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Christograms, crosses, evangelist emblems and the devices worked into windows, vestments and stone.
Church symbolism is unusually well evidenced compared with cemetery symbolism, because much of it is scriptural or liturgical and the meaning is stated in the text the device quotes. Alpha and omega comes with its own gloss in Revelation; the Chi-Rho's adoption by Constantine is recorded by contemporaries. Where a reading is a later devotional expansion rather than the origin — as with the Latin readings of IHS — the records say so.
These records say so themselves — the setting appears in the symbol's own reviewed description or in one of its documented meanings.
A wheel of curving rays.
Its summary places it there: “The Armenian symbol of eternity, carved on churches and monuments as a wheel of rotating arms”
Signs of interval, not of pitch.
Its summary places it there: “The Greek liturgical notation writing chant as a sequence of intervals…”
A hanging or standing vessel for burning incense.
Its summary places it there: “…in Christian liturgy and set standing before altars in Buddhist and Taoist practice. The smoke is…”
The Greek letters X and P superimposed as a monogram of Christ.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “…flanked by alpha and omega on monuments and in church decoration, the three read together as Christ…”
The building points east, and that is why 'the east end' means the altar.
Its description places it there: “…east, and that is why 'the east end' means the altar”
Marks for chanting, above the line.
Its summary places it there: “The Ethiopic marks written above liturgical text to direct the manner of chanting”
The first Slavic alphabet.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “Survived in Croatian liturgical use for centuries after being displaced elsewhere…”
An outlined ear with a diagonal bar, usually with a 'T' in the lower-right corner — indicating an assistive listening system, and specifically an induction loop when the T is present.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “Is found at counters and ticket offices, in places of worship, theatres, cinemas and council chambers, in taxis…”
Three letters, I H S, carved as a Christian monogram.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “…three letters of ΙΗΣΟΥΣ in Greek — and carved on churches, vestments and monuments”
An upright cross with a shorter crossbar set above the centre.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “Identifies Christianity and Christian places of worship, and is the form most often meant by 'the cross'…”
Vestment and hanging colours following the church year.
Its description places it there: “Vestment and hanging colours following the church year”
An alphabet that counts vowels as letters.
Its summary places it there: “…script used by the Mandaean community for its liturgical and vernacular language”
Who made a mark is the first question, and it changes what it can mean.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “…during construction, those made as part of a liturgical act, and those added by users of the building…”
A small metal votive shaped as a limb, an organ, a person or an animal.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “…or an object, pinned or nailed to a shrine, altar or saint's image in Iberian and Latin American…”
Early note shapes showing melodic direction rather than exact pitch.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “…written above the text in medieval and later liturgical manuscripts”
A triangular saffron flag bearing the Khanda.
Its summary places it there: “…marks the building as one — it is how a Sikh place of worship is identified at a distance. The flagpole is…”
A forked post used as an altar.
Its description places it there: “A forked post used as an altar”
A basin with a drain, and a cupboard recess — both beside the altar.
Its description places it there: “…drain, and a cupboard recess — both beside the altar”
A heaped-jewel bar.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “Closes a major division in a formal or liturgical Tibetan text”
The older Hebrew letters, still in use.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “Writes the Samaritan Pentateuch and Samaritan liturgical texts”
A slot cut obliquely through a wall to see the altar.
Its description places it there: “…slot cut obliquely through a wall to see the altar”
One language written three ways.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “…ordinary writing, and the two older scripts for liturgical text and for display, so the choice of script…”
These carry an editorial context assigned during review that places them here.
Showing the 48 most firmly placed of 149. Browse by domain to see every symbol in the catalogue.
A raised open palm facing outward, fingers up — the gesture of fearlessness.
A raised open palm with a wheel at its centre, bearing the word ahimsa.
The divine name as one glyph.
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, used together.
An anchor carved on a monument.
A winged human figure carved as a monument or in relief.
An ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic sign shaped like a cross with a looped top, signifying life.
A decorated circle closing a verse.
A set of eight auspicious marks drawn together in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain traditions.
The ancient auspicious mark as it continues in Asian religious practice.
A star of nine points.
Three lines and two stars.
A pattern of strokes carrying news.
A heart-shaped leaf with a long tapering drip tip.
A cross with a ring encircling the intersection of its arms.
Two Hebrew letters read as the word for 'living', worn as a pendant.
A clef that moves.
A single winding path set into a floor — not a maze.
Money left at a shrine, well or grave.
A spiral shell drawn with its opening to the right, blown as a horn in ritual.
A ringed cross painted or cut on a church wall, marking an anointing.
A row of small carved heads under the eaves.
A spoked wheel representing the Buddha's teaching.
Both hands cupped in the lap, right resting on left, thumb tips touching.
A dove carved on a monument, often in flight or with an olive branch.
Five colours in five points.
A closed lattice of interwoven right-angled lines with no beginning and no end.
Thirteen months, one of five days.
An offering left in thanks for a prayer answered.
Five letters that change shape at the end.
One throws water off the roof; the other does not, and only one is a gargoyle.
Letters counted as numbers.
A stroke marking an abbreviation.
Two strokes marking a multi-letter short form.
A handbell with a vajra-shaped handle.
A pair of fish drawn upright and facing one another, tails down.
The compass direction a burial faces, set by tradition.
A face with foliage growing from it, carved in a church.
The dot of a revealed text.
A paired stone beast set at an entrance.
A borrowed accent mark.
An open right-hand palm, often with an eye motif, used across Jewish, Muslim, Christian and secular Middle Eastern/North African traditions as a protective symbol.
A lunar year pulled back into the sun.
A mark binding a word to the next.
A mark dividing a verse into clauses.
A year counted from a journey.
Abbreviated Greek letters naming the figure in an icon.
A written Gurmukhi phrase used as an emblem, opening the Sikh scripture.
If you can describe what you saw as well as where, say both: “winged skull on a gravestone” narrows a list of 172 to a handful.