Katee Sackhoff
Kathryn Ann Sackhoff is an American actress known for playing Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica. She was nominated for four Saturn Awards for her work on Battlestar Galactica and won the award for Best Supporting Actress on Television in 2005. Sackhoff starred in the short-lived TV series The Fearing Mind and The Education of Max Bickford, she voiced several characters, including Bitch Pudding, on Adult Swim's stop-motion animated series Robot Chicken. Between 2012 and 2017, she starred in the A&E and Netflix series Longmire as Deputy Sheriff Victoria "Vic" Moretti before recurring on The Flash as Amunet, she had lead roles in the films Halloween: Resurrection, White Noise: The Light, Batman: Year One, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, Sexy Evil Genius, Riddick and Don't Knock Twice. Sackhoff was born in Portland and grew up in St. Helens, Oregon, her mother, was an English-as-second-language program coordinator, her father, Dennis, a land developer.
Her brother Erick is co-owner of a vehicle modification shop near Portland. She graduated from Sunset High School in Beaverton in 1998, she began swimming at an early age, by high school, planned to pursue a career in the sport until her right knee was injured. This led her to pursue an interest in acting. Sackhoff's first acting role was in the Lifetime movie Fifteen and Pregnant, in which she played a teenager with a baby, it motivated her to move to Hollywood and pursue an acting career after she graduated from high school. Sackhoff's first recurring role was as Annie in MTV's Undressed, she made her motion picture debut in My First Mister appeared as Jenna "Jen" Danzig in Halloween: Resurrection. Sackhoff's most known role is as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in the miniseries and follow-up TV series Battlestar Galactica, for which she won a Saturn Award in 2006 for Best Actress on Television, her persona led the writers to develop the character volatile. Galactica's executive producer Ron Moore described Sackhoff as having "magnetism".
We started freeing ourselves up to explore the weakness of the character, because we knew Katee could express those things without compromising the character's strength." Sackhoff said her performance was inspired by Linda Hamilton's portrayal of Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day: "I think, the one character that I kind of looked to as far as body image and strength. I think I looked to her character and said,'OK, that's kind of what you need to embody.'" Toward the end of the filming of Battlestar Galactica, Sackhoff began feeling physically weak. Soon after filming wrapped, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After surgery to remove her thyroid, she required no radiation treatments and by February 2009 was in remission. In 2007, Sackhoff was cast as the evil cyborg Sarah Corvus in the short-lived NBC series Bionic Woman. David Eick, the show's executive producer, said, " a special find; those actors who can combine the qualities of strength and vulnerability—they call those people movie stars."
Sackhoff plays the female lead in the action/sci-fi movie The Last Sentinel and the supernatural thriller White Noise: The Light. Sackhoff appears as the main character in the Lifetime Original Movie How I Married My High School Crush, she has made guest appearances in Cold Case, ER, Law & Order, Robot Chicken. Sackhoff provided the voice of a female marine in the video game Halo 3 and is featured in the viral marketing campaign for Resistance 2. In 2011, she provided the voice for Black Cat 2099 in Spider-Man: Edge of Time, she voiced Sarah Essen in Batman: Year One. She appears in four episodes of the fifth season of the series Nip/Tuck playing a new doctor, Dr. Theodora Rowe. However, for the sixth season Sackhoff was replaced by Rose McGowan for the role due to scheduling conflicts. Sackhoff headlined NBC's Dick Wolf-produced cop drama Lost and Found as Tessa, "an offbeat female LAPD detective who, after butting heads with the higher-ups, is sent as a punishment to the basement to work on John Doe and Jane Doe cases."
The pilot was filmed in January 2009. NBC decided not to pick up the series. In 2009, she appeared as herself in "The Vengeance Formulation" episode of the CBS situation comedy The Big Bang Theory. In the episode, she is fantasized as Howard Wolowitz's dream girl, she appears again in the same role. Sackhoff appeared as a series regular in the eighth season of the TV series 24, playing Dana Walsh, a CTU data analyst with a secret. In February 2010, Sackhoff signed on to play the lead in Boston's Finest. ABC decided not to pick up the series, she made a special appearance in the Futurama episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences". In the fall of 2010, Sackhoff joined the cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Detective Reed, a smart investigator who does not do well with sensitivity. In 2011, Sackhoff guest starred in an episode of Workaholics as a homeless drug addict named Rachel. Sackhoff co-starred as the lead female role in Longmire, an A&E/Netflix television series based on the novels by Craig Johnson.
