The 79 Most Beautiful European Churches
Although religion is playing a less prominent role in European civilization nowadays, churches, mosques, synagogues, cathedrals and basilicas still play a very important role in the city landscapes of most European cities, and tourism as a result of that.
Erik, the Europeish editor with the most spare time, got the assignment to select the most beautiful religious buildings in Europe. As Erik also has a difficult time making choices, the result is a list with 79 impressive (Wieskirche), unusually located (Santuario di San Besso, Meteora), or uniquely designed (Hallgrimur, Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso) churches.
1. St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow (Russia)
2. Sagrada Familia, Barcelona (Spain)
3. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Turkije)
4. Kölner Dom, Cologne (Germany)
5. Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede, Sevilla (Spain)
6. Borgund stavkirke, Borgund (Norway)
7. Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence (Italy)
8. St. Sava Cathedral, Belgrade (Serbia)
9. Winchester Cathedral, Winchester (England)
10. Notre Dame, Paris (France)
11. Duomo, Milan (Italy)
12. Pechersk Lavra, Kiev (Ukraine)
13. Basilica di San Marco, Venice (Italy)
14. St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Wenen (Austria)
15. Chartres Cathedral, Chartres (France)
16. Cadiz Cathedral, Cadiz (Spain)
17. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Tallinn (Estonia)
18. Notre-Dame of Amiens, Amiens (France)
19. St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest (Hungary)
20. Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp (Belgium)
21. Basilica di Sant’Antonio, Padova (Italy)
22. Bruges Cathedral, Bruges (Belgium)
23. Hallgrimur Church, Reykjavik (Iceland)
24. Notre-Dame de l’Immaculee-Conception, Lourdes (France)
25. Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City
26. St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels (Belgium)
27. Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi, Assisi (Italy)
28. Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent (Belgium)
29. Duomo Santa Maria, Pisa (Italy)
30. Münster Unserer Lieben Frau, Freiburg (Germany)
31. Nagy Zsinagóga, Budapest (Hungary)
32. Speyer Dom, Speyer (Germany)
33. Catedral de Santa Eulàlia, Barcelona (Spain)
34. Santa María la Real de La Almudena, Madrid (Spain)
35. St Paul’s Cathedral, London (England)
36. Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow (Russia)
37. St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague (Czech Republic)
38. Echmiatsin Cathedral, Echmiatsin (Armenia)
39. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mtscheta (Georgia)
40. Cathédrale Notre-Dame-Immaculée, Monaco (Monaco)
41. Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, Saint Petersburg (Russia)
42. Oudenbosch Basilica, Oudenbosch (The Netherlands)
43. Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp (France)
44. Saint John’s Cathedral, Den Bosch (The Netherlands)
45. Beauvais Cathedral, Beauvais (France)
46. Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Metz, Metz (France)
47. St. Andrew’s Church, Kiev (Ukraine)
48. Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire (England)
49. Ulm Cathedral, Ulm (Germany)
50. Temppeliaukion Kirkko, Helsinki (Finland)
51. Utrecht Cathedral, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
52. Riga Cathedral, Riga (Latvia)
53. Santuario di San Besso, Ronco Canavese (Italy)
54. Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav, Kraków (Poland)
55. Westminster Abbey, London (England)
56. Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre, Paris (France)
57. Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, Lisbon (Portugal)
58. Aglona Basilica, Aglona (Latvia)
59. Meteora, Kalambaka (Greece)
60. Le Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy (France)
61. Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso, Rome (Italy)
62. Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool (England)
63. Catedral de León, León (Spain)
64. Taidekappeli, Turku (Finland)
65. Wieskirche, Wies (Germany)
66. Durham Cathedral, Durham (England)
67. St. Stephan’s Church, Istanbul (Turkey)
68. St. Mark’s Church, Belgrade (Serbia)
69. Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim (Norway)
70. Burgos Cathedral, Burgos (Spain)
71. St. Bavochurch, Haarlem (The Netherlands)
72. Bremilham church, Malmesbury (England)
73. Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kiev (Ukraine)
74. Sveti Jovan Kaneo, Ohrid (Macedonia)
75. Stavanger domkirke, Stavanger (Norway)
76. Kizhi Pogost, Kizhi (Russia)
77. Esztergomi Bazilika, Esztergom (Hungary)
78. Asamkirche, Munich (Germany)
79. Graun Tower, Lago di Resia (Italy)
Image sources: 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79.
We probably missed at least a few wonderful churches, basilicas, cathedrals, mosques or synagogues. Feel free to share your favorite religious building in the comments, and maybe we’ll add it to the list!
