15 BIGGEST Mega Churches on Earth

few buildings are quite as grand and impressive as churches after all their stained glass windows marble finishings and beautiful artwork make them a sight to behold however while most churches are relatively small there are some churches that provide services to tens of thousands of people per week with some even having more seats than some professional sports stadiums so grab your hymn books and get ready for today's video on the top 15 biggest mega churches in the world number 15 seville cathedral for several years spain was controlled by muslim conquerors so when spain was reconquered by the catholics and the aptly named reconquista seville was a prime target at spanish attempts at recatholic station after all it was in this major city that a large mosque had been built so the decision was made to tear it down and instead reconstruct a massive church built between 1401 and 1528 it's a gothic masterpiece that features a total of 80 chapels a 104 meter bell tower known as la geralda and beautiful sculptures flourishing across its interior therefore if you ever get the chance to visit seville this cathedral is a must-see number 14 urminster when it comes to protestant churches the largest one in the world is the minster located in um germany it began its life as a catholic church as it served as one from its consecration in 1405 until the year 1531. this is because a citywide referendum in that year determined that most of the city's residents wanted to convert um to protestantism causing the church's allegiance to change however this wasn't the only thing to change about the church as due to its complicated design it was constantly in a state of construction only being completed in 1890 the end result was a church with a striking 162 meter tall sandstone tower and a gothic style and to date it's easily one of the most impressive buildings in germany number 13 basilica of our lady of lincoln out of all the churches in eastern europe the largest to date is the basilica of our lady of liken located in li kenstari poland the impetus to first build it began after a soldier experienced a vision of mother mary requesting that he find a miraculous image of her and display it for all to see and this eventually led to a chapel being built with her image at its center over the years this chapel saw an increasing number of pilgrims and so in 1994 the decision was made to create a much larger church in its dead consecrated in 1999 and fully completed in 2004 the end result was a massive church with a large 98 meter tall dome and 141 meter tall tower making it one of the most impressive religious buildings in the region number 12 milan cathedral when it comes to churches few have had an exterior that is quite as ornate as the milan cathedral it's more commonly known as the duomo construction of it began all the way back in 1386 and while most of the more important architectural portions were completed in the 19th century it wasn't until 1965 that the entire cathedral was completed now the maman cathedral stands apart from being the largest church in italy since saint peter's is part of the vatican and it has a stunning gothic design that sets it apart from most other buildings in the city interestingly enough while the exterior is white bright and very ornate the inside is actually very dark allowing you to be able to pray and reflect without getting distracted by all the paintings and statues as such while the milan cathedral may be grand it's also well designed to serve its intended purpose number 11 basilica of the holy trinity of all the churches on this list the basilica that has perhaps the most modern looking appearance is the basilica of the holy trinity completed in 2007 it was built on the sanctuary of fatima which stands apart due to it being the most important religious site in portugal it's because this is the area where the virgin mary reportedly visited three young children and performed miracles to a massive crowd of people back in 1917 and so in the virgin mary's honor a small basilica was built however the large number of pilgrims that would often visit overwhelm the site's small capacity so in 2004 construction began on a much larger church made in a circular shape with materials such as white stone brick and shiny wood the church has a simple yet modern feel while its capacity of 9000 ensures that many people can visit it at once therefore if you're looking to go on a pilgrimage a trip to the basilica of the holy trinity would be an excellent choice number 10 liverpool cathedral while most of the world's largest churches happen to be roman catholic the world's largest anglican cathedral is england's liverpool cathedral you see after liverpool became a diocese in the 19th century it was deemed necessary to build a grand church there and so in 1901 22 year old architect gilbert scott was given the reins to start the project now due to him being a very meticulous man he constantly changed the design and at one point even started again from scratch when compounded with the fact that the construction had to be put on pause during the world wars the entire process was very slow and as a result upon scott's death in 1960 the cathedral still wasn't finished however once a new architect got on the scene things started to move a little quicker and by 1978 the cathedral was finally completed notable thanks to its massive central bell tower the liverpool cathedral sets itself apart by combining both gothic revivalist and modern styles of architecture and by all accounts it is a beautiful building as such if you ever happen to be in liverpool you should definitely give this incredible church a visit [Music] number nine basilica of saint paul outside the walls out of all the churches on this list the one that's arguably the most beautiful is the basilica of saint paul outside the walls located a fair distance outside of central rome the church has been around in some form or another since the 4th century although due to a massive fire that happened in 1823 it wasn't until about 1929 that the basilica looks similar to how it does today now at first glance the most breathtaking thing about this church is its beautiful garden as its lush green colors contrast beautifully with the white exterior marble when you walk inside perhaps the most eye-catching feature is the series of mosaic portraits of every single pope who have ever lived that adorn horizontal columns that are located across the ceiling with several spaces being left blank in order to accommodate any future popes if that wasn't enough the basilica also houses the tomb of who is believed to be saint paul making it a massive pilgrimage site yet given the fact that this monstrously large structure is the approximate size of one and a half football