Sackhoff played Sheriff's
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sometimes referred to as Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world; the Irish Sea lies between Great Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world, it is the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017. The UK is constitutional monarchy; the current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 1952, making her the longest-serving current head of state.
The United Kingdom's capital and largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with an urban area population of 10.3 million. Other major urban areas in the UK include Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire conurbations, Greater Glasgow and the Liverpool Built-up Area; the United Kingdom consists of four constituent countries: England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh and Belfast, respectively. Apart from England, the countries have their own devolved governments, each with varying powers, but such power is delegated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which may enact laws unilaterally altering or abolishing devolution; the nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation. The medieval conquest and subsequent annexation of Wales by the Kingdom of England, followed by the union between England and Scotland in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, the union in 1801 of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. There are fourteen British Overseas Territories, the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language and political systems of many of its former colonies; the United Kingdom is a developed country and has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It has a high-income economy and has a high Human Development Index rating, ranking 14th in the world, it was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power, with considerable economic, military and political influence internationally, it is sixth in military expenditure in the world. It has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946.
It has been a leading member state of the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. The United Kingdom is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization; the 1707 Acts of Union declared that the kingdoms of England and Scotland were "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain". The term "United Kingdom" has been used as a description for the former kingdom of Great Britain, although its official name from 1707 to 1800 was "Great Britain"; the Acts of Union 1800 united the kingdom of Great Britain and the kingdom of Ireland in 1801, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following the partition of Ireland and the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, which left Northern Ireland as the only part of the island of Ireland within the United Kingdom, the name was changed to the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Although the United Kingdom is a sovereign country, Scotland and Northern Ireland are widely referred to as countries. The UK Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom; some statistical summaries, such as those for the twelve NUTS 1 regions of the United Kingdom refer to Scotland and Northern Ireland as "regions". Northern Ireland is referred to as a "province". With regard to Northern Ireland, the descriptive name used "can be controversial, with the choice revealing one's political preferences"; the term "Great Britain" conventionally refers to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England and Wales in combination. However, it is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole; the term "Britain" is used both as a synonym for Great Britain, as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Usage is mixed, with the BBC preferring to use Britain as shorthand only for Great Britain and the UK Government, while accepting that both terms refer to the United K
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore and executive produced by Moore and David Eick as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson; the pilot for the series first aired as a three-hour miniseries in December 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel, followed by four regular seasons, ending its run on March 20, 2009. The cast includes Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park The series garnered a wide range of critical acclaim both at the time of its run and in the years since, including a Peabody Award, the Television Critics Association's Program of the Year Award, a placement inside Time's 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time, Emmy nominations for its writing, costume design, visual effects, sound mixing, sound editing, with Emmy wins for both visual effects and sound editing.
In 2019, The New York Times placed the show on its list of "The 20 Best TV Dramas Since The Sopranos", a 20-year period many critics call "the golden age of television."Battlestar Galactica is set in a distant star system, where a civilization of humans lives on a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies. In the past, the Colonies had been at war with an android race of their own creation, known as the Cylons. With the unwitting help of a human scientist named Gaius Baltar, the Cylons launch a sudden sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. Out of a population numbering in the billions, only 50,000 humans survive, most of whom were aboard civilian ships that avoided destruction. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the eponymous Battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military capital ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of Colonial Fleet officer Commander William "Bill" Adama and now-President Laura Roslin, the Galactica and its crew take up the task of leading the small fugitive fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled thirteenth colony known as Earth.
The series spawned the prequel spin-off TV series Caprica, which aired for one season in 2010. Another spin-off, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, was released in November 2012 as a web series of ten 10-minute episodes, aired on February 10, 2013, on Syfy as a televised movie. Battlestar Galactica continued from the 2003 miniseries to chronicle the journey of the last surviving humans from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, after their nuclear annihilation by the Cylons; the survivors are led by President Laura Roslin and Commander William Adama in a ragtag fleet of ships with the Battlestar Galactica, an old, but powerful warship, as its command ship. Pursued by Cylons intent on wiping out the remnants of the human race, the survivors travel across the galaxy looking for the fabled and long-lost "thirteenth" colony: Earth. Unlike most space opera series, Battlestar Galactica has no humanoid aliens, the primary armaments used by both military forces utilize bullets, rail guns, missiles instead of lasers, the series intentionally avoids technobabble.
