Christian Sites: Explore Cathedrals, Monasteries, Chapels and Baptisteries
Explore more than 5,000 Christian sites, including basilicas, baptisteries, cathedrals, chapels, fortified churches and monasteries. The examples range from Italy and western Europe to Ireland, Romania and Armenia. Stone arcades, stained-glass interiors, vaulted communal rooms and defensive enclosures preserve the spaces used for worship, baptism, teaching, burial and monastic life.
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Stadtkirche St. Laurentius in Pegau preserves a medieval west building, a fifteenth-century Late Gothic hall church, and important Protestant…
Walderbach Abbey in Bavaria developed from a twelfth-century Babonen foundation into a Cistercian monastery, preserving a Romanesque church, Baroque…
All Saints Church in Odiham preserves medieval fabric from the thirteenth century, later additions, a seventeenth-century brick tower, historic…
Blythburgh Priory was an Augustinian religious house established by 1147 in Suffolk. Its surviving remains preserve evidence of an earlier church, a…
Castell de Montmagastre was a medieval stronghold linked to the formation of the County of Urgell. Its surviving remains include castle foundations,…
Catholic Holy Cross Church in Augsburg developed from a medieval hospice and Augustinian Canons’ foundation into a late Gothic pilgrimage church,…
Chiesa dell'Osservanza is a Roman Catholic church in Catanzaro associated with the Friars Minor Observant. Founded in the fifteenth century, it…
The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Vémars developed from a twelfth-century parish and was rebuilt in the late medieval Flamboyant Gothic…
The Church of San Andrés in Tenerife began as an early chapel after the island’s conquest and became a parish church in 1747. Its surviving Canarian…
The Church of St Peter and St Paul is Eye’s historic Church of England parish church, with medieval fabric, later furnishings, painted rood-screen…
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Cetviny is a fourteenth-century Gothic church shaped by medieval parish life, wartime destruction,…
Eilsum Church is a large thirteenth-century brick church whose unusual chancel-tower design, medieval paintings, and later Reformed furnishings…
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Basilicas and baptismal buildings
The Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio preserves a Romanesque church built on an early Christian foundation. An arcaded courtyard precedes its broad façade, while ribbed vaults cover the principal nave and galleries rise above the side aisles. The brickwork, carved capitals and repeated arches define both the enclosed church and the open space before it.
The Baptistery of San Giovanni alle Fonti, beneath Milan Cathedral, preserves the excavated outline of a separate building used for baptism. Its octagonal walls surround a central baptismal basin, with alternating rectangular and curved recesses around the perimeter. These remains belong to the late Roman episcopal complex, centuries before the present Gothic cathedral was built above it.
Gothic cathedrals and royal chapels
At Cologne Cathedral in Germany, the medieval choir and its surrounding chapels preserve the eastern part of a much longer building project. Tall windows rise above the arcades, while an ambulatory connects the chapels around the sanctuary. The nave and famous western towers were completed in the nineteenth century, so their date differs from that of the medieval choir.
Sainte-Chapelle in Paris was built as a royal chapel to house Passion relics. Its lower chapel supports a much taller upper space, where stained-glass windows occupy almost the whole area between the slender structural supports. The two-storey arrangement remains the building’s central feature. The present spire and much of the restored decorative finish belong to nineteenth-century work.
Monastic churches, halls and teaching rooms
At Glendalough in Ireland, stone churches, a double-arched gateway and a round tower preserve the layout of a monastic settlement. The tower has a raised entrance and openings at successive levels; its conical cap was rebuilt using original stones. The ruined cathedral combines an earlier nave with a later choir and sacristy, allowing different phases of the settlement’s church building to be traced.
Sanahin Monastery in Armenia brings domed churches, entrance halls, a library and teaching spaces into a closely grouped stone complex. The principal churches stand only a short distance apart, with later buildings occupying the intervening spaces. Vaults, arches and carved doorways distinguish rooms used for worship, assembly and study. The buildings developed chiefly between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, with later repairs to domes and roofs.
Fortified churches and refuge enclosures
The Fortified Church of Prejmer in Romania stands inside a high circular wall. Multiple levels of rooms line the enclosure, providing storage and refuge for the surrounding community. A long defended entrance passage controlled access to the interior.
The church itself has an early Gothic cross-shaped plan and retains a late medieval painted altarpiece. Church and enclosure served connected but distinct purposes: worship occupied the central building, while the perimeter accommodated supplies and people during attacks. Restoration has maintained the unusually complete arrangement of the complex.
Royal monasteries and religious residences
The Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in Spain extends across a large grid of courts and corridors. A central basilica stands between monastic and royal areas, with a library, school and burial spaces forming part of the wider foundation. Grey granite façades, regular windows and corner towers give the exterior a restrained appearance.
El Escorial was built for Philip II in the sixteenth century. Its scale and carefully divided plan preserve a religious institution designed together with the residence and burial place of a royal dynasty.
Explore the collection
Explore sites on the map or in the grid. Map icons indicate each site’s primary function, helping you identify different kinds of places at a glance. Narrow the results by country, site type, civilization or era, with additional filters for popularity and rating. Select a map marker to view the site’s details and open its article, or open the article from its grid entry.