Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

Here you can search for a building to visit. You can use the map find destinations, or you can use the filters to search for a building based upon what different criteria.

Refine search

Monastery of Our Lady of the Angel

Monastery of Our Lady of the Angel

Orebic, HR

It is a Franciscan Monastery near Orebic built at the end of the 16th century in the Gothic-Renaissance style. It is situated on a cliff, about 152 meters above sea level. This privileged position makes the view from the Orebic Monastery a marvel to behold. In the past, sailors had the tradition of ringing their ship sirens three times when passing near the monastery, to which the Franciscans responded with three rings of bells.

Monastery of Paleokastritsa

Monastery of Paleokastritsa

Palaiokastritsa, GR

Paleokastritsa is one of the oldest monasteries on the island of Corfu, dating back to 1225.

Monastery of Panagia Molyvdoskepastos

Monastery of Panagia Molyvdoskepastos

Molivdoskepastos , GR

Monastery of Panagia Molyvdoskepastos is a Greek Orthodox monastery founded in the 7th century close to the Greek-Albanian border.

Monastery of Prodromos

Monastery of Prodromos

Nisos Ioanninon, GR

The monastery of Prodromos or Monastery of St. John the Baptist was built in the early sixteenth century. The building was severely damaged during the siege of the island by the Ottomans in 1822. The frescoes date from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Monastery of Profitis Ilias

Monastery of Profitis Ilias

Ioannina Island, GR

The monastery of Profitis Ilias is located on the highest point of the island and was probably founded in the 15th century. The current monastery dates from the 19th century, as are the oldest frescoes still visible. The monastery of Profitis Ilias is one of the seven monasteries of Ioannina Island.

Monastery of Rousanou

Monastery of Rousanou

Kalampaka, GR

The monastery of Roussanou is a women's monastery probably founded in the 16th century. The monastery declined in the 19th century and became a hermitage of the Varlaam monastery. The monastery has the peculiarity of occupying the entire plateau on top of the rock where it is located. It is one of the six monasteries that continue to be active in the Meteora and have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.

Monastery of Saharna

Monastery of Saharna

Saharna, MD

The monastery of Saharna is one of the oldest monastic establishments in Moldova. The monastic complex is composed of two monasteries: the cave monastery of the Annunciation and the monastery of the Holy Trinity. The latter monastery was founded in 1776, but less is known about the cave monastery, whose date of foundation is uncertain. Between 1818 and 1821, the Church of the Holy Trinity was built and became the main temple of the monastery. In 1857, the cave monastery was restored. In the 1960s, a psychiatric hospital was opened by the Soviets on the premises of the former monastery. The monastery was reopened in 1991.

Monastery of Saint Andrew of Ancede

Monastery of Saint Andrew of Ancede

Baião, PT

A monastic community existing in 1141, when Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, granted it the "Carta de Couto" [place with privileges], settled on a hillside facing the Douro. The Canons Regular of Saint Augustine made Ancede an important economic, cultural and spiritual centre. This prosperity allowed the investment in assets, of which the church and the monastic complex are examples. Although the traces of the Romanesque Church may be summarized in the rosette and vestments on the walls of the chevet, the volumetry this suggests that the medieval church would have had considerable dimensions. It was destroyed in the 16th century when the Monastery was transferred to the Dominicans. At that time, an adjacent church would have been built to the parishioners. Both were destroyed in the late seventeenth century, to give way to the current three-nave temple. In the chancel, the Baroque and Neoclassical elements combine with the Romanesque rosette. The walls of the aisles comprise paintings from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the pulpit and the choir and, in the sacristy, the mobile and the set of 18th-century reliquaries. In the churchyard, the Chapel of the Lord of Good Delivery highlights one of the most notable periods of the Monastery: the 18th century. This Baroque Chapel with an octagon-shaped layout provides a fascinating narrative of the life of Christ.

Monastery of Saint John the Theologian

Monastery of Saint John the Theologian

Patmos, GR

The Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian is an Orthodox monastery founded in 1088 on the island of Patmos at the location where both Catholics and Orthodox believe that John the Apostle wrote the Gospel and the Revelation. Since 1999, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Monastery of Saint Martin of Mancelos

Monastery of Saint Martin of Mancelos

Amarante, PT

Monastery of private foundation already mentioned in 1120, perhaps in the scope of the lineage of the Portocarreiros and after of the Fonsecas, Mancelos is an example of manorial intervention in the creation and maintenance of private churches. Having been integrated into the Order of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, it is likely that the date, 1166, inscribed on a stone block of the Church, bears witness to the consecration or dedication of the temple. However, the remaining architectural traces refer to the 13th century, as this chronology is most evident in the main portal. This is sheltered by the church porch, which explains why it is still in good condition. The capitals were elegantly carved and the plain tympanum is supported by two figures standing in atlantes poses. The church porch and the tower, among other elements, such as the battlements, provide grandeur to the Church, profoundly changed in the centuries after its construction. This is evidenced by the scars on the ornaments and structural additions. On the south side, where the cloister [inner courtyard of a monastery] would be, an arcosolium still guards a tomb. Inside, only the triumphal arch brings to mind the building's Romanesque style, for most of that space today is the outcome of counter-reformation interventions. In the cemetery next to the Monastery is the burial place of painter Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918), a major figure of Portuguese Modernism.

Be inspired