fields chances are that you won't feel at all claustrophobic while inside number eight your ido full gospel church in terms of size asia's largest church is the one and only uhido full gospel church while you've probably never heard of it before it's the main church of the assemblies of god religion which is a strain of evangelicalism that began back in 1958 by pastors david yongi cho and choi jasil now the church originally began as a small service inside of yonji cho's home but after a vigorous campaign of knocking on doors providing spiritual and humanitarian help to the poor and praying for the sick the religion began to spread while it initially relied on large tents to house parishioners the amount of attendees soon surpassed the church's capacity and this eventually led to the creation of a smaller church known as the sode-mum church in 1961 and uido full gospel church on uido island in south korea in 1973 built with the help of funds donated by the church's members yawito full gospel church is absolutely massive as it can fit about 7 500 parishioners and has an external surface area of about 44 000 square meters and while the death of the pastor in 2021 marked a period of flux within the religion youido full gospel appears to still be chugging along number 7 cathedral of the nativity of christ while roman catholicism may be the most globally dispersed form of christianity in africa one of the most important subgroups is the coptic church and of all the coptic churches out there the largest is the cathedral of the nativity of christ located in the as of yet unnamed new administrative capital of egypt this cathedral is by far the newest on this list as it was completed in 2019. now this church was built in a direct response to a terrorist attack on two coptic churches but the idea being that this cathedral would be built along with a new mosque in order to symbolize the possibility for coexistence and national unity designed using noah's ark as an inspiration the church has many curved areas that look rather ship like while its pair of coptic style lighthouses contains bells that further advance the church's nautical theme since it is the primary church of the coptic orthodox church of alexandria the building also features other additions such as the main square papal headquarters reception hall meeting room parking garage and administrative offices while its capacity of 8 500 ensures lots of people can attend its services so while this may be a new church in a new city i'm sure that it'll see increasingly large attendance numbers every single year number six cathedral of saint john the divine while most of the world's largest churches are located in the old world the world's largest new world church is fittingly located in the massive city of new york while certainly overshadowed by the city's other impressive landmarks the cathedral of saint john the divine is still an impressive structure and it has a rather interesting history you see in 1887 henry cotman potter who was the bishop of new york's episcopal diocese called for the creation of a new cathedral that could rival the catholic owned st patrick's cathedral in manhattan in 1889 construction of this new cathedral began in a byzantine romanesque style although in 1909 the design shifted to a gothic revival style due to budget shortfalls construction was very slow and in 1941 the onset of world war ii caused the construction to fully be put on hold with construction not resuming until the 1980s yet a 2001 fire meant that much of the budget for the construction had to be diverted to a rebuild and the end result was a cathedral that was simply never completed often called saint john the unfinished the church still lacks the southern transept and the towers that were called for in the original design yet in spite of this the church is absolutely massive coming in at a length of 183 meters height of 54 meters and surface area of about 11 000 square meters number five is the smallest of all the churches on this list but it earns itself a spot due to the fact that it's one of the largest monolithic churches in the world for those of you who don't know a monolithic church is a church made of using one piece of stone because massive stones aren't all that easy to find they are generally built into the sides of mountains however bet maharaja seems to be an exceptional example of this type of style as it's not only massive but was carved using one freestanding piece of rock located in la la bella ethiopia it measures in at 33.5 meters in length 23.5 meters in width and 11 meters in height and was likely carved from a massive volcanic rock sometime in the late 12th or early 13th century by king lalibella likely built with the help of about forty thousand laborers but mahanaya may actually be a rock copy of the saint mary of zion church in aksum and it stands apart for being surrounded by 34 large columns having three empty graves in one corner that are said to have been prepared symbolically for abraham isaac and jacob and for being home to its astounding seven kilogram gold lalabella cross so yeah it's a safe bet to say that bet mahata lam is a pretty cool structure number four cathedral basilica of our lady abarecida when it comes to history few churches have a backstory quite as interesting as that of the cathedral basilica of our lady apresida you see the story goes that in 1717 three brazilian fishermen were attempting to catch a large amount of fish in the paraiba river in order to supply a banquet however despite their prayers they caught no fish until one day one of the fishermen cast out his net and caught a statue of the virgin mary from that point forward the fishermen began catching tons of fish and soon the fishermen that found the statue had it displayed in his home so pilgrims could pray in front of it this led to him building a small chapel to house the statue and over time the chapel grew larger and larger until in 1955 it was decided that a massive basilica will be made to house it built in a romanesque revival style and built in the form of a greek cross where all sides of the cross are equal the church's length of 188 meters width of 183 meters and height of 109 meters and capacity to seat 30 000 makes it the largest church in south america this is probably for the best because millions of people visit it every year with all coming to see the famous statue for which the church got its name and while a robbery attempt in 1978 almost meant that the statue was lost to the public forever today it stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of the structure number three hagia sophia while the hagia sophia stopped being a church all the way back in 1453 it still stands apart for being one of the most important religious buildings in human history first built