DISCUSS: Best Religious Building

[FrancisXavier]

Originally Posted by Lastresorter

Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Barcelona by Antoni Gaudi.

this is my favorite. Hope to visit someday..

[Kaiser]

Originally Posted by erbsenzaehler

Joshua, thanks a lot for the great pics of the stunning reconstructed Frauenkirche in Dresden It's my new favourite (before it was Cologne Cathedral)
I'm excited about to see the rebuilded Neumarkt in Dresden

welcome, even though the pix are not mine
Frauenkirche is also my new favorite before was cologne and berliner dom

[Audiomuse]

In order (my favorite religious buildings)
P.S.-- I am not putting any pix. It laggs this thread down so much.

1Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
2Blue Mosque, Istanbul
3That big mosque in Mecca
4Sagrada Familia
5Westminster Abby

[Slartibartfas]

Originally Posted by boeing777

oh,you're very nice...........................

Did you respond to my post on the Pantheon?
If so, you seem to have misunderstood me.

Perhaps I elaborate.
The Pantheon has a huge cupola. The largest of its time. (Challenge me on this, if anywhere on the globe in the 1st century AD stood a building with a larger cupola show me. I never stop learning.) How did they approach to it? A massive stone cupola was not an option. The weight prevented that. Bricks would have been possible perhaps, but the Romans chose a different way. They chose a concrete cupola. Yes modern people might say: "How uncool!", I do not do so though.

This building the Pantheon, I dare to claim that was unreached until industrialization. And even for modern parameters, its still an exceptional building of outstanding quality. The concrete the Romans used was not very unlike to the modern one used today. 1900 years ago! And if you believe now that it was a weak imitation of modern concrete I have to disappoint you. This Roman concrete used in the cupola was superior to most concrete sorts used today.

Many quote the dome of Florence to have topped the Pantheon later on. But if you look at how it was constructed, you can see that in terms of the technology used the Pantheon remained superior even then. (The dome of Florence is a brick construction). Just show me any other Antique building that has not been topped in terms of technology until 19th century. Or show me another concrete building that survived 1900 years. Without a doubt the Pantheon belongs to the most significant constructions ever built.

Not enough with all of that, the Romans constructed the building in order to cause a venturi effect that causes automatic air circulation inside of the building.

And in case anyone dislikes the fact of how concrete looks like (I am not a real fan of nude concrete walls either), it might be very interesting to know that the whole concrete dome was originally gilded with bronze plates. A picture for gods, a dome of that size in bronze! Somehow some popes later on did not appreciate that appropriately and took of the massive amounts of bronze. Rumors say for making cannons (plundering a church for making cannons is even for a pope strong tobbaco, isn't it?). The church insists up today though that it was used for the Peters dome.

[DrasQue]

Originally Posted by macon4ever

In order (my favorite religious buildings)
P.S.-- I am not putting any pix. It laggs this thread down so much.

1Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
2Blue Mosque, Istanbul
3That big mosque in Mecca
4Sagrada Familia
5Westminster Abby

[Trek]

The Blue Mosque in İstanbul for sure

[Pax9]

It might look like the set of a horror movie the first time you see it, but this is actually real!

Sedlec Ossuary in Kostnice, Czech Republic... was inspired by the style of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome, but is far more grandiose in my opinion... I don't actually think this is the best religious building in the world, but I think it's worth a mention nonetheless!













According to wikipedia (therefore, almost completely unreliable!) there are said to have been approximately 40,000 human skeletons used to create what you see in the pics above.

[Dhakaiya]

I personally think that the Haram in Mecca is the greatest religious building. Just look at it, it seems it is bigger than the rest of Mecca City.

[Llinass]

V I L N I U S - St. Ana church

[kevinb]

Originally Posted by Pax9

It might look like the set of a horror movie the first time you see it, but this is actually real!

Sedlec Ossuary in Kostnice, Czech Republic... was inspired by the style of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome, but is far more grandiose in my opinion... I don't actually think this is the best religious building in the world, but I think it's worth a mention nonetheless!













According to wikipedia (therefore, almost completely unreliable!) there are said to have been approximately 40,000 human skeletons used to create what you see in the pics above.

Don't get me wrong, but it looks like a cult church to me. Or an indoor cemetery.

[JJFox]

Church am Steinhof, Vienna by Otto Wagner
Otto Wagner designed this church, which was built between 1905 and 1907, on the grounds of the Lower Austrian State Asylum, now the Psychatric Hospital of the City of Vienna. The copper-covered dome of this prime example of Viennese Art Nouveau architecture is visible from quite a distance, as the church stands high on the crest of the hill.
The interior design was adjusted to the requirements of the handicapped parishioners attending services here. The glass mosaics in the windows were designed by Kolo Moser.

[KoolKeatz]

the most impressive buildings ( i visited)

1. Kölner Dom (Cologne, Germany)


2. Sainte-Chapelle (Paris, France) A small church and a masterpiece of gothic architecture (who dont know that one knows nothing)


3. Notre Dame de Paris (Paris, France)


4. Ulmer Münster (Ulm, Germany) The tallest church of the world (162m)


my next holidays go to india. REALLY REALLY impressive buildings

[kaan]

Quite a few of Turkeys mosques have been covered here but none of it's churches. First the most impressive in my opinion (I believe someone already mentioned it. Kariye like the Hagia Sophia is a church/mosque/museum located in Istanbul:





























Now this church in Antakya (Antioch) isn't very spectacular in appearance, it is rather simple. But it is old. Very old. It was built around 40-50 AD. It's called St. Peters Grotto. It is the oldest surviving church in the world, and is commonly believed to be the first ever built.









These last pictures aren't actually one church but many scattered around Cappadocia. They were carved into the volcanic rock, by early Christians, who at the time were being persecuted by the romans:













I like old religious buildings. This is the Angkor Watt:







I was impressed by Sacre-Coeur when I was visiting Paris. The surrounding area is lovely too:



The Cathedral of Consumerism in Minnesota:



Ok so that last one was a joke. I also was impressed by the Kölner Dom, in Cologne. I've never actually been inside but I've seen it up close. It dominates the cities skyline.

[funkrush]

1. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
2. Blue Mosque, Istanbul
3. Kölner Dom, Köln

[Lastresorter]

Probably not the best, but still a very beautiful Chinese temple. Kek Lok Si Temple, Penang Malaysia.

[nebur]

México

[paw25694]

well how about this??
WORLD'S BIGGEST BUDDHIST MONUMENT,
BOROBUDUR TEMPLE


Hindu Temple Complex, Prambanan Temple

[globill]

Here are a few more from Chicago's Baha'i Temple

[ricasa25]

Montreal Notre Dame Church:

image hosted on flickr



image hosted on flickr



Sagrada Familia:

image hosted on flickr



image hosted on flickr

[Mahratta]

I would say

Meenakshi Temple
Golden Temple of Amritsar
Notre Dame (Montreal)
Baha'i Wilmette
Prambanan Temple