List of largest church buildings

Churches can be measured and compared in several ways. These include area, volume, length, width, height, or capacity. Several churches individually claim to be "the largest church", which may be due to any one of these criteria.

St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City is the largest church in the world.^[1]

Criteria for inclusion

• The reason the edifice was built was for Christian religious services (see Church (building) for more detail)
  • Entries are included even if they currently do not function as a church. For example, the Hagia Sophia is included; it was originally built as a church but currently operates as a mosque.^[a]
  • Buildings that were not originally constructed as churches are generally not included; for example, the Lakewood Church building, which was initially built as the Compaq Center. An exception is made for buildings that have been substantially modified for use as a church; for example, the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba.
• The building must still be standing.
• The building has a known floor area of more than 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft).
  • Internal floor area is measured to the internal face of the external walls.
  • External floor area is measured to the external face of the external walls.
  • A reliable source is present that states the building's area.
• Not a shrine, tabernacle, temple, or any other structure that functions separately from a church.

List

  Converted buildings included due to substantial transformation into churches

Name	Area (m2)		Gross volume (m3)	Capacity	Built	City	Country	Denomination	Notes
	Interior	Exterior
St. Peter's Basilica	15,160[2]	21,095[2]	1,600,000[3]	60,000 standing, or 20,000 seated[4][5]	1506–1626	Vatican City	Vatican City	Catholic (Latin)	Largest church in the world.[1]
Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba	13,000[6]	23,400[7][b]		40,000 standing.[8]	785–1607	Spain	Spain	Catholic (Latin)	Much of its original mosque architecture has been preserved, and it serves as the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Córdoba.[9][10]
Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady Aparecida	12,000[11][12]	18,331[13]	1,200,000[14]	45,000 standing, or 30,000 seated[15][16]	1955–1980	Aparecida	Brazil	Catholic (Latin)	Largest cathedral by volume.[17][18][19][20]
Seville Cathedral	11,520+[c][3][21]	23,500[22][b]		80,000 standing, or 20,000 seated[23][24]	1401–1528	Seville	Spain	Catholic (Latin)	Largest church by total exterior area and the largest Gothic cathedral.[25][26][27] Originally built as a mosque, it was later converted into a Catholic cathedral.[28][29]
Milan Cathedral	10.186[30] – 11.700[31]	12,000[32]	440,000[33]	40,000	1386–1965	Milan	Italy	Catholic (Latin)
Cathedral of St. John the Divine	11,241[34]		480,000[35]	8,600	1892–present	New York City	United States	Anglican (Episcopal Church in the U.S.)	Unfinished.
Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń	10,090[citation needed]		300,000[36]	7,000[37]	1994–2004	Licheń Stary	Poland	Catholic (Latin)	9,240 m2[36] or 10,090 m2
Liverpool Cathedral	9,687[38]		450,000 +	3,500	1904–1978	Liverpool	United Kingdom	Anglican (Church of England)
Basilica of the Holy Trinity	8,700[39]		130,000	9,000	2004–2007	Fátima	Portugal	Catholic (Latin)	Area given as 12,000 m2[14]
Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls	8,515[citation needed]				4th–5th century; rebuilt 1825–1929	Rome	Italy	Catholic (Latin)
People's Salvation Cathedral	8,400[40][41]	13,668.55[42]	478,857[42]	7,000[42]	2010–2025 (estimated) Consecrated 2018.	Bucharest	Romania	Eastern Orthodox (Romanian)	Tallest and largest (by volume) Orthodox church building in the world.[43][44]
Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar	8,318[45]				1681–1872	Saragossa	Spain	Catholic (Latin)
Florence Cathedral	8,300[citation needed]				1296–1436	Florence	Italy	Catholic (Latin)
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe	8,167[citation needed]			10,000	1974–1976	Mexico City	Mexico	Catholic (Latin)	Circular base of 102 m in diameter[46]
Cathedral of Our Lady	8,000[47]				1352–1521	Antwerp	Belgium	Catholic (Latin)
Rio de Janeiro Cathedral	8,000[48]			20,000[48]	1964–1976	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Catholic (Latin)
Basilica of the Sacred Heart	8,000[citation needed]				1905–1970	Koekelberg (Brussels)	Belgium	Catholic (Latin)
