Do You Recognize These Historic Churches?

This Roman Catholic basilica is known for its Italian stained glass and 160-foot-tall bridge over the Guáitara River.

Variously known as the Church of Mother of God, the Pilgrimage Church of Assumption of Mary, and Our Lady of the Lake, this isolated Baroque-style church dates back to the 17th century.

If you stand in the center of St. Peter's Square at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, you'll be surrounded by numerous statues — 140 of them, to be exact. These statues, built upon semicircular colonnades of 284 columns, depict various Roman Catholic saints and were completed by multiple artists in the 17th and 18th centuries.

As long as you don’t suffer from a fear of heights or tight spaces, you can climb the narrow, 768-step, stone spiral staircase of Ulm Minster’s 530-foot steeple, a Lutheran church in Ulm, Germany. When construction started in 1377, the building was meant to be a Catholic church, but during the Reformation in the 16th century, the congregation converted to Lutheranism. The structure was finally completed in the late 19th century.

The stunning Milan Cathedral, or Duomo di Milano, is not only the largest Catholic church in Italy but also one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world. Carved into the exterior are 135 gargoyles and some 3,400 statues, illustrating saints and other major Catholic figures. Construction on the cathedral began in 1386, and it took six centuries for artists to deliver the spectacular duomo you see today.

The Gothic masterpiece of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Czechia, took nearly 600 years to complete. Emperor Charles IV began construction on the site of a 10th-century Romanesque rotunda in 1344, but the church wasn't completed and consecrated until 1929. Today, St. Vitus Cathedral is the largest church in Prague, standing as the centerpiece of the Prague Castle complex on a hilltop overlooking the city.

Visit Barcelona, Spain, and you’ll be surrounded by Antoni Gaudi’s work — the most famous of which is La Sagrada Familia. Work on this elaborate structure started in 1882 and is still going to this day. Whenever completed, the massive, Gothic-style church will feature a staggering 18 towers and four domes, and stand at 170 meters tall, making it one of the tallest religious buildings in the world.

A masterpiece of 12th-century Gothic architecture, St. Stephen’s Cathedral stands at the center of Vienna, Austria. Aside from its four towers — the tallest of which stands 446 feet high — the cathedral also features a colorful patterned roof. The intricate tile design includes the city’s coat of arms and a double-headed eagle, a symbol of the Habsburg rule of Austria.

Germany's Cologne Cathedral is home to the Shrine of the Three Kings, the magi who are said to have attended Jesus’ birth. Their purported final resting place is inside a triple sarcophagus upon the high altar of the cathedral, which is richly decorated with jewels, beads, and religious scenes.

Notre Dame Cathedral is considered “Paris Point Zero” in the French capital. This means that Notre Dame is considered Paris’ exact center, and all distances are measured from this point. You might have to look extra closely to find this demarcation; it's noted on a small brass plaque with an engraved compass in the concrete square in front of the church.

In 1998, Tim Crawley’s statue of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was unveiled above the west entrance of Westminster Abbey in London, England. The niches over that door had previously stood empty, but are now filled with the likenesses of 10 important historical figures memorialized as modern martyrs, including Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, St. Oscar Romero, and Wang Zhiming.

Named after the patron saint of Ireland, this medieval cathedral is one of Dublin’s top attractions.

It was built by the town’s Spanish officials around 1620 as a community church.

Named for their corner posts called “staves,” medieval wooden stave churches are found throughout Norway.

Once a major pilgrimage destination, Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey is located on this namesake tidal island in Normandy.

At 245 feet tall, Iceland’s tallest church towers over Reykjavík.

One of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings is found on the wall of this Italian church.

St. Basil's Cathedral — also known as the Cathedral of St. Basil (or Vasily) the Blessed, the Pokrovsky Cathedral, Russian Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny, or Pokrovsky Sobor — is one of the most famous sites in Moscow, Russia. The church was constructed in the mid-16th century by Tsar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) and sits in Red Square.

“The Creation of Adam,” painted in 1511, is the most famous fresco in this Vatican City church.

With its Romanesque and Byzantine-style interior, this 19th-century basilica boasts a bird’s-eye view of Paris.