[A] Georgia | Tbilisi's Sameba Cathedral rises 105 meters above the city. Completed in 2004 using traditional Georgian techniques, it survived a Soviet ban on religious construction.
2/40
Winchester Cathedral?
[B] United Kingdom | England's longest Gothic cathedral stretches 170 meters. Jane Austen's buried here, and the Winchester Bible survived Henry VIII's monastery-smashing spree.
3/40
Paris?
[C] France | Notre-Dame's 2019 fire broke hearts worldwide. The beehives on the roof survived, and those 200,000 bees kept making honey while Paris wept.
4/40
Almudena Cathedral?
[A] Spain | Madrid's cathedral took 110 years to finish. Pope John Paul II consecrated it in 1993, making it Europe's newest old-looking cathedral.
5/40
Dresden Cathedral?
[D] Germany | Catholic cathedral in Protestant Saxony survived WWII bombing while the city burned. The baroque organ contains 47 registers and probably some Dresden china.
6/40
Turku Cathedral?
[D] Finland | Finland's mother church dates to 1300. The clock tower bell rings with Swedish timing because Finland keeps forgetting it was Swedish for 600 years.
7/40
Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa?
[B] Peru | White volcanic sillar stone makes this cathedral glow. Arequipa's earthquakes keep knocking it down, but Peruvians keep building it back up.
8/40
Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral?
[C] Chile | Neoclassical facade hides baroque bones in Plaza de Armas. Chilean independence got declared from these steps, making it politics' favorite photo op.
9/40
Lisieux?
[D] France | Basilica of St. Thérèse honors the Little Flower. Second-largest pilgrimage site in France proves that dying at 24 from tuberculosis guarantees architectural immortality.
10/40
Basilica de San Martin de Tours (Taal)?
[C] Philippines | Asia's largest Catholic church before the 2020 volcanic eruption. The baroque facade survived centuries of earthquakes only to meet its match in Taal Volcano.
11/40
Ely Cathedral?
[B] United Kingdom | The octagonal lantern tower replaced the collapsed Norman crossing. Medieval monks funded it by selling indulgences – crowdfunding before Kickstarter.
12/40
Munich?
[D] Germany | Frauenkirche's twin towers dominate Munich's skyline by law. The devil's footprint allegedly marks where Satan stood, unable to see windows from one specific spot.
13/40
Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart?
[A] United States | Newark's French Gothic cathedral took 55 years to build. The rose window spans 10 meters while the city outside changed from horses to highways.
14/40
Se Cathedral?
[B] India | Old Goa's Portuguese colonial giant holds the Golden Bell, Asia's largest. The Inquisition operated from here, making confession particularly nerve-wracking for 250 years.
15/40
St. Stephen's Basilica?
[A] Hungary | Budapest's largest church holds Szent István's mummified right hand. The 96-meter height matches Parliament's because church and state need equal billing.
16/40
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (St. Louis)?
[C] United States | World's largest mosaic collection covers 7,700 square meters. Installing 41.5 million glass pieces took 75 years – patience measured in tesserae.
17/40
Saint Isaac's Cathedral?
[C] Russia | St. Petersburg's golden dome used 100 kilos of gold. The granite columns weigh 114 tons each, hauled from Finland before anyone invented proper cranes.
18/40
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour?
[A] Russia | Moscow's cathedral got dynamited by Stalin, turned into a swimming pool, then rebuilt identical to original. Most expensive Orthodox church resurrection ever.
19/40
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Yerevan?
[D] Armenia | Yerevan's cathedral commemorates Armenian Christianity's 1,700th anniversary. The bell tower reaches 54 meters, one for each million Armenians worldwide.
20/40
United States?
[B] Crystal Cathedral | Orange County's glass church used 10,000 windows. Bought by Catholics and renamed Christ Cathedral – proving denominations swap buildings like baseball cards.
21/40
Santiago de Chile?
[B] Chile | Metropolitan Cathedral anchors the capital's main square. The neoclassical facade hides baroque altars where Chilean independence got blessed into existence.
22/40
Church of Saint Sava?
[C] Serbia | Belgrade's Orthodox giant ranks among world's largest. Construction started in 1935, paused for communism, and finally finished the interior in 2020.
23/40
Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine?
[A] United States | Oklahoma's newest shrine honors an American priest martyred in Guatemala. The Spanish colonial design in tornado alley creates interesting insurance conversations.
24/40
Uppsala Cathedral?
[D] Sweden | Scandinavia's largest Gothic cathedral holds Swedish royalty and Linnaeus. The twin spires reach 118.7 meters, originally taller before lightning kept winning.
25/40
Korea Army Training Center?
[C] South Korea | Military chapel serves 30,000 recruits yearly. The modernist concrete design supposedly improves morale, though mandatory attendance might help too.
26/40
Grace Cathedral?
[A] United States | San Francisco's Episcopal cathedral has labyrinths inside and outside. The AIDS memorial chapel honors victims while the ghetto blaster entrance doors celebrate Einstein.
27/40
Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (Lewiston, Maine)?
[D] United States | French-Canadian mill workers built Maine's twin-spired giant. The Franco-American heritage shows in every carved fleur-de-lis and bilingual inscription.
28/40
Sofia?
[B] Bulgaria | Alexander Nevsky Cathedral's gold domes define Sofia's skyline. The crypt holds Bulgaria's largest icon collection, proving Orthodox churches double as art galleries.
29/40
St. Charles Borromeo (Visalia)?
[D] United States | California's Central Valley cathedral serves agricultural workers. The modern design includes air conditioning powerful enough to fight 115-degree summers.
30/40
Christ Cathedral?
[B] United States | Formerly Crystal Cathedral, now Catholic. Philip Johnson's glass design requires constant cleaning – 10,000 windows don't wash themselves in California droughts.
31/40
Westminster Abbey?
[A] United Kingdom | Coronation church since 1066 holds 3,300 bodies. Poets' Corner gets crowded while scientists cluster near Newton, proving death doesn't end academic segregation.
32/40
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne?
[C] Australia | Gothic Revival rises beside modern Melbourne. The bluestone construction took 80 years because shipping materials from Europe to Australia tested Victorian patience.
33/40
Nagaland?
[D] India | Kohima's cathedral serves India's most Christian state. The unique Naga architectural elements blend with Gothic style, creating cultural fusion in concrete.
34/40
Patras?
[C] Greece | Saint Andrew's Cathedral holds the apostle's skull, returned from Vatican in 1964. The Byzantine-style church stands where Andrew supposedly got crucified on an X-shaped cross.
35/40
St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney?
[A] Australia | Gothic Revival with modern stained glass depicting creation through Aboriginal dreamtime. The terrazzo floor contains marble from Wombeyan Caves.
36/40
New York City?
[B] St. Patrick's Cathedral | Fifth Avenue's Gothic Revival cathedral faces Rockefeller Center. The bronze doors weigh three tons each while the rose window spans 26 feet.
37/40
Daegu?
[D] South Korea | Gyesan Cathedral survived Korean War bombings. The Gothic Revival design looks transplanted from France, except for the kimchi festival fundraisers.
38/40
Helsinki Cathedral?
[C] Finland | Neoclassical white dome crowns Senate Square. The zinc statues of apostles on the roof require regular repainting because Baltic weather shows no mercy.
39/40
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (Santa Fe)?
[A] United States | Adobe Romanesque in America's oldest capital. The French architects accidentally built it backwards, making the entrance face away from the plaza.
40/40
Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours, Thrissur?
[B] India | India's largest church by area spreads Gothic splendor through Kerala. The Indo-Gothic style blends colonial architecture with local craftsmen who added their own flourishes.