Instead, most of the stories deal with the apocalyptic fallout of the destruction of the Twelve Colonies upon the survivors, the moral choices they must make as they deal with the decline of the human race and their war with the Cylons. Stories portray the concept of perpetuated cycles of hate and violence driving the human-Cylon conflict, religion, with the implication of a "God" whose angelic agents appear to certain main characters. Over the course of the show's four seasons, the war between the Colonials and the Cylons takes many twists and turns. Despite the animosity on both sides, the humans and a faction of the Cylons form an uneasy alliance, in the wake of the Cylon Civil War; the Cylon leader, a humanoid Cylon "Number One" named John Cavil, precipitated the schism in the Cylon ranks. Cavil deceives the other models by obsessively hiding the identities and origins of the remaining five humanoid Cylon models, the "Final Five", known only to him, are a more ancient type of Cylon, created by a previous iteration of human civilization.
Other plotlines involve the mysterious destiny of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, the subject of a prophecy claiming that she is the "Harbinger of Death" who will "lead them all to its end", as well as the redemption of Gaius Baltar through the Cylons' monotheistic religion, after he becomes a pariah within the fleet. In the final episodes, an inexplicably resurrected Kara Thrace leads the surviving humans and their Cylon allies to a new planet, which Adama names "Earth"; the first group of survivors settle in ancient Africa. The "real" Earth that the Colonials had searched for during their years in space was revealed in an earlier episode to have been inhabited thousands of years before by a previous form of humanoid Cylons; these humanoid Cylons had created their own Centurion robotic slaves, who waged a nuclear attack against their masters, devastating the planet and making it uninhabitable. The new Earth is found to be inhabited by early humans, who are genetically compatible with the humans from the Galactica and the rest of the fleet, but who possess only the most rudimentary civilization.
The surviving humans and humanoid Cylons settle on the new planet Earth.
Television show
A television show is any content produced for broadcast via over-the-air, cable, or internet and viewed on a television set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are placed between shows. Television shows are most scheduled well ahead of time and appear on electronic guides or other TV listings. A television show might be called a television program if it lacks a narrative structure. A television series is released in episodes that follow a narrative, are divided into seasons or series – yearly or semiannual sets of new episodes. A show with a limited number of episodes may be called serial, or limited series. A one-time show may be called a "special". A television film is a film, broadcast on television rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video. Television shows can be viewed as they are broadcast in real time, be recorded on home video or a digital video recorder for viewing, or be viewed on demand via a set-top box or streamed over the internet; the first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s.
Televised events such as the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 1937 coronation of King George VI in the UK, David Sarnoff's famous introduction at the 1939 New York World's Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 1947 World Series inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and in 1948, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name "Mr Television" and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers; the first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 4, 1951 when President Harry Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T's transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets. The first national color broadcast in the US occurred on January 1, 1954.
During the following ten years most network broadcasts, nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1965, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color; the first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 1972, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first all-color network season. Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due wide variety formats and genres that can be presented. A show may non-fictional, it may be historical. They could be instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows. A drama program features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting; the program follows their adventures. Except for soap opera-type serials, many shows before the 1980s, remained static without story arcs, the main characters and premise changed little.
If some change happened to the characters' lives during the episode, it was undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order. Since the 1980s, there are many series that feature progressive change to the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television series to have this kind of dramatic structure. While the series, Babylon 5 is an extreme example of such production that had a predetermined story running over its intended five-season run. In 2012, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies' revenues than film; some noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 2012, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: "I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television."
