The most beautiful churches in the world

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Temples, cathedrals, churches and chapels are not only a sacred place for religious people, but also a terrific tourist attraction. There are churches in almost all cities of the world and most of them are distinguished by interesting and unusual architecture. Just because they are churches. We tried to select ten of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world. It turned out or not - judge for yourself.

Cathedral Las Lajas (Colombia)

Construction of the Las Lajas Cathedral inside the canyon of the Guaitara River began in 1916 and continued until 1949. The cathedral was built with donations on the site of an old chapel built in the 19th century. A beautiful legend is connected with the construction of the chapel about how an Indian woman, whose name was Maria Musis, carried her deaf and dumb daughter Rosa on her back, when she suddenly asked (for the first time in her life speaking) stop in the nearest cave. There, Rose painted the Virgin Mary with her son on the wall of the cave.

Later examinations could not establish any paint or other substances with which the picture was painted. The only thing they could establish was that the stones were "soaked" in the painting several feet in depth. Whether the legend is true - no one knows. But this Gothic cathedral rightfully bears the title of one of the most beautiful and mysterious temples in the world.

Sagrada Familia (Spain)

The Sagrada Familia bears the full name "Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família". Literally translated, it means "Atonement Temple of the Holy Family." The construction of the cathedral began in 1882 and continues to this day. The initial project was developed by Antoni Gaudi, who worked on the project for over forty years. When asked why the design took so long, he replied, "My client is in no hurry."

The construction of the cathedral was interrupted by the civil war in 1936, when Catalan fanatics destroyed all models of Gaudí. Now construction continues according to the few surviving plans and modern developments. Construction is scheduled to end in 2026, but no one believes that. The project has long been dubbed "The Cathedral, which will never be completed."

St. Basil's Cathedral (Russia)

Probably not worth talking a lot about St. Basil's Cathedral. I think every person who has been to Moscow has seen him at least once. There is a cathedral on Red Square and is named after the holy fool Vasily, who dared to tell Ivan the Terrible what he thinks about his tyranny. beautiful.

St. Basil's Cathedral has been the main attraction of Moscow for many years. And for sure for a long time visiting foreigners will ask "How to get to Red Square to St. Basil's Cathedral?"

Hagia Sophia (Turkey)

Technically, "Hagia Sophia" (from Greek - Church of the Holy Wisdom of God) is no longer a church, now this Istanbul building houses a museum. The cathedral has a long history - it was originally a Christian church. Then it was rebuilt as part of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople. After the city surrendered to the Turks in 1453, it became a mosque. Much later this church was turned into a museum.

The construction of the church was completed in 537 under Emperor Julian the First, and for another thousand years it remained the largest church in the world. Today this church is the largest example of Byzantine art, a subject of study for many researchers from all over the world.

St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican)

Of course, we could not ignore the largest religious building in the world - St. Peter's Cathedral, which is the heart of all Christianity. The building is truly huge - it covers an area of more than two hectares and can accommodate up to 60,000 people at a time.

On the site of the present cathedral there was already a church built by the first emperor of Rome Constantine in 324 AD. That church stood for about 1200 years, until they decided to convert it into the largest cathedral. All the most prominent figures of the Renaissance Era took part in the construction. Michelangelo designed the dome, Jean Lorenzo Bernini designed the main square, and Donato Bromante was the first architect of the cathedral.

Notre Dame de Paris (France)

And, of course, we could not ignore this most important landmark of Paris - the quintessence of Gothic architecture. The construction of Notre Dame began in 1163, when Bishop Maurice de Sally decided to confirm his status with a more convenient church. The construction was completed much later - two hundred years later, but still the cathedral became one of the first truly large-scale European projects. There are many amazing things in the cathedral. For example windows (the largest in the world at that time), which depict scenes from the Bible.

Many legends are also associated with it. For example, according to one of them, the Emmanuel bell was cast in 1600 from the jewelry of women who threw them into a common cauldron to give the bell a unique sound.

But the cathedral gained its fame thanks to Victor Hugo, who wrote a novel about the Hunchback of Notre Dame, who fell in love with the beautiful dancer Esmeralda. The popularity of the book exceeded all expectations.

Hallgrímskirkja (Iceland)

This church with a difficult to pronounce name was built in Reykjavik between 1945 and 1986. With a height of 74.5 meters, it is the fourth tallest structure in all of Iceland and is located exactly in the center of the capital, so that it can be seen from all points of the city. Guðjón Samúelsson was appointed as the chief architect of the project.

The Icelandic Church (literal translation: Hallgrimur Church) got its strange name in honor of the poet and cleric Hallgrimur Petterson. The appearance reminds of geysers, of which there are a huge number in Iceland.

By the way, a description of about such towers can be found in Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. It is known that the professor borrowed a lot from Icelandic mythology for his trilogy, it is possible that the architecture of such buildings is also mentioned in ancient Icelandic myths.

Jubilee Church (Italy)

So far, we have only considered classical churches. Some are over a thousand years old, some are not even a hundred (and some are completely unfinished), but they all have a more or less classic style. Of course, there are architects who break the canons and build Art Nouveau churches. One of these, Richard Meyer, built a church in Rome and, not too shyly, proclaimed it "the project of the millennium" and "the pride of the crown of the Metropolitanate of Rome."

Curved lines are not only due to the needs of style and heat transfer, they also have a religious connotation. Three arcs of the same radius symbolize the Holy Trinity, and the reflective surface resembles water in a baptismal ritual.

Notre Dame du Haut (France)

Another extravagant project vaguely resembles Elvis Presley's hairstyle. The chapel of the pilgrims called "Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut" is located in the village of Ronchamp. However, this chapel is much more famous than the village in which it is located, therefore, for brevity, this Notre Dame is called “Ronchamp”.

The effect of the unusual roof is obvious - when it rains, moisture accumulates on the roof and then flows down in the form of a fountain. Despite the controversial design, Notre Dame du Haut is considered one of Le Corbusier's most successful works.

Crystal Cathedral (USA)

It is difficult to say what will be the result of the attempt to combine traditional churches with modern trends in architecture. Strictly speaking, the "Crystal Cathedral" has nothing to do with either crystals or cathedrals. This is the most amazing Protestant Megachurch in Garden Grove, California.

The church is almost entirely made of glass, of which there are more than 12 thousand. The exterior is captivating - the cathedral is made in the form of a four-pointed crystalline star, but even more beautiful at this time inside, when sunlight penetrates through the glass and the sky is visible, and the world's largest organ with more than 16 thousand pipes is installed inside.