List of tallest church buildings

This list of tallest church buildings ranks church buildings by height. From the Middle Ages until the advent of the skyscraper, Christian church buildings were often the world's tallest buildings. From 1311, when the spire of Lincoln Cathedral surpassed the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza, until the Washington Monument was completed in 1884, a succession of church buildings held this title.

The tallest church building in the world is the Ulm Minster (161.5 m), the main Lutheran congregation in Ulm, Germany. The tallest Catholic, as well as the tallest domed church building, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (158 m) in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast. The tallest church building with two steeples as well as the tallest cathedral is Cologne Cathedral (157.4 m) in Cologne, Germany. The tallest Eastern Orthodox, as well as the tallest domed cathedral, will be People's Salvation Cathedral (now 120 m; 127 m when completed) in Bucharest, Romania. The tallest brickwork church building is St Martin's Church (130.6 m) in Landshut, Germany, while the tallest brickwork church building with two steeples is St Mary's Church (125 m) in Lübeck, Germany. The tallest wooden church building is Săpânța-Peri Monastery church (78 m) in Săpânța, Romania. The tallest church building in the Americas is the Cathedral of Maringá (124 m) in Maringá, Brazil. If completed, the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain, will be the tallest church building in the world, at 172.5 metres (566 ft).

The cities with the most churches surpassing 99 metres (325 feet) are Hamburg (5 of the 29 tallest churches), Lübeck (4 of the 56 tallest churches, two of which with twin towers → 6 towers overall), Vienna (2), Tallinn (2), St. Petersburg (2), New York City (2), Dortmund (2) and Stralsund (2), and the cities with the most churches surpassing 75 metres (246 feet) are Berlin (16), Hamburg (9), Paris (8), Dresden (8), Vienna (7), Stockholm (7) and Munich (7), while in the Americas it is New York City (4).

Constructed

Church buildings ≥ 99 m (325 ft)

This list does not include church buildings that incorporate a significant portion of space to non-church uses, such as the Chicago Temple Building. It does not include structures from non-Christian religions.

Overview - church buildings ≥ 99 m (325 ft) - country and city list

Timeline - the tallest church buildings of their time

Church buildings ≥ 75 m (246 ft) < 99 m (325 ft)

Note: The church buildings are ordered based on their tallest recorded height in history. Those listed in italics and marked with H (for "historical") are church buildings no longer in existence (suffix D) or no longer as tall as their previous maximum height (suffix >99 if height today > 99 metres, suffix >75 if height today > 75 metres and suffix <75 if height today below 75 metres). These church buildings may appear a second time on the list if their current shorter height is still greater than 75 metres (3,000 inches). In order to view the tallest present churches in a row click the sorting button in the H column.

Under construction

Historic (church buildings that have since been reduced in size)

Auxiliary list

This list completely follows the pattern of the main list (≥ 99 m). Church buildings are placed here that have been removed from the main list because the data about them is disputed or contradictory, or there is no information about the respective church building anywhere on the Internet. The purpose of this list is to preserve the work and efforts of the authors who have included some church buildings with a disputed place in the main list. In this way their work is preserved, and if it is proved that the excluded church buildings have a place in the main list, they can easily be restored to it (since the present list follows the pattern of the main list completely).

See also

• List of tallest Orthodox church buildings
• List of tallest domes
• List of largest church buildings
• List of highest church naves
• List of tallest crosses
• List of tallest mosques
• List of towers
• List of tallest church buildings in the United Kingdom

References

History of St. Anthony's Parish, Toledo, Ohio, Anno Domini 1957, F.S. Legowski NRHP certification #71000424

Notes