5. St. Mary's Basilica - Kraków, Poland.
Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven generally known as St. Mary's Church, is a Brick Gothic church re-built in the 14th century (originally built during the early 13th century) located in Kraków, Poland. Standing up 80 m (262 ft) high, it is notably prominent for its wooden altarpiece carved by Veit Stoss. The church was destroyed at the time of the Mongol invasion of Poland. Between 1290–1300 the new early Gothic church was build on the remaining foundations. It was consecrated twenty years later, in 1320. The church was thoroughly rebuilt under the reign of Casimir III the Great between 1355 and 1365. Each hour, a trumpet signal called the Hejnał mariacki is performed from the top of the taller of St. Mary's two towers. The plaintive tune breaks off in mid-stream, to remember the popular 13th century trumpeter, who was shot in the throat while signaling the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city.
4. St. Peter’s Basilica - Rome
St. Peter's Basilica is a Late Renaissance church found within Vatican City. Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is considered the most famous work of Renaissance architecture and continues to be amongst the largest churches in the world. The location of St. Peter's Basilica is greatly symbolic because this is the site where Saint Peter, the chief apostle, died a martyr and exactly where he was buried in 64 AD. St. Peter is considered the very first pope, so it made perfect sense for the papacy to put up the principal shrine of the Catholic church here.
St. Peter's is well known as a site of pilgrimage, for its liturgical services. Due to its location in the Vatican, the Pope presides several services throughout the year, attracting audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, both within the Vatican Basilica, or in St. Peter's Square. St. Peter's carries many strong historical connections, with the Early Christian church, the papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Counter-reformation, and with a number of artists, most substantially Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest construction of its age. Furthermore, St. Peter's is amongst the four churches of Rome that hold the rank of Major Basilica.
3. Cathedral Notre-Dame - Paris, France.
Also known as Notre-Dame de Paris, Cathedral Notre-Dame broadly considered to be one of the greatest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most popular church buildings across the world. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are actually in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. The Notre Dame Cathedral was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic time period. Its sculptures and stained glass demonstrate the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.
The cathedral was initiated by Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, who about 1160 conceived the idea of transforming into a single building, on a larger scale, the ruins of the two previous basilicas. The foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163, and the high altar was consecrated in 1189. The choir, the western facade, and the nave were finished by 1250, and porches, chapels, as well as other embellishments were applied over the next 100 years. The cathedral experienced desecration at the time of the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, while the majority of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. During the 19th century, a huge restoration job was finished, returning the cathedral to its previous state.
2. La Sagrada Familia - Barcelona, Spain.
Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, better known as La Sagrada Família, is a massive Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). The design of La Sagrada Família is variously likened to Spanish Late Gothic, Catalan Modernism and to Art Nouveau. Construction of Sagrada Família had started in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, overtaking the project and changing it with his architectural and engineering style. Gaudí dedicated his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926 lesser than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família's development moved slowly, because it relied on individual donations and was affected by the Spanish Civil War, only to continue intermittent improvement in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with several of the project's most significant challenges remaining with an estimated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.
La Sagrada Família is UNESCO World Heritage Site, as testifying "to Gaudí’s remarkable innovative involvement to the development of architecture and building technology", and also "anticipated and influenced a lot of the styles and skills which were relevant to the development of modern construction in the 20th century".
1. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood - St. Petersburg, Russia
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood also referred to as the Church on Spilt Blood and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, is located in St. Petersburg, Russia. This magnificent Russian-style church construction started out in 1883 under Alexander III, on the spot where his father Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in March 1881. The development of the church was almost entirely funded by the Imperial family and thousands of personal donators, designed and created by the most prominent Russian artists of the day V.M. Vasnetsov, M.V. Nesterov and M.A. Vrubel. Surprisingly, in spite of the church’s very undoubtedly Russian characteristic, the main architect, A. Parland, was not even Russian by birth.
Architecturally, the Cathedral is different from St. Petersburg's other architectural structures. The city's building design is predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical, however the Savior on Blood harks back to middle ages Russian architecture in the spirit of romantic nationalism. Either the interior and exterior of the church is ornamented with over 7500 square metres of incredibly meticulous mosaics—according to its restorers, more than any other church in the world.
The church was closed for services in the 1930s, when the Bolsheviks took an offensive against religious beliefs and destroyed churches in the entire country. It remained closed and under restoration for over 30 years and was finally re-opened in 1997 in all its stunning past glory. Moreover the view of the church from St. Petersburg’s main avenue is absolutely breathtaking.
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