sanctuary

thumb|The sanctuary at St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney thumb|Ajax the Lesser|Ajax the Younger violates [[Cassandra's sanctuary at the Palladium: tondo of an Attic cup, ca. 440–430 BCE]] A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a safe place for people, such as a political sanctuary; and non-human sanctuary, such as an animal or plant sanctuary.

== Religious sanctuary == thumb|Sanctuary marker (S) at Holyrood Abbey, Royal Mile, Edinburgh Sanctuary is a word derived from the Latin , which is, like most words ending in , a container for keeping something in—in this case holy things or perhaps cherished people (/). The meaning was extended to places of holiness or safety. Its origin is the principle of independence and immunity of religious orders from "temporal" powers.