Awestriking

[…] except as to the performance of some offices in the ceremony of consecration, which could not but give umbrage to the free born reason of Englishmen, unsubdued by priesthood or church-superstition, the divine service was very exalted, and awe-striking to the heart.

1799, A. Percy, The Monks and the Robbers; a Tale, Chapter 16, in The Lady’s Magazine, Volume 30, April 1799, p. 159, An awe-striking misty gloom, even in the brightest glow of mid-day, pervaded the whole.

[…] when we reached the gates of the citadel, we saw that preparations were made for giving us an awe-striking reception.

[The doubloon] was set apart and sanctified to one awe-striking end; and however wanton in their sailor ways, one and all, the mariners revered it as the white whale’s talisman.

Initially and understandably, it was the awe-striking physical remains of [ancient Egyptian] culture, such as pyramids, sphinxes, and temples, which captivated scholars.