altar

noun3

1. •
   a table or raised flat surface in a church or temple, where people pray or give gifts to a god

   • To hawke, or els to hunt From the auter to the funt, Wyth cry unreverent, Before the sacrament, Wythin the holy church bowndis, That of our fayth the grownd is. — 1503
2. •
   (figurative) Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.

   • […]now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality. — 2000
3. •
   (informal) A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.