Sacred Grove

The Sacred Grove is a location from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Located where the Temple of Time was once situated, over time, this forest grew around the ruins of the temple, leaving the Pedestal of Time and Master Sword intact and untouched by time. The front door also remains intact; it housed a time portal that sent beings back to the time when the temple was complete. The writing on the wall behind the Sacred Grove Guardians translates as "sanctuary", "Master Sword", "copy rod", and "stone statue". The rest of the script is simply the same words repeated over and over.

History
At one point, Link finds the Sacred Grove and retrieves the Master Sword in order to break the curse placed on him. Inside the forest, he meets a Skull Kid whom he chases throughout the forest. After the Skull Kid has been found enough times, it allows Link to pass on to the grove where the Master Sword sleeps. Here, the hero comes across the Sacred Grove Guardians, two stone statues that bar his path. He must complete a small puzzle involving these two statues in order to move on. After the completion of this final ordeal, Link touches the sacred blade, and is returned to his Hylian form.

Later in the game, Link returns to the Sacred Grove in order to enter the Temple of Time of the past.

Link's Crossbow Training
The Sacred Grove serves as the location for Sacred Grove: Defender.

Theory
It is possible that the Sacred Grove was originally the first Hyrule Castle Town, as evidenced by what appears to be a town square where the Skull Kid battles Link as well as the short walk off the square to the Temple of Time's ruins, which matches the original Hyrule Castle Town's distance to the Temple of Time in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. After the Gerudo attack led by Ganondorf, it is possible that the capital was too badly damaged in the attack and was abandoned, but the Lost Woods could have had a portal leading to the original area as it had various portals in it leading all around Hyrule originally, such as those leading to Goron City and Zora's Domain in Ocarina of Time and even one leading to the land of Termina in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. However, it seems unlikely as the town square area is the only sign of civilization besides the Temple of Time, whereas the Castle Town in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was much larger.

A different theory is that this grove is the same grove from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, as they are both in the middle of the lost woods and house the master sword. If this game is set before A Link to the Past, then the grove in the latter game could be the result of further disrepair to the Temple of Time.