Neue Synagogue dates back to the mid-19th century but bears the scars of more recent history. The Moorish-style building was among the synagogues set ablaze across Germany on 9 November 1938 (Kristallnacht or the November Pogrom), saved only because the local police chief argued it was a historical building. It was all but destroyed by bombing in the Second World War, with its golden domes and intricate façade restored in 1995. Today the building has a prayer room and, while it hasn’t been officially rededicated as a synagogue, is an important centre for Jewish communities in Berlin.
This magnificent Byzantine monument was built in the 6th century as a Christian cathedral and has played a role as a place of worship for different religions over the centuries. It became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century and remained so until 1934, when it was designated a museum. But since summer 2020, the Hagia Sophia is officially a mosque again. Its domes, walls and minarets bear witness to its complex history with Islamic inscriptions and Christian mosaics.
Gazing out to shores of Lake Michigan and surrounded by manicured, petal-shaped gardens, each with a fountain, this temple just outside Chicago is the only in the US dedicated to the Baha’i faith and one of just seven worldwide. The alabaster-hued structure, made with quartz and cement, was built in the 1920s with a dome intricately carved like lace. The Baha’i faith is built on the unity of all mankind and, as such, all faiths are welcomed. There are no official leaders or clergy, with readings made by local community members.
Prague is home to several stunning synagogues including this beauty in the heart of the Jewish Quarter. The Spanish Synagogue, built in 1868, is so-named due to its Moorish-Andalusian interior: a dazzling display of gilded touches, balustrades, intricate mosaics, carvings and stained glass. The butter-yellow building sits on the site of the Old School, the city’s oldest Jewish place of worship, and was neglected under Nazi and Communist rule until it was revived, restored and eventually reopened by the Jewish Museum in the latter half of the 19th century.
This Zen Buddhist temple is officially named Rokuon-ji, though it’s obvious how it earned its more popular moniker Kinkaku-ji, meaning ‘Golden Temple’. Its warm golden glow adds to its otherworldly beauty, as does its position at the edge of a mirror pond, giving the tiered structure the appearance of floating on the water. It was built as rather opulent retirement villa for shogun (military dictator) Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in 1397 and became a temple following his death in 1408.
Each of the 11 rose-hued rock churches of Lalibela seems like an impossible marvel, carved into living rock as part of King Lalibela’s quest to create a New Jerusalem in the 12th century. Bete Giyorgis, or the Church of Saint George, is the most striking of all: a monolithic, cross-shaped structure chiselled straight into the ground and accessed via tunnels and stairwells. The king claimed he carved the churches with only the angels to help him, though it’s more likely he used thousands of slaves.
This elegant, Venetian-Renaissance-style church has a touching backstory. Henry Flagler, founder of Standard Oil and the Florida East Coast Railway, had the Memorial Presbyterian Church built in 1889 as a monument to his daughter, Jenny Louise Benedict, who died due to complications when giving birth. And it’s a suitably thoughtful memorial, with wood-carved walls, stained glass and a cornflower-blue domed ceiling. Flagler and his family, including Jenny Louise, are entombed in the church.
Basilica San Marco, or St Mark’s Church, is the most recognisable building in Venice and one of the most famous – and opulently designed – cathedrals in the world. It was founded in the 9th century and was rebuilt in 932 after being destroyed by fire. Its Byzantine architecture dominates Piazza San Marco with a head-spinning display of domes, niches, floral decorations and incredibly detailed reliefs depicting biblical scenes. The interior is also a dazzler with gold-leaf mosaics, statues and various examples of rare marble.
Ottawa’s oldest and largest church had humble beginnings: the first structure here was a small wooden church, built in 1832. The rather grander current building was finished in 1885 and, while quite striking, it’s the inside that really wows. Gilded details and shades of sapphire and Tiffany blue give it the feel of a beautiful jewellery box, while carved reliefs, statues and gleaming stained-glass windows add to the opulence.
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This unique mosque appears to have risen, in all its intricate perfection, from the Sahara Desert like a magnificent miracle. The truth is that the world’s largest mud-built structure is a complex architectural achievement that has been expanded upon, embellished, ruined and restored since it was first erected, thought to be in the 13th century. Its minarets are topped with ostrich eggs, which symbolise fertility and purity, and the building is shot through with distinctive wooden beams that act as scaffolding during the annual Crepissage de la Grand Mosquée (‘plastering of the Great Mosque’).
