Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

Acquapendente Cathedral is a 10th century Romanesque basilica and historically belongs to the Benedictine order. It is dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre because it preserves a blood-stained stone which, according to tradition, comes from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In medieval times, the basilica was frequented by pilgrims and crusaders, being situated on the Via Francigena towards Rome. It became a cathedral in 1649 and has undergone many embellishments over the centuries. The façade of the building is the result of restoration works promoted in 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV.

The cathedral of Acqui Terme was begun by Bishop Primo in the 11th century and consecrated on 11th November 1067 by Bishop Guido, who is venerated as the patron saint of the city and the diocese. It was built by Lombards in the form of a Romanesque building with a Latin cross plan and a projecting transept. Originally with three naves, the church was added two in the 18th century, with side chapels.

The church in Ådland is a church from 1851. The structure was built in wood on the site of an old church built in 1652. The church was designed by priest Andreas Grønning with neo-gothic details.

Admont Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1074. It houses the world's largest monastic library, which was started in the mid-18th century and completed in 1776. For centuries, the monastery was not only the religious centre of Upper Styria, but also a centre of art and science. After a decline caused by the Turkish wars and the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation under Abbot Johann Hoffmann gave the abbey a new impetus. A fire in 1865 had devastating consequences. Apart from the library, it destroyed almost the entire monastery, including the organ built by Franz Xaver Krisman in 1782. Reconstruction began a year later, but the corresponding building plan was only partially realised.

Built in the 18th century to replace a older wooden church in the same place. Its cemetery is where René Descartes was first buried in 1650, before his remains were moved to France. There is now only a memroial to him inside the church.

The Cathedral of Adria, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, was built at the beginning of the 19th century from a pre-existing 14th century building. The cathedral houses frescoes, a bas-relief dating back to the 6th century and beautiful cupboards sculpted by Jacopo Piazzetta.

This 14th-century cathedral was built on the site of a former 12th-century Romanesque church and an even older chapel. It was the site of where the reformation began in Hanover. The church was destroyed in an air-raid during the Second World War, leaving only the tower and some walls. Today it stands as a war memorial, featuring a sculpture, dedicated in 1959 and a peace bell donated from Hanover's sister city, Hiroshima, Japan.

The present Åfjord church was built between 1877 and 1879 and is the third church built on this site. The first church was built after the Reformation, and was dedicated to John the Baptist. It burned down due to lightning in 1766.

In the early 14th Century an early Gothic basilica was built in the middle of the village. The aisles were removed and the arcades were bricked up in 1500, when the church was fortified. Above the chancel a defence tower was erected. The chancel’s polygonal closure was heightened with two defence levels and the buttresses were connected by arches, in order to build a machicoulis gallery behind them. The ensemble was strengthened by a surrounding wall in 1502, completed by a gate building and an adjoining bacon Chamber on the north-west side . The tower was heightened in 1827 and received its striking pyramidal roof. At the same time its defence systems together with the defence level of the chancel were removed . The typical western gable of the church was erected in the same time with the renewal of the roof in 1854. Inside the church the mainly 18th-century furniture is still preserved.

The church in Agdenes was built in 1857 according to the designs of the architect Christian Heinrich Grosch. The church has a gallery, which was added in 1982. Originally, there was a bell tower in the middle of the nave, so that the bell rang from the middle of the church hall. But in 1869 a separate tower was built over the church entrance. The church in Agdenes was due to be consecrated on 24 March 1858, but the weather was so bad that the dedication had to be postponed for two days.