Great Sept of Baelor

The Great Sept of Baelor is the chief temple of the Faith of the Seven in King's Landing and, for centuries, the seat of the High Septon, the spiritual head of the Faith. It stands atop Visenya's Hill, one of the three hills of the capital, a great domed building of crystal and marble that is among the most magnificent structures in Westeros.

The Great Sept was built by and named for King Baelor the Blessed, the pious Targaryen monarch whose devotion to the Seven shaped his reign. It replaced the older seat of the Faith and became the heart of worship in the realm, drawing the seat of the High Septon from the Starry Sept of Oldtown to the capital.

Geography and structure

The Great Sept is crowned by seven crystal towers and a great dome, and it can hold thousands of worshippers. Within, the seven walls of the central hall bear altars to the seven aspects of the one god, the Father, the Mother, the Warrior, the Smith, the Maiden, the Crone, and the Stranger, each lit by candles and adorned with images. Light streaming through its crystals scatters rainbows across the marble floors.

Beneath the sept lie vaults and a silent place where the dead of high station are laid in state before burial. A great marble plaza and a long flight of steps lead up to its doors.

History

King Baelor the Blessed raised the Great Sept in the early years of Targaryen rule, an act of devotion by a king famed for his piety. For centuries thereafter it was the spiritual center of the realm, where High Septons were anointed and where kings and great lords came to pray, to be wed, and to lie in state.

In the story

The Great Sept of Baelor is the site of one of the story's most shocking events: on its steps, Eddard Stark is executed at the command of King Joffrey, despite a promise of mercy, an act that helps ignite the War of the Five Kings. Later the sept becomes the stronghold of the revived militant Faith and its High Sparrow, who imprison Cersei Lannister there and force her to perform a walk of penance through the city. The bodies of slain kings, including Tywin Lannister and Joffrey, are laid in state within its walls.