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace	7,989	30,000[49]		18,000[50]	1985–1989	Yamoussoukro	Ivory Coast	Catholic (Latin)	Largest Catholic church by exterior area. Exterior area includes rectory and a villa.
Hagia Sophia	7,960[citation needed]		255,800[51]		532–537	Istanbul	Turkey	Eastern Orthodox (Greek)	Byzantine church constructed in 537; converted to a mosque.
San Petronio Basilica	7,920[citation needed]		258,000	28,000	1390–1479	Bologna	Italy	Catholic (Latin)
Cologne Cathedral	7,914[citation needed]		407,000[52]		1248–1880	Cologne	Germany	Catholic (Latin)
St Paul's Cathedral	7,875[53]				1677–1708	London	United Kingdom	Anglican (Church of England)
Washington National Cathedral	7,712[54]				1907–1990	Washington, DC	United States	Anglican (Episcopal Church in the U.S.)
Amiens Cathedral	7,700[55]		200,000 (interior only)		1220–1270	Amiens	France	Catholic (Latin)	Gross volume slightly below 400,000[citation needed]
Abbey of Santa Giustina	7,700[citation needed]				1501–1606[56]	Padua	Italy	Catholic (Latin)
Cathedral of the Nativity	7,500[57]		135,000[58]	8,200	2017–2019	Cairo	Egypt	Oriental Orthodox (Coptic)	Largest Oriental Orthodox church in the world
Yoido Full Gospel	7,450 (estimated)	44,000+		12,000	1973	Seoul	South Korea	Protestant (Pentecostal)	Largest Pentecostal church
St. Vitus Cathedral	7,440[citation needed]				1344–1929	Prague	Czech Republic	Catholic (Latin)
Basilica of the Immaculate Conception	7,097[59]	10,234		10,000	1920–2017	Washington, DC	United States	Catholic (Latin)	Interior area only for the upper church / upper floor.[59]
Cathedral of La Plata	6,968[citation needed]				1884–1932	La Plata	Argentina	Catholic (Latin)	Largest church in Argentina[citation needed]
Saint Joseph's Oratory	6,825[citation needed]				1904–1967	Montreal	Canada	Catholic (Latin)	The largest church in Canada
Shrine of St. Paulina	6,740[60]	9,000[60]		6,000[61]	2003–2006	Nova Trento	Brazil	Catholic (Latin)
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral	6,732[citation needed]				1573–1813	Mexico City	Mexico	Catholic (Latin)
Chartres Cathedral	6,700[citation needed]	10,875[citation needed]			1145–1220	Chartres	France	Catholic (Latin)
Berlin Cathedral	6,270[62]			2,000+	1451–1905	Berlin	Germany	Protestant (Lutheran)	116 meters high & 73 meters wide; city landmark.
Cathedral of Saint Paul (Minnesota)		6,200 (estimated)[63]			1906–1915	St Paul, Minnesota	United States	Catholic (Latin)
Immaculata Church	6,169[64]			1,580[64]	2020-2023	St. Marys, Kansas	United States	Catholic (Latin)	The largest SSPX Catholic church in the world
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels	6,038[citation needed]				1998–2002	Los Angeles	United States	Catholic (Latin)
De Hoeksteen	6,020[65]		43,300	2,531	2007–2008	Barneveld	Netherlands	Protestant (Calvinist)
Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church	6,000[citation needed]			6,500	1991–2004	San Giovanni Rotondo	Italy	Catholic (Latin)	Vaulted church holding 6,500 seats[citation needed]
Ulm Minster	5,950[citation needed]		190,000	2,000	1377–1890	Ulm	Germany	Protestant (Lutheran)	Tallest church in the world[66]
York Minster	5,927[67]				1230–1472	York	United Kingdom	Anglican (Church of England)	Largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.
Bourges Cathedral	5,900[citation needed]	6,200[citation needed]			1195–1230	Bourges	France	Catholic (Latin)
Reims Cathedral	5,800[citation needed]	6,650[citation needed]			1211–1275	Reims	France	Catholic (Latin)	The longest church in France at 149.17m[citation needed]
São Paulo Cathedral	5,700[68]			8,000[69]	1913–1954	São Paulo	Brazil	Catholic (Latin)
Esztergom Basilica	5,660[citation needed]				1822–1869	Esztergom	Hungary	Catholic (Latin)
Diocesan Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe	5,414.58[citation needed]				1898–2008	Zamora, Michoacán	Mexico	Catholic (Latin)	Co-cathedral church of the diocese of Zamora.
Basilica de la Sagrada Familia	5,400[citation needed]			9,000	1882–present	Barcelona	Spain	Catholic (Latin)	Unfinished; expected complete sometime after 2026.[70]
Strasbourg Cathedral	5,300[citation needed]	6,044			1015–1439	Strasbourg	France	Catholic (Latin)	World's tallest building from 1647 to 1874[citation needed]
Primate Cathedral of Bogotá	5,300[citation needed]				1807–1823	Bogotá	Colombia	Catholic (Latin)	Largest church in Colombia
