The Largest Church in the World is St. Peter’s Basilica. The church is also called New St. Peter’s Basilica, Occupies a large area of the World’s smallest independent country called the Vatican city. The church building project was started by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615 under Paul V.
It is designed as a three-aisled Latin cross with a dome at the crossing which is directly above the high altar. The crossing covers the shrine of St. Peter the Apostle. The interior of St. Peter’s is filled with several masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque art.
Among the great piece of art is the most famous Saint Statues on the Colonnades. 70 statues on both left and right making a total number of 140. Some others are Michelangelo’s Pietà, the baldachin by Bernini over the main altar, the statue of St. Longinus in the crossing, the tomb of Urban VIII, and the bronze cathedra of St. Peter in the apse.
The Church is believed to traditionally be located on the burial site of St. Peter and was consecrated in 1626. it can accommodate 20,000 worshippers, and it welcomes pilgrims from all over the World.
TOP 10 LARGEST CHURCHES IN THE WORLD 2021
A church is believed to be a holy place, a building used for public Christian worship. The major importance and meaning aren’t that of a building but of “people.” Since the Christians need to gather in one place to worship, they began to build churches to accommodate not just a handful of believers but many in their hundreds and thousands.
This are the top 10 Largest Churches in the World:
- Peter’s Basilica
- The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida
- Seville Cathedral
- Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
- Milan Cathedral
- Basilica of Our Lady of Lichen
- Liverpool Cathedral
- Church Of The Holy Trinity
- Basilica of Our Lady of Pillar
- ULM Minster
| Name | Area size (m2) | Country | Year Built | Denomination |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter’s Basilica | 15,160 | Vatican | 1506–1626 | Catholic (Latin) |
| Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida | 18,331 | Brazil | 1955–1980 | Catholic (Latin) |
| Milan Cathedral | 11,700 | Italy | 1386–1965 | Catholic (Ambrosian Rite) |
| Seville Cathedral | 11,520 | Spain | 1401–1528 | Catholic (Latin) |
| Cathedral of Saint John the Divine | 11,200 | United States | 1892–present | Anglican (Episcopal Church in the U.S.) |
| Basilica of Our Lady of Lichen | 10,090 | Poland | 1994–2004 | Catholic (Latin) |
| Liverpool Cathedral | 9,687 | United Kingdom | 1904–1978 | Anglican (Church of England) |
| Church Of The Holy Trinity | 8,700 | Portugal | 2000-2007 | Catholic (Latin) |
| Basilica of Our Lady of Pillar | 8,318 | Spain | 1681–1686 | Catholic (Latin) |
| ULM Minster | 8,260 | Germany | 1377–1890 | Protestant (Lutheran) |
1. St. Peter’s Basilica
- Location: Vatican City
- Land Area Covered: 15160 Square Meters
The largest on our list of Largest Church in the World occupying the first spot is the St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The Church occupies a large area of the World’s smallest independent state, the Vatican. St. Peter is believed to traditionally be located on the burial site of St. Peter and was consecrated in 1626. St. Peter can accommodate 20,000 worshippers, and it welcomes pilgrims from all over the World.
2. The Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida
- Location: Aperidica, Brazil
- Land Area Covered: 12000 Square Meters
Basilica of our lady of Aparecida is the second largest Church in the World. Located in the city of Brazil. This Church can accommodate almost 45000 people at a time. Construction began in 1834 to 1888. However, Basilica of our lady of Aparecida has been remodeled recently, adding a touch of the magnificent view, and this Church has towers of 102meters. In addition, the Church was originally designed to minister to the needs of its many pilgrims having a provision of parking area for 4,000 buses and 6,000 cars, including a medical center and shopping mall on the ground.
3. Milan Cathedral
- Location: Milan, Italy
- Land Area Covered: 11700 Square Meters
The construction of the Church started in 1386, and it took more than five centuries to finish the construction. It is marked as a remnant of one of the oldest Christian churches in Europe. Milan Cathedral has a height of 108.8 meters, and it is also mounted with a golden statue of the Virgin Mary. The internal church area is approximated to be 10186 square meters and can contain around 40,000 people at a time. This magnificent Cathedral comes the fifth Largest Church in the World.
4. Seville Cathedral
- Location: Seville, Spain
- Land Area Covered: 11520 Square Meters
The church building started in 1402 with the intention to replace an earlier church (converted from a mosque), which had been damaged in an earthquake in 1376. One of the notable edifices of this Church is the big altarpiece portraying scenes from the life of Christ. The tower is measured at 104 meters high, and the nave is 42 meters high. The cathedral was considered in 1987 as a World Heritage Site. In addition, the massive interior is fully decorated with gold. This Church is the tomb of Christopher Columbus.
5. Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
- Location: New York, United States
- Land Area Covered: 11200 Square Meters
Occupying the fourth spot on our list of the Largest Churches in the World is the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The Church has an internal area of 11,200 square meters and a length of 183.2 meters. The Church was designed in 1888, while construction began in 1892. Due to World War II, the project was paused but continued afterward even though the building is still not officially finished. All the main doors of Saint John the Divine were constructed from bronze. The large window made of 10000 pieces made from colored stained glass also adds to the beauty of the place, and it is also the fifth-largest window in the World. the church building has been redesigned several times and now has the Gothic style rather than the Byzantine-Romanesque style first planned.
6. Basilica of Our Lady of Lichen
- Location: Konin, Poland
- Land Area Covered: 10090 Square Meters
This Church is located in a small village, unlike the others that are found in the city. The Church has a nave, which is 120 meters long and 77 meters wide, and the dome is 98 meters high. The Church was built to memorialize a miracle which happened in 1813 when a Polish soldier fighting in Napoleon’s army was seriously wounded, and had a vision of the Virgin Mary. She promised him that he would recuperate and return to Poland, but he has to place an image of her in a public place. He commissioned the image when he arrived home, and it became an object of pilgrimage. The construction was paid for by pilgrims of the BasilicaBasilica, which began in 1994. The Church is the largest in Poland.
7. Liverpool Cathedral
- #Location: Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Land Area Covered: 9687 Square Meters
This massive building in Liverpool is the largest Church in Britain and the seventh Largest Church in the World. The Church has an internal area of 9687 square meters. This Church is measured at189 meters wide and 101 meters in height and was built in a period of 74 years (1904 to 1978), and it has the highest and heaviest peal. The Lady Chapel, which is the first part of the building to be completed, was blessed in 1910, while the cathedral itself was completed in 1978. The concluding phase of the building was marked by a ceremony which was attended by Queen Elizabeth II.
8. Church Of The Holy Trinity
- Location: Santarem, Portugal
- Land Area Covered: 8700 Square Meters
The Church of the Most Holy Trinity is the largest in Portugal and the Eight Largest Church in the World, occupying the Land area of 8700 sq. meter. The Church is BasilicaBasilica after it was remodeled, was built initially to accommodate pilgrims at the shrine. Pope John Paul II blessed the first stone of a new church, which was from a marble fragment of the Apostle Peter’s tomb, donated in 2004, and the new BasilicaBasilica was consecrated in 2007. The building, which has won awards for its state-of-the-art architecture, Church can accommodate a seated congregation of nearly 9,000 pilgrims and is designed to minister to the needs of disabled people.
9. Basilica of Our Lady of Pillar
- Location: Zaragoza, Spain
- Land Area Covered: 8318 Square Meters
The ninth Largest Church in the World is the Basilica of Our Lady of Pillar in Spain. The cathedral has an internal area of 8318 square meters and was built between 1681 and 1686 following the orders of King Charles II of Spain, and was later modernized in the Baroque style. The cathedral is about 130 meters long and 67 meters wide, it has large corner towers as well as ten brightly colored cupolas surrounding a central dome. Goya, the Spanish artist, painted the frescoes decorating two of the cathedral’s vaults, close to the Holy Chapel, which houses the statue of the Virgin Mary, which is around 15 inches, situated in the sacred house of prayer of the Church.
10. Ulm Minster
- Location: Ulm, Germany
- Land Area covered: 8260 Square Meters
Last on our list of Largest Churches in the World is the Church is the ULM Minster in Germany constructed to be about161.5m long. It was intentionally constructed this tall to symbolize a gesture of the way to heaven. The Church is considered the tallest Church in the World. The interior of the Church is measured at 8260 square meters, and a total of 768 steps, there comes the top of this Church and a magnificent view of Ulm city. The Church took about 500 years to be built. The construction started in 1377 and was finally completed in 1890.
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CONCLUSION
There you can see the Top 10 Largest Churches in the World. one would have expected the modern churches, especially the Pentecostals, to fill this list, but amazingly, all of these churches are orthodox churches that were built over a hundred years ago and are still standing with beautiful and upgraded designs. In fact, most of these churches are still active to date as they are visited by thousands of visitors, pilgrims, and tourists yearly.