The Sacred Wells Stock Image

Santa Cristina area, is one of the most beatiful Sardinian archaeological sites.The major complex includes a nuragic holy well, a nurage and nuragic habitations. Santa Cristina nuragic well, due to its mysterious appeal and inexplicable coincidences, is probably the most known holy well. Sacred Wells had initially a circular compound wall, like Su Tempiesu holy well. Why does the moon light reflect in the well every 18 years and 6 months between December and the beginning of January? Is it only an incredible coincidence? Or did the well wall have a perpendicular opening on the top? Enigmas of the nuragic culture; fascinating mysteries with no solution. Another enigma: In the past, during vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the sun shone down the steps through the hole in the stone construction over the well. It happened when the earth's axis was tilted and Rigel Kent(even called Alfa Centauri, the closest star of the system) was visible from the island. The sun and the moon, one more together, relate to the nuragic sites. Santa Cristina refers to the little rural church near the well, surrounded by small habitations (called Muristenes o Cumbessias), used by faithful people to celebrate the saint on the second Sunday in May and the Archangel Gabriel on the forth Sunday in October . The basalt holy well constists ( as the other sardinian and nuragic holy wells) of a foyer, a descending stone staircase and an elliptical wall(tholos) wich encloses the source. The well water still runs through the extremely fine and tigh fit of the blocks during the winter and spring. The 25 steps are covered by a tholos style ceiling. The one hectare archaeological site consists of a big and circular basalt hut, the so-called “capanna delle riunioni” (the hut where meetings took place) with a big stone seat inside. One-tower nuraghe is located in the south-west part, surrounded by several well-mantained huts which date back to different periods. Nuragic period - Late Bronze Age (between IX and XI century B.C )