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List of largest church buildings in the world

 
Wikipedia: List of largest church buildings in the world
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This article lists the largest church buildings in the world as measured by various criteria.

Contents

Scope

The term church is open to interpretation and debate. However, for the purposes of this article, it will be used to mean any building which was built for the primary purpose of Christian worship, for any recognised denomination of Christianity. This includes all cathedrals (the seat of a bishop), basilicas, and other types of churches. It does not include temples of other religions, e.g. mosques, synagogues and so on. It does include at least one building, Hagia Sophia, which was built as a church but later became a mosque (and is now a museum).

Measurements

Whilst many claims are made about the relative size of churches, many of these claims are not easily substantiated. "Largest" is at best a vague term, which is often not qualified by claimants. Accepted measures of largeness could include area, volume, length, width, height, and capacity (although the latter is far more subjective). It is important to note therefore that churches may claim to be "the largest" based on only one of these measurements; and thus that there may be several churches have equal claim to be the "nth largest church". Since there is no official body governing these claims, there is no generally accepted criteria for being "the largest church".

The lists below attempt to rank churches by different (more-or-less) objective criteria, and thus may generate different orders depending on the measure used. Churches for which claims are made but dimensions cannot be found are not included on the below lists.

For length, width and height, there is usually a definitive statistic for each church, which can easily be compared. However, for area and volume, the situation is often more complex. It is often possible to find multiple values quoted for the area/volume of a church in references. Many values appear to be estimates or approximations (especially for volume), or may have been calculated by multiplying lengths, widths and heights. In the latter case, the exact dimensions used (internal vs. external, etc.) may give very different figures. Therefore, although area and volume are the most common 'largeness' measures, they are also apt to be the least reliable. This should be born in mind when comparing church sizes.

By Area

Area in m² Gross volume in m³ Name Completion City Country Comment
20,139[1] (interior 15,160 [2][1]) 1,200,000[3] St. Peter's Basilica 1506-1626 Vatican City Vatican City Area can be verified on a plan printed as 205 % size in 1:1000 scale to match a 41.47 m dome internal diameter
>12,000 1,200,000[4] Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida 1955 Aparecida Brazil Dimensions of the church given as 173m x 168m [5], yielding a maximum area of 29,000 m². If the volume is indeed similar to St. Peter's, as quoted (see above), then an area nearer that of St. Peter's would be likely.
11,520[6] >500,000 Cathedral of Seville 1520 Seville Spain
11,200[3] 480,000[7] Cathedral of Saint John the Divine 1892[8] New York United States
10,090 300 000[9] Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń 1994-2004 Licheń Stary Poland 9240 m² - enclosed main floor incl. transept and apse, 290 m² - enclosed tower floor, 560 m² - open tower and gallery floor (530 m² - porticos excluded); 23,000 m² - total area incl. main, ground & other floors[9].
9,687[10] TK Liverpool Cathedral 1978 Liverpool United Kingdom
8,700[11] 130,000 Church of the Most Holy Trinity 2007 Fátima Portugal Area given as 12,000m² in [4]
8,406[2] TK Milan Cathedral 1386-1858 Milan Italy  
8,318[12] TK Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar 1681-1872 Zaragoza Spain  
8,162[13] 170 000[13] Cathedral of Saint Sava 2003 Belgrade Serbia By volume the biggest Orthodox Church in the world[13]
>8,000 TK Basilica of the Sacred Heart 1970 Koekelberg (Brussels) Belgium
>8,000 TK Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe 1974-1976 Mexico City Mexico The basilica has a circular base. Dimensions given as 102 meter in diameter, yielding an area of 8,167 m²[14]
c.8,000 TK Basilica of Our Lady of Peace 1989 Yamoussoukro Ivory Coast Enclosed area - just under the dome 90 m in diameter[15] (also, see images) - c. 8,000 m²; not included open space surrounded by colonnade of 30,000 m²[16]
7,920 TK San Petronio 1390-1658 Bologna Italy  
7,914 407,000[17] Cologne Cathedral 1248-1880 Cologne Germany Gross volume without buttresses.
7,875[2] TK St Paul's Cathedral 1677-1708 London United Kingdom  
7,712[18] TK Washington National Cathedral 1907-1990 Washington, DC United States
7,700[19] 200,000 (interior only) Amiens Cathedral predates 1218 Amiens France Gross volume slightly below 400,000 per similarity in size and structure to Cologne Cathedral
7,400 TK Hagia Sophia 537 Istanbul Turkey One time - the largest church in the world, now - a museum
7,097[20] TK Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception 1919-1961 Washington D.C. United States