When a person or company decides to create a new series, they develop the show's elements, consisting of the concept, the characters, the crew, cast. They "pitch" it to the various networks in an attempt to find one interested enough to order a prototype first episode of the series, known as a pilot. Eric Coleman, an animation executive at Disney, told an interviewer, "One misconception is that it's difficult to get in and pitch your show, when the truth is that development executives at networks want much to hear ideas, they want much to get the word out on what types of shows they're looking for."To create the pilot, the structure and team of the whole series must be put together. If audiences respond well to the pilot, the network will pick up the show to air it the next season. Sometimes they save it for mid-season, or father review. Other times, they pass forcing the show's creator to "shop it around" to other networks. Many shows never make it past the pilot stage; the show hires a stable of writers, who usually
Michael Hogan (Canadian actor)
Michael Hogan is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Colonel Saul Tigh in the 2004 Battlestar Galactica series, Billy in The Peanut Butter Solution, the voice of Armando-Owen Bailey in the Mass Effect series and villainous werewolf hunter Gerard Argent in Teen Wolf. Hogan was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario in 1949, raised in North Bay and studied at National Theatre School of Canada. Hogan began his career in 1978 and has starred in numerous TV shows, radio dramas and operas, he got his start in plays at the Shaw Festival. Hogan starred as Colonel Saul Tigh, Executive Officer of the Battlestar Galactica on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica. Among his prior television work is his role as Tony Logozzo in Cold Squad, Hogan starred in the 1985 children's film The Peanut Butter Solution. Hogan won the Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor, for Solitaire, he had been nominated in that category the previous year for Diplomatic Immunity. Hogan was nominated for the Gemini, for Best Actor in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries, for the 2003 telefilm Betrayed.
He made his film debut in the Peter Fonda trucker picture High-Ballin'. He and his wife soon became a popular television couple, as the stars of the 1983 Canadian series Vanderberg and the 1986 Canadian-German series The Little Vampire. Hogan has starred on the hit Canadian police series Cold Squad, his movies include Road to Saddle River, Stella, Cowboys Don't Cry and The Cutting Edge and the telefilms Dead Man's Gun, Shadow Lake, Shadow Realm and Nights Below Station Street, for which he received the Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association's Blizzard Award for Best Leading Actor. He has guested on such series as Millennium, The Outer Limits, Cold Squad, The L Word, Dollhouse, Numb3rs, in the two-hour premiere of Monk, he plays Myka's father on the SyFy series Warehouse 13. Hogan has lent his voice to the video game industry, providing the voice of Captain Armando-Owen Bailey in the RPG, Mass Effect 2, as well as the opening character, Doc Mitchell, in Fallout: New Vegas. Hogan voiced the character General Tullius in the RPG, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
He appeared in the dark tale Red Riding Hood. Most he reprised his role as Commander Bailey in Mass Effect 3, lent his voice as Samael in the American release of the Korean MMORPG, TERA, he had a recurring role on the hit MTV show Teen Wolf as Gerard Argent, the werewolf-hunting grandfather of Allison Argent and the latest nemesis of main protagonist, Scott McCall. Hogan guest starred as Scott, Brady Kelly's father, in the third season of the acclaimed sitcom Husbands. Michael Hogan on IMDb Michael Hogan at TV Guide
Michael Trucco
Edward Michael Trucco is an American actor known for his role as Samuel T. Anders on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and his recurring role as Nick Podarutti in How I Met Your Mother, he appeared on the 2017–2018 Netflix series Disjointed, as Tae Kwon Douglas. A native of San Mateo, Trucco attended Junipero Serra High School, he is the son of a police officer, was once interested in becoming one himself until college, when he was attracted to theatrical performance. He took a theatre course for non-majors while he was studying Criminal Justice, but he did so well that he was asked to consider changing majors, he completed his bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts at Santa Clara University. Trucco became active in television in the late 1990s with appearances in episodes of Touched by an Angel, Silk Stalkings, Beverly Hills, 90210, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, Pensacola: Wings of Gold among others, he continued appearing in shows of similar genres like CSI, Strong Medicine, CSI: Miami, others into the 2000s.
He played Cooper Lee in six episodes of One Tree Hill from 2005 to 2006. In 2002, Trucco starred in Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled. In 2005, he joined the drama Battlestar Galactica in the role of Samuel T. Anders. In 2008, he guest-starred on NBC's Order: Special Victims Unit and The Big Bang Theory. In 2010, he guest-starred on ABC's series Castle as Detective Tom Demming. In 2010, Trucco was cast as a series regular in the USA Network series Fairly Legal. Trucco guest-starred in a season 6 episode of How I Met Your Mother in 2011, had a recurring role in the show's eighth season, he played the recurring character Nate Ryan in the second season of Revenge. Most he played Elliot's brother in the 2017 film The Bye Bye Man. Trucco is the lead guitarist of the band Simpleworld. On Sunday, December 2, 2007, Trucco was involved in a car accident with a friend, driving a Ferrari 360 on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California; the vehicle flipped on landing upside-down, impacting Trucco's side of the car.