The Lotus Temple is named for its design: the marble, glass and steel structure resembles delicately unfolding petals while, from above, it looks like the prettiest bud about to burst into life. The Baháʼí faith temple was designed by Iranian architect Fariborz Sahba and has attracted worldwide acclaim since it opened in 1986. Its nine-sided construction – with nine pools to match – reflects a Baháʼí belief that the number has mythical properties.
This Roman Catholic cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Sydney and is suitably grand, inside and out. Construction on the elegant, Gothic-Revival church, made with locally sourced sandstone, began in 1868 but took several decades to build, with the final sections completed in 1928. The inside, with tall stained-glass windows, vaulted ceilings and a crypt with beautiful terrazzo mosaic floor, is gorgeous too.
This stark grey temple, whose Neo-Gothic spires loom loftily above a reflecting pond, is a famous Salt Lake City landmark that’s been a familiar part of the skyline since it was dedicated in 1893. Yet few get to see the inside because only Mormons who have been recommended to the temple can enter. It dominates Temple Square, home to the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints plus monuments, gardens and history exhibits related to the religion.
In a city that oozes history from every building and cobblestone, St Louis Cathedral is perhaps the most iconic landmark of all. The church has been on the site overlooking Jackson Square since 1727 and was extensively rebuilt in the 1850s, making it the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous operation in the US. With its gleaming white façade and perfect spires that resemble a Disney castle, it’s one of the city’s most recognisable buildings.
If there’s a more famous ceiling in the world, we can’t think of it. The exterior of the 13th-century Sistine Chapel, part of the Pope’s official residence, isn’t much to look at. But the interior, plastered with intricately detailed frescoes including the ceiling painted by Michelangelo, is dizzyingly beautiful. The artist painstakingly depicted passages from the Old Testament between 1508 and 1512, and was commissioned to create several other frescoes in the following few decades, turning the chapel into a glorious gallery.
The most striking feature of this Catholic church is its setting: the grey stone structure spans a forested gorge 150 feet (46m) above a river. Its story is one of miracles and determination, beginning in 1754 when a mother and daughter, sheltering from a storm, saw an image of the Virgin Mary in the rocks. According to the story, the daughter was cured of her muteness and deafness. After hearing of the miracle, a blind man spent 10 years collecting funds to build a chapel in the spot – and his sight returned. Inspired by these marvels, the vertiginous chapel was finally built between 1916 and 1949.
There’s nothing ordinary about this temple just outside Datong in China’s Shanxi province. Firstly, it caters to three different religions, with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism all practiced here and carvings and statues dedicated to each found throughout the pagoda-like structures. Oh, and it clings to the side of Hengshan mountain, hence the ‘hanging’ part of its name. It’s believed to have been built by monk Liao Ran during the late Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534) and is held in place by poles set into the cliff face.
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St Basil's Cathedral is filled with chandeliers, frescoes, carvings and priceless paintings – yet its contents is overshadowed by the crazily colourful outside. The Red Square icon, officially named the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, was built in the mid-16th century and is as bold, ornate and appetising as a row of ice cream sundaes with sprinkles and cherries on top. It was confiscated from the Russian Orthodox Church and secularised in 1929 as part of the Soviet Union's doctrine of state atheism, though services have since been restored.
It would be tricky to pinpoint the most beautiful aspect of Abu Dhabi’s spectacular mosque, completed in 2007. It might be the piercingly tall minarets, or the 80 marble domes that form the roof. Perhaps it’s the gold-topped pillars or the sheer amount of pure white marble that makes up the modern Islamic masterpiece. It could equally be the chandeliers that shimmer in the main prayer hall, or the detailed floral designs laid into the floor. All of this together, though, places it among the most beautiful buildings in the world.
Wat Pho is known as the ‘Temple of the reclining Buddha’ because it is indeed home to a horizontal golden Buddha that, at an enormous 151 by 49 feet (46 by 15m), threatens to burst out of its pavilion home. The sprawling site is dotted with intricately carved, colourful stupas – commemorative monuments – and pavilions, two of which are usually used for the ancient practice of Thai massage.