Palma Cathedral	5,200[citation needed]		160,000 (interior)		1220–1346	Palma, Majorca	Spain	Catholic (Latin)
New Cathedral, Linz	5,170[citation needed]			20,000[71]	1862–1924	Linz	Austria	Catholic (Latin)
Speyer Cathedral	5,038				1030–1103	Speyer	Germany	Catholic (Latin)	Added to the UNESCO World Heritage List
Provo ward conference center	5,038[72]				2012	Provo, Utah	United States	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	[73]
Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima	5,020[74]				1535–1797	Lima	Peru	Catholic (Latin)	Largest church in Peru
Westminster Cathedral	5,017[citation needed]			2,000	1895–1910	London	United Kingdom	Catholic (Latin)	Largest Roman Catholic Church in the UK.
Medak Cathedral	5,000[75]				1914–1926	Medak	India	Protestant (Church of South India)
Morning Star Church; under the collective churches of Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health	5,574			10,000 seated inside, 40,000 seated outside	2013	Velankanni, Tamil Nadu	India	Catholic (Latin)	The church has been built without pillars. It is ranked among the largest Christian worship places in Asia.
Lincoln Cathedral	5,000 (estimated)[76]				1185–1311	Lincoln, England	United Kingdom	Anglican (Church of England)
St. Mary's Church	5,000[citation needed]		155,000[77]		1343–1502	Gdańsk	Poland	Catholic (Latin)	Largest brick church in the world
Holy Trinity Cathedral	5,000[citation needed]		137,000[citation needed]		1995–2004	Tbilisi	Georgia	Eastern Orthodox (Georgian)
Winchester Cathedral	4,968[78]				1079–1525	Winchester	United Kingdom	Anglican (Church of England)	The longest Gothic cathedral in Europe[79]
Notre Dame de Paris	4,800[citation needed]	5,500		9,000	1163–1345; 2019–present (reconstruction)	Paris	France	Catholic (Latin)
Almudena Cathedral	4,800[citation needed]				1883–1993	Madrid	Spain	Catholic (Latin)	It has a north–south orientation instead of east–west.
Dresden Cathedral	4,800[citation needed]				1739–1755	Dresden	Germany	Catholic (Latin)	Largest church in all of Saxony[citation needed]
Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa	4,608				1540–1656	Arequipa	Peru	Catholic (Latin)
Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral	4,500				1748–1906	Santiago de Chile	Chile	Catholic (Latin)
Basilica of St. Thérèse, Lisieux	4,500[citation needed]				1929–1954	Lisieux	France	Catholic (Latin)
Basilica de San Martin de Tours (Taal)	4,320[80]				1856–1878	Taal, Batangas	Philippines	Catholic (Latin)	Largest Catholic church in Asia
Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire	4,273[81]				1083–1375	Ely	United Kingdom	Anglican (Church of England)
Frauenkirche	4,188[citation needed]		185,000–190,000[82]		1468–1525	Munich	Germany	Catholic (Latin)
Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart	4,181[83]			2,000[83]	1898–1954	Newark, New Jersey	United States	Catholic (Latin)
Se Cathedral	4,180				1619–1640	Goa, India	India	Catholic (Latin)
St. Stephen's Basilica	4,147				1851–1906	Budapest	Hungary	Catholic (Latin)
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (St. Louis)	4,130[citation needed]				1907–1914	St. Louis	United States	Catholic (Latin)	Mosaics 7,700 square meters[citation needed]
Saint Isaac's Cathedral	4,000 +[84]	7,000	260,000		1818–1858	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Eastern Orthodox (Russian)	Built as a cathedral, now a museum
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour	3,980[85]	6,829.3[85]	101,992[85]	9,500[85]	1839–1883	Moscow	Russia	Eastern Orthodox (Russian)	Rebuilt from 1995 to 2000
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Yerevan	3,822[citation needed]				1997–2001	Yerevan	Armenia	Oriental Orthodox (Armenian)
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral	3,820[citation needed]				2015–2018	Raleigh	United States	Catholic (Latin)
Catedral Evangelica de Chile or Jotabeche Cathedral	3,714.91[86][87]			7,000[88][89]	1967–1974	Santiago de Chile	Chile	Protestant (Pentecostal)	Largest capacity in Chile; national historic monument since 2013.[90][86][91][92][93]
Church of Saint Sava	3,650[94]	4,830[95]	170,000[96]		1935–1989	Belgrade	Serbia	Eastern Orthodox (Serbian)	Largest church in the Balkans[citation needed]
Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine	3,512[97]			1,859	2021–2022	Oklahoma City	United States	Catholic (Latin)
Uppsala Cathedral	3,439[98]	4,077[98]	50,000 excluding towers[98]	2,200[98]	1273-1435	Uppsala	Sweden	Church of Sweden	Largest Cathedral in northern Europe. Height 118,7m, Length 118,95 m.[99]
