Be Inspired

In Europe, most cathedrals are reconstructions of older cathedrals which were rendered obsolete by their size, condition or style. There are, however, cases where the inhabitants of a city did not want to destroy their old cathedral, and it remains alongside its newer version. Here are five examples of cities where old and new cathedrals coexist.

Stave churches are among Norway's most recognisable and distinctive heritage sites. While they are very often copies of earlier churches, they nevertheless allow us to realise the importance of wood in medieval sacred architecture, a rare testimony on a European scale.

Very few buildings, only 38 in total, bear the European Heritage Label. This label was created by the European Commission in 2007 to celebrate places of remembrance, witnesses of European history and heritage. The following places are or include places of worship, underlining their importance in European heritage.

The Buddhist heritage is the youngest form of religious heritage in Europe, appearing only in the 20th century. These places have the particularity of being very versatile. They often combine the function of a temple with the status of a cultural institute, which makes it possible to understand their religious function within the societies from which they originate.

The Tatars are a Turkish people who, after the collapse of the Mongol empire (1206-1368), formed a number of khanates in its western part, which is part of present-day Russia and Ukraine. The Tatars converted to Islam as early as the 14th century and built beautiful mosques that can still be found in north-eastern Europe, which is still home to a Tatar minority.

The territory of present-day Germany was the epicentre of the face-off between Catholics and Protestants from the 16th century onwards. This led not only to a division of the region but also to divisions within the towns themselves, in which the churches regularly changed denominations. The “Simultaneum”, a form of religious tolerance that allowed Protestants and Catholics to share a church, became attractive to the leaders of these territories where consensus seemed impossible. The "Simultankirchen" (shared churches) are the descendants of this period, and of the unrest that followed; they constitute a unique heritage in Germany.

Bell towers are the most visible elements of churches; they define the character of the church and the skyline of the town in which they are located. Every spire is unique, but some of them are even more so as they carry a very particular history, which can sometimes be mixed with legends...

Christianity has a long history of constructing temples in caves. Cave churches are the most successful expression of sacred architecture that seeks to blend into nature. Here are 7 examples of famous European cave churches.

Within a country, a region, and sometimes even within a city, rivalries have arisen around religious buildings, long centres of power. Today these rivalries are anecdotal, but they have the merit of connecting these buildings to a broader history.

The architecture of these sacred buildings has inspired generations of architects to the point where it is no exaggeration to say that most of our built heritage consists of copies of these originals.