you to at least slow down as you meander past.
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