all the way back in the year 360. it's more or less amassed its present external features by 537 and over its history it has served various different uses its very first intended role was the main christian cathedral of the eastern roman empire although given the fact that the western roman empire had fallen this essentially just meant that it was the main holy site of what is now known as the greek orthodox church it retained this title until the year 1453 when after a quick 55-day siege constantinople fell to the ottomans once the ottomans took over they almost immediately converted the hagia sofia into a mosque destroying or converting most of the christian iconography and therefore completely changing its function it remained a mosque until 1935 when it became a museum under the secular turkish president ataturk and remained a museum until 2020 it was in this year that current turkish president erdogan's government reconverted the hagia sofia to a mosque which drew a considerable amount of foreign criticism now beyond its rich history the hagia sophia is significant for a few different reasons the first is because its sheer size is an absolute marvel of human engineering after all it comes in at 82 meters in length 73 meters in width and 55 meters tall making it far larger than practically every other building in the city beyond its physical stats the hagia sofia also stands apart due to its ornate architecture as it used beautiful domes large marble pillars and intricate mosaics that are in many ways unique to the hagia sophia when you further consider its role as a symbol of byzantine power it's not hard to see why the hagia sofia earned a spot on this list number two saint peter's basilica when it comes to churches the one that stands apart from them all for being the world's largest is saint peter's basilica coming in at a length of 220 meters width of 150 meters and a height of 137 meters the basilica is the largest in the world and sports a 60 000 person capacity now the very first st peters was built all the way back in 329 by the emperor constantine who built it atop the burial place of saint peter who was the founder of the catholic church as the catholic church grew in prominence it began to attract large quantities of pilgrims but by the mid-15th century it was beginning to fall into disrepair as a result in 1506 pope julius ii began the construction of the modern day vatican with the finished building taking more than 120 years to build from start to finish unsurprisingly this meant that the vatican cycled through a number of different architects and the end result is a basilica that is stylistically unlike anything else on earth now the plane of the original architect donato bramante included multiple domes and one tower on either side in what would amount to a byzantine inspired greek cross church however once brahmate died his replacement architect antonio da sangalo realized that bromante's poles to hold up the dome weren't strong enough and made an entirely different plan but it was really the next architect who was none other than the immortal michelangelo that made the basilica what it looks like today he decided to simplify the design by pushing the knave farther back and creating one large dome rather than multiple smaller ones and the end result was a basilica of epic proportions after all the dome of the vatican is a monstrous 42 meters in diameter and it's 137 meters in height from the floor to the top the structure is supported by unconventional twisted columns while at each corner there are ornate sculptures that are absolutely stunning if that wasn't enough in order to ensure that the artwork of the basilica would last forever it was made using micro mosaics rather than paint making it truly an immortal structure and when you further consider that additional attached buildings such as the vatican museum sistine chapel and apostolic palace further complement saint peter's already stunning features it's not hard to see why millions of people visit the vatican each and every year number one basilica of our lady of peace while st peter's basilica has the largest interior surface area of any church on the planet the church that has a larger overall surface area is in fact the basilica of our lady of peace considered to be the largest church in the world by the guinness book of world records the basilica of our lady of peace is a relatively new church as it was completed in 1989. now the church was commissioned by felix who fed muani who was the first president of the ivory coast and the reasons behind its construction were a little bit odd this is because he intended the church to be a symbol of his personal brand as it was part of his larger plan to transform his relatively small hometown of yamusucro into ivory coast's political and administrative capital and the grandeur of the basilica is nothing short of incredible although not an exact replica the design of the basilica is heavily influenced by the basilica of saint peter in the vatican although its surface area of 30 000 square meters and large cross atop its dome makes it larger in both height and overall area in terms of its capacity it can fit a total of 18 000 parishioners and is outfitted with beautiful italian marble and french contemporary stained glass yet despite all its beauty the basilica has proven to be a waste of money in more ways than one on one hand the basilica was prohibitively expensive and an insane 300 million dollars for reference this was about double the ivory coast's national debt at the time given the fact that many people in the country didn't even have access to running water or adequate sanitation this was seen as a frivolous waste of money however on the other hand it also sees very little use that's because despite being intended to be the world's greatest basilica very few pilgrims come to visit it and despite its large capacity it only has a few hundred weekly parishioners instead the most well-attended church in the city of yomosukuro is actually the older and more established cathedral of saint augustine and to date the only time that the basilica of our lady of peace was filled to capacity was during the funeral of president who fed buani and as a result in a country where only 17 percent of people identify as catholic it's largely an unused relic and in all honesty it doesn't seem like this will change anytime soon watch our binge watching playlist if you'd like to watch all of our most popular top 15 videos grab a drink grab a snack and get ready to binge [Music]

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 467,769

Keywords: BIGGEST Megachurches, BIGGEST, largest, Megachurches, church, churches

Id: DUIIq3o9O6g

Length: 19min 49sec (1189 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 13 2022