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Now *that* is what I call a collection of church photos. Bravo
excuse me, reschensee, or Lago di Resia is not located in Austria, but in Italy!!!
@Matteo: thanks for pointing that out! We have updated the post with the appropriate location.
Thank you Christian Today for suggesting the Asamkirche, which is now listed at #78!
Have a look at this one, St. Clement & St. Panteleimon church:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plao%C5%A1nik
OMG some of the churches are beautafull ! and some not but some are not rated right ! some are ugly and the beautafull but rated tooooo
low i mean come on !
how did you possibly create a list of the most beautiful churches in europe and not include ONE from ireland?
Hagia Sophia is a museum – not a church nor a Mosque.
OH MY GOD… I’d like to thank the creator of this web site for taking the time to compile this beautiful collection
So beautifull collection indeed but I think you can add the Cathedral of Vilnius in Lithuania. Part of the UNESCO patrimony…
I visited it last year it’s just gorgeous !
I have visited around 200 cathedrals in Europe; You made an outstanding work there but some huge cathedrals are missing as Strasbourg, Albi, Bourges, Reims in France all UNESCO CLASSIFIED and Rouen or Toledo and perhaps the most beautiful of all: the Mezquita of Cordoba in Spain! There are many wonders also in germany as Regensburg (Ratisbonne), in Italy as Siena and Orvieto or the major basilicas of christianity in Roma (San Juan Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore and San Paolo extra muros….only to list some huge ones! Jacques
I think you should have a look to the York Minster, just amazing!
Ah! I forgot it! You can’t leave Santiago de Compostela behind!
Some really good ones, although your missing the best of all and historic story… Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. The New church they built on the grounds is nice but very modern. If you read up on the history on the original church and what happened with the 3 kids is pretty remarkable.
Being there is COMPLETELY breath taking, you literally feel the religious calm atmosphere
Take care
St. George′s Church (crkva Svetog Djordja)Topola, Serbia should be in this list. Great list!
no Rosslyn Chapel…how?
Stunning compilation! Only one thing I can’t get over: the fact that Rheims Cathedral is missing. Other than that: simply awesome.
unbelievably beautiful churches. hard to believe men built such beautiful creations. no one builds anything such as this anymore. its why so many tourists still visit the old structures, no beauty today anymore, just ugly condos and artificial buildings. its is tragedy of modern age.
St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, built by the Knights of St John in the 16th Century is undoubtedly one of the finest baroque churches in Europe. Definitely suggest this addition … See website for more details …
http://stjohnscocathedral.com/
I think Saint Jame’s Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) is a must. It’s so beautiful and quite important in the european history.
This is awesome!!! I mean to watch or see the most popular and beautiful churches around europe..Amazingly beautiful…
Nice photos indeed.. though, with all due respects, I think n.53 and n.79 shouldn’t stand among the others; considering how many European Jewels are still missing in this list.
Mauro, Ferrara -Italia
BTW:
Just in case someone is interested to insert it.. here a photo of San Petronio Basilica that’s facing Piazza Maggiore in Bologna down-town (Italy)
http://www.bulgnais.com/pmaggiore_01_small.jpg
or
http://www.bulgnais.com/images/pmaggiore_01.jpg
Marvellous! Where will I ever find the time to visit them all? An extensive collection but even if you doubled it I doubt the list would be complete. Some of the lovliest churches are smallish (compared to St Peter’s, Rome), and are mostly tucked away in places not usually reached by the descent of the touristy hordes: what about beautiful Trani Cathedral in Puglia, Italy: blindingly white at midday on a summer’s day against the turquoise sea just beyond it, the enigmatic Basilica di Collemaggio, L’Aquila, Italy with its rose and cream stone facade like a pillow lace design, a Templar banner put up long after the Templars were gone…? And York Minster, Yorkshire,UK? Burgos Cathedral, Spain where El Cid campeador, Ruy Diaz de Vivar and his wife Ximena lie buried…? Not intended as criticism, only suggestions for our greatest churches hunters. Last but not least, many compliments for the lovely photos, that have the power to take us where we cannot go.
no Romanian monasteries, you can’t call this the most beautiful churches without romanian ones
I travelled in serbia last year, i think that you need to put more serbian cathedrals here, like Gracanica, Visoki Decani, Holly Virgin of Ljevis, Studenica or Pecka Patrijarsija.
What about St.John’s Co Cathedral in Valletta, Malta?
http://stjohnscocathedral.com/
One should consider the interior of Notre dame Cathedral in Montreal!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8159/6977424908_7e086f9bfd_z.jpg
sorry, the list was for european churches……. disregard my earlier post