Seville Cathedral is the world’s largest Gothic cathedral and one of the world’s biggest churches overall. While its sheer size does amplify the sense of majesty, it would still be a spectacular sight at one-tenth or even a hundredth of the size. Next to the Alcázar palace complex, it was constructed between 1434 and 1517 on the remains of what was the city’s main mosque and the original minaret forms part of the bell tower, the Giralda.
Iran’s famously beautiful mosque has a starry quality about it. That is, every inch of its surface is so detailed and dazzling it seems to pack in a sky’s worth of constellations. The early 17th-century masterpiece, built as a private place of worship for Shah Abbas I and the women of his court, apparently took around 20 years to complete. Its array of mosaics, in hues from turquoise, navy and purple to ochre, green and gold, is mind-boggling, while the dome’s delicate tiles appear to change colour in different lights.
It’s hard to imagine the patience and dedication required to create a place of worship with such an extraordinary level of detail. Meenakshi Amman Temple is famous for its towers, each of which is encrusted with thousands of tiny, colourful stone statues of gods, demons and animals. The temple was originally built by Tamil Hindus native to southeastern India, with the first known mention in the 7th century. It was destroyed by Islamic conquerors in 1310 and rebuilt 250 years later.
The 8th-century Al-Aqsa Mosque is among the holiest sites in Islam and lies within the Old City of Jerusalem. While its beauty, from its soft silver dome to the honey-hued rock walls, is undeniable, the mosque is an ongoing source of dispute between Israel and Palestine. It sits within Temple Mount (as it’s known to the Jewish population) or Noble Sanctuary (the Muslim name), one of the most contested pieces of territory.
The ‘temple on a glass cliff’, completed in 2004, perches high on a peak in northern Thailand’s Khao Kho district and is one of the country’s most striking structures. The design is unique, with porcelain-white Buddhas nestled together in decreasing sizes making up the main temple. The pagoda, shaped like a lotus flower, is set over five floors with a glass sculpture in the centre, while the site is embellished with millions of mosaic tiles and pottery shards.
The colour palette of northern Europe’s first purpose-built mosque in Woking, a little outside London, is instantly captivating. Greens from spearmint to teal and turquoise pop against the bright white. It was designed in 1889 as the centrepiece of the Oriental Institute created by Dr Leitner, a linguist who was born to Jewish parents in Hungary and converted to Islam after working in British-ruled India. Its gleaming beauty, and especially the prevalence of the dome, heavily influenced the design of later mosques.
A beguiling combination of alabaster white walls, soft cornflower blue details and gilded domes puts this Russian Orthodox cathedral firmly among the world’s most gorgeous. It was built in 1879 on the site of the city’s military hospital but was closed for worship in the 1930s as part of a Soviet anti-religion campaign. It reopened after the Second World War and is now the main Orthodox Church in Uzbekistan’s capital.
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The charcoal-brick façade of St Patrick’s Cathedral is striking enough but it’s the interior, with vaulted ceilings, floor mosaics and tall stained-glass windows, that really dazzles. The Gothic-Revival cathedral, built between 1858 and 1940, is Australia’s tallest and biggest church and was designated a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1974. In the daytime, sunshine pours through the arched windows and floods the church with light, rendering it even more gorgeous.
Morocco’s largest mosque is dreamily beautiful, from its tiled courtyards and porticoes to its towering minaret, which claims to be the world’s tallest at 656 feet (200m). The exterior is embellished with green mosaics, imbuing the Moorish-style building with a delicate beauty that belies its hardiness: the mosque was built to withstand earthquakes. It sits on the edge of the Atlantic shoreline, looking like the world’s most elegant lighthouse.
This central London landmark is an ethereal beauty inside and out, and in every light. But there’s something about the way it looms into view from the Millennium Bridge that spans the River Thames that really puts its hundreds of years of history into context. The current building dates back to 1675, after the Great Fire of London razed the previous cathedral, but the location has been a place of worship for millennia. In more recent history, St Paul’s was the location of Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral and Prince Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana Spencer.
This colourful structure, located just outside of Kazan in southwestern Russia, is one of the most unusual places of worship in the world. Built by late artist Ildar Khanov over the last two decades, the Temple of All Religions incorporates architectural elements from a multitude of religious buildings, including a Jewish synagogue, a Chinese pagoda and an Orthodox church. The brightly coloured building has stained-glass windows while inside vivid mosaics, figurines and murals are dedicated to the saints of every religion.