By Volume

Area in m² Gross volume in m³ Name Completion City Country Comment
20,139[1] (interior 15,160 [2]) 1,200,000 [3] St. Peter's Basilica 1506-1626 Vatican City Vatican City
>12,000 1,200,000 [4] Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida 1955- Aparecida Brazil Dimensions of the church given as 173m x 168m [5], yielding a maximum area of 29,000 m². If the volume is similar to St. Peter's, as quoted (see above), then an area nearer that of St. Peter's would be likely.
c.8,000 c. 1,000,000 Basilica of Our Lady of Peace 1989 Yamoussoukro Ivory Coast Enclosed area - just under the dome 90 m in diameter [15] (also, see images) - c. 8,000 m². At 149 m high - including 60 m for the dome [15] - enclosed volume is c. 1,000,000 m³
11,520 [6] >500,000? Cathedral of Seville 1520 Seville Spain Allegedly, the largest church in the world[21][22], but only at an unlikely Seville's average hight nearly twice of St. Peter's given that St. Peter's area is nearly twice of Seville's; volume above 500,000 m³ at a side nave height much greater then of Cologne's
11,200 [3] 480,000 [23] Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York 1892[24] New York United States
7,914 407,000 [17] Cologne Cathedral 1248-1880 Cologne Germany Gross volume without buttresses.
7,700 [25] <400,000 (200,000 interior only) Amiens Cathedral predates 1218 Amiens France Gross volume slightly below 400,000 per similarity in size and structure to Cologne Cathedral
10,090 300 000 [9] Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń 1994-2004 Licheń Stary Poland
8,162[13] 170 000[13] Cathedral of Saint Sava 2003 Belgrade Serbia By volume the biggest Orthodox Church in the world[13]
TK 140,000 [26] York Minster 1220-1472 York United Kingdom  
8,700 [27] 130,000 Church of the Most Holy Trinity 2007 Fátima Portugal
9,687[28] TK Liverpool Cathedral 1978 Liverpool United Kingdom
8,600 TK Milan Cathedral 1386-1858 Milan Italy  
8,318[12] TK Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar 1681-1872 Zaragoza Spain  
>8,000 TK Basilica of the Sacred Heart 1970 Koekelberg (Brussels) Belgium
7,920 TK San Petronio 1390-1658 Bologna Italy  
7,875 [2] TK St Paul's Cathedral 1677-1708 London United Kingdom  
7,712 [29] TK Washington National Cathedral 1990 Washington, DC United States
7,400 TK Hagia Sophia 537 Istanbul Turkey one-time largest church in the world, now a museum
7,097 [30] TK Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception 1919-1961 Washington D.C. United States

By Height

Main article: List of tallest churches in the world

By Length

Main article: List of longest church buildings in the world


See also

References

  1. ^ a b c http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Interior/Nave/Nave.htm#largest
  2. ^ a b c d e Wikisource-logo.svg "Basilica of St. Peter". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Basilica_of_St._Peter. 
  3. ^ a b c d Ellis, Edward Robb. The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History pg. 413
  4. ^ a b c http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2641435.ece
  5. ^ a b http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0036351
  6. ^ a b http://www.andalucia.com/cities/seville/cathedral.htm
  7. ^ Ellis, Edward Robb Edgewood Apartments pg. 413
  8. ^ The White
  9. ^ a b c http://www.lichen.pl/index.php?t=page&dzial=1&sekcja=3&id=10
  10. ^ http://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/content/About/FactsAndFigures2.aspx
  11. ^ http://paginas.fe.up.pt/~carvalho/icsv10f.pdf
  12. ^ a b http://goya.unizar.es/InfoGoya/Aragon/Em_Pilar.html
  13. ^ a b c d e f http://www.hramsvetogsave.com/Hram/ser/Izgradnja/Arhitektura.htm
  14. ^ http://www.virgendeguadalupe.org.mx/santuario/basilicanue.htm
  15. ^ a b c http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=ourladyofpeaceyamoussoukro-yamoussoukro-ivorycoast
  16. ^ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1240318,00.html
  17. ^ a b http://www.anicursor.com/dom.html
  18. ^ http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/archpage0.shtml
  19. ^ http://en.structurae.de/
  20. ^ http://www.nationalshrine.com/site/pp.asp?c=etITK6OTG&b=130927
  21. ^ http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/seville-cathedral.htm
  22. ^ The rough guide to Spain Baskett S., Ellingham M., Fisher J., Alcock R.
  23. ^ Ellis, Edward Robb The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History pg. 413
  24. ^ The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine Tourist Brochure
  25. ^ http://en.structurae.de/
  26. ^ http://doc.gold.ac.uk/~map01ra/dmrn/events/dmrn06/papers/otondo2006shaping.pdf
  27. ^ http://paginas.fe.up.pt/~carvalho/icsv10f.pdf
  28. ^ http://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/content/About/FactsAndFigures2.aspx
  29. ^ http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/archpage0.shtml
  30. ^ http://www.nationalshrine.com/site/pp.asp?c=etITK6OTG&b=130927

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