Trucco was badly injured in the accident, fracturing four of his vertebrae, while his friend walked away uninjured. He has stated that he lost feeling in his arms, he was able to get out of the vehicle after regaining feeling in his hands and used his cell phone to call for emergency help. He was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center for a surgery and there were some complications although he made a full recovery; as of December 10, 2007, Trucco expected to make a full recovery. Doctors said he was lucky, suffering the same injury as Christopher Reeve. Michael Trucco on IMDb Michael Trucco on Twitter
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, dedicated to a specific deity, hero, saint, daemon, or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated. A shrine at which votive offerings are made is called an altar. Shrines are found in many of the world's religions, including Christianity, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion and Asatru as well as in secular and non-religious settings such as a war memorial. Shrines can be found in various settings, such as churches, cemeteries, museums, or in the home, although portable shrines are found in some cultures. A shrine may become a focus of a cult image. Many shrines are located within buildings and in the temples designed for worship, such as a church in Christianity, or a mandir in Hinduism. A shrine here is the centre of attention in the building, is given a place of prominence. In such cases, adherents of the faith assemble within the building in order to venerate the deity at the shrine.
In classical temple architecture, the shrine may be synonymous with the cella. In Hinduism and Roman Catholicism, in modern faiths, such as Neopaganism, a shrine can be found within the home or shop; this shrine is a small structure or a setup of pictures and figurines dedicated to a deity, part of the official religion, to ancestors or to a localised household deity. Small household shrines are common among the Chinese and people from South and Southeast Asia, whether Hindu, Buddhist or Christian. A small lamp and small offerings are kept daily by the shrine. Buddhist household shrines must be on a shelf above the head. Small outdoor yard shrines are found at the bottom of many peoples' gardens, following various religions, including Christianity. Many consist of a statue of Christ or a saint, on a pedestal or in an alcove, while others may be elaborate booths without ceilings, some include paintings and architectural elements, such as walls, glass doors and ironwork fences, etc. In the United States, some Christians have small yard shrines.
Religious images in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads. Shrines are found in many religions; as distinguished from a temple, a shrine houses a particular relic or cult image, the object of worship or veneration. A shrine may be constructed to set apart a site, thought to be holy, as opposed to being placed for the convenience of worshippers. Shrines therefore attract the practice of pilgrimage. Shrines are found in many, forms of Christianity. Roman Catholicism, the largest denomination of Christianity, has many shrines, as do Orthodox Christianity and Anglicanism. In the Roman Catholic Code of Canon law, canons 1230 and 1231 read: "The term shrine means a church or other sacred place which, with the approval of the local Ordinary, is by reason of special devotion frequented by the faithful as pilgrims. For a shrine to be described as national, the approval of the Episcopal Conference is necessary. For it to be described as international, the approval of the Holy See is required."Another use of the term "shrine" in colloquial Catholic terminology is a niche or alcove in most – larger – churches used by parishioners when praying in the church.
They were called Devotional Altars, since they could look like small Side Altars or bye-altars. Shrines were always centered on some image of Christ or a saint – for instance, a statue, mural or mosaic, may have had a reredos behind them. However, Mass would not be celebrated at them. Side altars, where Mass could be celebrated, were used in a similar way to shrines by parishioners. Side altars were dedicated to The Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph as well as other saints. A nativity set could be viewed as a shrine, as the definition of a shrine is any holy or sacred place. Islam's holiest structure, the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, though an ancient temple, may be seen as a shrine due to it housing a venerated relic called the Hajar al-Aswad and being the focus of the world's largest pilgrimage practice, the Hajj. A few yards away, the mosque houses the Maqam Ibrahim shrine containing a petrosomatoglyph associated with the patriarch and his son Ishmael's building of the Kaaba in Islamic tradition; the Green Dome sepulcher of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina, housed in the Masjid an-Nabawi, occurs as a venerated place and important as a site of pilgrimage among Muslims.
Two of the oldest and notable Islamic shrines are the Dome of the Rock and the smaller Dome of the Chain built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The former was built over the rock that marked the site of the Jewish Temple and according to Islamic tradition, was the point of departure of Muhammad's legendary ascent heavenwards. More than any other shrines in the Muslim world, the tomb of Muhammad is considered a source of blessings for the visitor. Among sayings attributed to
