LIST OF LARGEST CHURCHES IN THE WORLD

(Redirected from List of largest cathedrals in the world)
There are a number of factors to be considered in determining which churches are the largest - total square footage, cubic footage, seating capacity, surface area, height, and others. There are also important distinctions in terminology at play here. Denomination is important to note, as Catholics do not recognize protestant communities as being legitimate. Therefore, to Catholics, Episcopal church structures are not "churches" strictly speaking. This distinction leads some writing from the Catholic perspective to not mention this and only consider Catholic churches. Also important is the distinction between ''church'' and ''cathedral''. It is best to think of these as being sets. Churches, or more clearly ''church structures'', are any purpose built building that houses Christian worship services. Cathedrals are the seat (literally the location of the Bishop's cathedra) of a diocese; they are a subset of the set of churches. So as to neutralize the terminology churches will be referred to as ''church structures''.

'Area in m²'	'Volume in m³'	'Name'	'Completion'	'City'	'Country'	'Comment'
30,000[1]	TK	Basilica of Our Lady of Peace	1989	Yamoussoukro	Ivory Coast	largest church in the world; world's tallest domed church, the dome being lower but the cross taller than that of St Peter's, Rome; tallest Roman Catholic church in the world; tallest church in Africa
21,000	1,200,000[1]	St. Peter's Basilica	1506-1626	Vatican City	Vatican City	largest church in the world until 1989; tallest dome in the world (excluding the cross on top); tallest Renaissance structure in the world
11,200	480,000 [2]	Cathedral of St. John the Divine	ongoing	New York	United States
11,000 [2] to 12,000 [3]	TK	Cathedral	1196	Seville	Spain	largest Catholic cathedral in the world
9,400	TK	Anglican Cathedral	1978	Liverpool	England	largest non-Roman Catholic church & cathedral in Europe
8,600	TK	Duomo	1858	Milan	Italy
7,914	407,000 [4]	Cathedral	1248-1880	Cologne	Germany
7,875 [5]	?	St Paul's Cathedral	?	London	United Kingdom
7,700 [6]	?	Amiens Cathedral	?	Amiens	France
7,400	TK	Hagia Sophia	537	Istanbul	Turkey	one-time largest church in the world, now a museum
TK	TK	Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral	1813	Mexico City	Mexico
TK	TK	Washington National Cathedral	1990	Washington, DC	United States

'Others (unsorted)'
:8. Cathedral of Chartres
:9. Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
:10. Lincoln Cathedral
:11. Riga Cathedral (largest in the Baltic)
:13. Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp 4966 square metres [7]

Contents

See also

Notes

See also

★ List of tallest churches in the world

★ List of highest church naves

★ List of largest buildings in the world

Notes

1. Ellis, Edward Robb. ''The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History'' pg. 413
2. Ellis, Edward Robb ''The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History'' pg. 413