Riatena Shrine
The Riatena Shrine (Akes Mersanint: No Riatena, Baranxeï: Ša-Niqab Riatenatu) was the religious center of the Maran people, the indigenous people of Baranxtu and Jonquiere-Tadoussac.
The shrine was built around 500 CE and was in use for more than 1,300 years before it was destroyed during the Leumi Wars 1840-1846. It was not until 1978 that Queen Meinara apologized for the destruction of the sanctuary and prayed besides the ruins. This move helped raising the popularity of the Baranxtuan monarchy with the Maran people.
Despite its ruination, its still an important site of pilgrimages from all over the Southern Continent of the International Democratic Union. Every year, an estimated 95,000 people visit the site as pilgrims, and over 450,000 as tourists.
There still is an ongoing conflict over statues and idols taken from the ruins and displayed in museums all across Baranxtu and some other countries. Some speakers of the Maran people, especially the Leumi tribe, demand the return of these goods, whereas others want the artefacts to stay where they are in order to raise awareness and knowledge of the history of the Maran people and their plight in the time of colonization.
History
The First Shrine
The shrine was probably erected on a previous altar to the gods. Apart from being close to the physical center of the south, it is also close to small Lake Rin, which has been sacred to the Maran people as it is fed by hydrothermal vents.
A document dating from 427 CE reports of a "holy place in the wild, where people dance in nights of a full moon around a dead tree carrying thousands of blossoms every year" (the nature of the described phenomenon is unknown).
Excavations in the 1970s uncovered the ruins of a small brick structure that has been dubbed the "First Shrine". It has been estimated to be about 1,400 years old, although who had it build and when exactly remains highly disputed.
The Second Shrine
In 987, King Maolea of Hantis ordered a stone shrine to be built in the Rian, the area around Lake Rin, in honor of the Riantena, the guardian gods of the region.
The shrine quickly became a popular place of pilgrimage, and soon, other gods were venerated at the site, as well. Over the course of centuries, thousands of statues were brought to the shrine. These statues were displayed inside of the building, in catacombs under the shrine and sometimes buried in the holy area around it.
Subsequent rulers of the land ordered the enlargement of the shrine. Today, the ruins of the main part consist of six conical shaped domes, and more than a hundred subordinate shrines can be found in the immediate surroundings.
Destruction
In 1840, under the order of Queen Aŋlija, Baranxtuan troops invaded the kingdom of the Leumi tribe. The resistance of the native populace and the guerilla warfare of the Leumi troops prolongued the war that had been planned as a quick conquest.
When the angered troops reached the Riatena Shrine in 1844, the defaced many of the statues and destroyed the inner sanctum.
After the conquest, the Leumi tribal council decided to not rebuild the ruins and leave them as remainder of their ordeal.
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