Yeonmudae Catholic Church	3,360[citation needed]				2008–2009	Korea Army Training Center	South Korea	Catholic (Latin)	The largest church in East Asia[citation needed]
Grace Cathedral	3,357[100]				1910–1964	San Francisco	United States	Anglican (Episcopal Church in the U.S.)
Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (Lewiston, Maine)	3,264			2,200	1906–1936	Lewiston, Maine	United States	Catholic (Latin)	Largest church in the State of Maine, still serves mass in French.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral	3,170[101]		86,000[102]		1882–1912	Sofia	Bulgaria	Eastern Orthodox (Bulgaria)
St. Charles Borromeo (Visalia)	3,159[103]			3,148 seated[104]	2011–2023[105]	Visalia, California	United States	Catholic (Latin)	Largest Catholic parish church in North America.
Christ Cathedral	3,030[106]				1977–1980	Garden Grove, California	United States	Catholic (Latin)	Formerly known as the Crystal Cathedral. Consecrated as the Christ Cathedral[107]
Westminster Abbey	2,972[108]			2,200[109]	960–c. 18 cent.	London	United Kingdom	Anglican (Church of England)
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne	2,621				1858-1939	Melbourne	Australia	Catholic (Latin)
Sümi Baptist Church, Zünheboto	2,885			8,500	2007–2017	Zunheboto, Nagaland	India	Protestant (Baptist)
St Andrew's Cathedral, Patras	2,600[110]				1908–1974	Patras	Greece	Eastern Orthodox (Greek)	1,900 m2 on the ground floor and additionally 700 m2 on the first level (used as a gynaeconitis)
St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney	2,600[111]				1868–2000	Sydney	Australia	Catholic (Latin)
St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan)	2,500			2,400[112]	1858–1878	New York City, New York	United States	Catholic (Latin)
Beomeo Cathedral	2,463[citation needed]				2013–2016	Daegu	South Korea	Catholic (Latin)
Helsinki Cathedral	2,400			1,300	1869–1887	Helsinki	Finland	Protestant (Lutheran)
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (Santa Fe)	2,322[citation needed]				1869–1887	Santa Fe, New Mexico	United States	Catholic (Latin)
Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours, Thrissur	2,300[citation needed]				1929–2005	Thrissur	India	Catholic (Syro-Malabar)	It has the third tallest tower in Asia[citation needed]
St. John's Church, Seongnam	2,260[citation needed]				1994–2002	Seongnam	South Korea	Catholic (Latin)	Until 2009, largest church in East Asia[citation needed]
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo	2,191 [citation needed]	3,350		4,000 +	1897-1977	Bendigo	Australia	Catholic (Latin)	One of Australia's largest churches and the third tallest after St Patrick's Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral. 75 metres (246 ft) long and has a ceiling height of 24 metres (79 ft). The main spire is 87 metres (285 ft) high. [citation needed]
Basilica of St. John the Baptist	2,135[citation needed]		64,040[113]		1839–1855	St. John's	Canada	Catholic (Latin)
St. Joseph Cathedral	2,125				1941	San Diego	United States	Catholic (Latin)
Cathédrale du Sacré-Cœur d'Alger	1,820				1944-1956	Algiers	Algeria	Catholic (Latin)
Korçë Cathedral	1,800[114]			5,500	1994-2010	Korçë	Albania	Eastern Orthodox Albanian Orthodox
Resurrection Cathedral	1,660[115]			600+	2012	Tirana	Albania	Eastern OrthodoxAlbanian Orthodox

See also

• List of the largest evangelical church auditoriums
• List of Christian denominations by number of members
• List of tallest church buildings
• List of largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings
• List of tallest Eastern Orthodox church buildings
• List of tallest domes
• List of highest church naves
• Monumental crosses

Notes

1. The Hagia Sophia was constructed in 360 and operated as a church until 1453 when it was converted into a mosque. In 1935 the Hagia Sophia was reconstituted as a museum open to the public. After this decision was annulled in 2020, the status of the Hagia Sophia reverted to that of a mosque.
2. The external floor area also includes the courtyards.
3. The measurement does not include non-public areas such as private cloisters, offices, and storage rooms. It also excludes other buildings that are part of the Cathedral, such as La Giralda, which is the Cathedral’s bell tower, as well as exterior spaces within the Cathedral complex, like the Patio de los Naranjos (Orange Tree Courtyard) and other courtyards.