Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

This Hindu temple in the suburb of Wembley (London) opened its doors in 2010. It took 14 years of work to cut and carve all the pieces and figures that make up the temple, for which only Indian limestone was used. The pieces and figures were shipped and assembled in the United Kingdom.

The period of the cemetery’s establishment is not known. It first appears on a cadastral map of 1865, but the earliest preserved gravestone dates from the first half of the 20th century. The cemetery was fenced by ESJF in 2019.

St. James Cathedral in Šibenik was built in three phases from 1431 to 1536. The building mixes Gothic architecture, especially Tuscan Gothic, with Renaissance features, such as the dome, making it one of the most interesting buildings in Croatia from this period. Due to its outstanding features, the cathedral was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.

Today’s appearance of the impressive parish church in the medieval city is the result of several alterations of the original Romanesque church, which was built near the first city wall. After its demolition in the 14th century the dimensions of the following Gothic church accounted for the growing population and the significance of the city. Chancel, transept, and the lower part of the tower were completed in 1371, whereas the nave was finished only in 1445 after an interruption of the works. In 1448 the nave was enlarged to the west, thus surrounding the tower. At the end of the 15th century the nave was changed to a hall church at the south side. The newly built gallery was covered with a lierne vault. In 1494 the tower, measuring 73 m, including its distinctive spire was completed. Finally the northern part of the transept was extended by one bay and on the south side the entrance hall and the spiral staircase for the tower were added. The noticeable roofing made of colored glazed tiles dates back to the 16th century. The interior is dominated by the towering piers and the Gothic rib vault in the nave and the light-flooded chancel. Around 1900 during a general renovation the plaster of the interior walls was taken down completely leaving of the original decoration only a wall-painting showing the crucifixion on the northern wall of the chancel. There is a collection of renaissance epitaphs of distinguished Sibiu citizens.

The Siegerland motorway church, located on the B45, was inaugurated on 26 May 2013. The building, a multi-award-winning design by Frankfurt architects Schneider + Schumacher, is an example of post-modern religious architecture. The design of the church exterior is based on geometric triangular shapes. In the entrance area of the church, there is a typographic installation by Peter Zizka.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta was built in the 13th century in the Romanesque-Gothic Italian style. It is famous for its intensive use of marble marquetry. An enlargement of the church took place in the 14th century, but was abandoned with its failure. As part of Historic Centre of Siena, the cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Sigerfjord church is a wooden church that was inaugurated on 17 May 1933. The architect of the church was Harald Sund. Next to the church is a monument to the dead of World War II, erected in 1947 by Sigerfjord Sjømannsforening.

The church in Siggerud was built in 1905 according to the plans of the architect Holger Sinding-Larsen. The church is inspired by the rural churches of the 17th and 18th centuries with dark untreated wood. The church has a pyramid tower incorporated at its western end.

The three-aisled Romanesque basilica called The Hill Church (Biserica din Deal) evolved from the chapel of an early Szekler- or Noble castle. It had a bell tower at the western side, which was later incorporated into the new hall church during alterations in the 14th century. Soon after the reformation the church was not used as a parish church anymore but as a chapel for the Saxon school. Wooden vaults replaced the Gothic vaults of the chancel end of the 19th century. On the interior walls medieval paintings were preserved and they were uncovered during the restoration works financed by the Messerschmitt Foundation in 1995. Remains of the original inventory are valuable Renaissance tombstones, the beautiful tabernacle and a carved Gothic pew. Today the church has been converted to a museum, where a variety of important altars from abandoned or endangered churches and a collection of storage chests dating to the 17th and 18th Century are on display. The former Monastery’s Church (Biserica Mănăstirii) of the Dominican order was used as parish church after the reformation as of 1555. The other buildings of the monastery were then converted to accommodate the town hall. Later in the 19th century they were dismantled by the Hungarian administration. The Gothic hall church derived from an earlier Romanesque basilica first mentioned in 1298. The four-bayed nave is followed by the long narrow chancel, which still preserves its original Gothic vault. Today the interior appears cramped because of the galleries that were built into the aisles. The original inventory is reduced to the baptismal font of bronze dating to 1440 and the splendid baroque altar of 1680. Hanging on walls and galleries there is a collection of precious carpets originating from Anatolia in eastern Turkey dating back to the 17th and 18th century.

Sigüenza Cathedral dates back to the 11th century. Its construction actually began in 1144, probably on the foundations of an old Visigothic and Moorish temple. The Renaissance painter Juan Soreda worked on the cathedral in the 16th century and in particular on the altarpiece dedicated to Saint Livrado between 1526 and 1528.