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Churches by architectural family
Renaissance, Baroque, and colonial
22 places connected through architectural family. Read them together to see both shared patterns and the local histories that resist a single Christian story.
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Churches across Christian history
Modern & Global · CatholicSt. Peter's BasilicaVatican City, Rome, Vatican City1506–1626 (current basilica); c. 333 AD (original)The mother church of Catholic Christendom, built over the tomb of St. Peter.Read the full history Reformation · Church of South India with Portuguese, Dutch, and Anglican historySt. Francis Church, KochiFort Kochi, Kerala, IndiaPortuguese church established in the early 16th centuryA modest Fort Kochi church that passed from Portuguese Catholic to Dutch Reformed to Anglican and united Protestant use, recording shifting empires on India’s coast.Read the full history Reformation · CatholicCusco CathedralCusco, PeruFrom c. 1560Cusco Cathedral connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a cathedral built on an Inca palace site with Andean labor and art, earthquake history, confraternities, conquest memory, tourism, and living Quechua-region CatholicismRead the full history Reformation · CatholicSé Cathedral of GoaOld Goa, IndiaConstruction begun 1562; completed in the 17th centuryThe immense cathedral of Portuguese Goa, built as a monument of conquest and archiepiscopal power within an Indian Christian landscape older and wider than empire.Read the full history Reformation · Catholic DominicanChurch of Santo Domingo de GuzmánOaxaca, MexicoFrom c. 1572Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a Dominican complex built through colonial labor, extraordinary gilded interior, Indigenous region, military and secular uses, restoration, museum context, and parish worshipRead the full history Reformation · CatholicPuebla CathedralPuebla, MexicoFrom c. 1575Puebla Cathedral connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a major New Spanish cathedral of long construction, local stone and craft, music, episcopal power, urban planning, colonial inequality, conservation, and worshipRead the full history Reformation · Catholic — Jesuit heritageBasilica of Bom JesusOld Goa, India1594–1605The Jesuit basilica housing the body of Francis Xavier, a center of Asian Catholic pilgrimage and a monument inseparable from mission and colonial expansion.Read the full history Reformation · CatholicChurch of San Pedro de AndahuaylillasCusco Region, PeruFrom c. 1600Church of San Pedro de Andahuaylillas connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a village church of mural catechesis, Indigenous artists and language, cofradías, colonial power, local custody, conservation, and the contested title Sistine Chapel of the AndesRead the full history Reformation · Jesuit CatholicChurch of the Society of Jesus in QuitoQuito, EcuadorFrom c. 1605Church of the Society of Jesus in Quito connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a richly gilded Jesuit church combining European, Indigenous, and local craft traditions with colonial education, expulsion history, restoration, tourism, and worshipRead the full history Modern & Global · CatholicSan Agustin Church, ManilaIntramuros, Manila, PhilippinesStone church built 1587–1607; earlier foundations from 1571The oldest surviving stone church in the Philippines, carrying the intertwined histories of faith, empire, war, and Filipino artistry.Read the full history Reformation · Catholic BenedictineChurch of São Bento MonasteryRio de Janeiro, BrazilFrom c. 1633Church of São Bento Monastery connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a Benedictine church of elaborate carving, chant, landholding, enslaved labor history, urban transformation, education, conservation, and continuing monastic worshipRead the full history Reformation · CatholicNotre-Dame de Québec Basilica-CathedralQuebec City, CanadaFrom c. 1647Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through the oldest Catholic parish north of Spanish colonies, New France, conquest, fire, reconstruction, holy door pilgrimage, and continuing French Canadian Catholic lifeRead the full history Reformation · AnglicanSt. Paul’s Cathedral, LondonLondon, United KingdomPresent cathedral built 1675–1710 on an ancient Christian siteChristopher Wren’s domed cathedral rebuilt after London’s Great Fire, serving parish, city, empire, nation, protest, mourning, and Anglican worship.Read the full history Reformation · CatholicMission San Xavier del BacTohono O’odham Nation near Tucson, Arizona, United StatesMission established 1692; present church 1783–1797The white mission church of Wa:k, built within Tohono O’odham homeland and sustained as a living parish beyond romantic images of Spanish colonial architecture.Read the full history Modern & Global · Catholic FranciscanChurch and Convent of São FranciscoSalvador da Bahia, BrazilFrom c. 1708Church and Convent of São Francisco connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a lavish gilded complex shaped by Franciscan life, colonial slavery, Black artisans, tile cycles, heritage tourism, preservation, and active religious useRead the full history Modern & Global · CatholicSan Agustin Church of PaoayIlocos Norte, PhilippinesFrom c. 1710San Agustin Church of Paoay connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through massive buttresses, local materials and craftsmen, colonial parish life, revolution, earthquake adaptation, conservation, and Ilocano Catholic identityRead the full history Reformation · LutheranFrauenkirche DresdenDresden, GermanyBaroque church built 1726–1743; reconstructed 1994–2005Dresden’s great domed Lutheran church, destroyed in the 1945 firestorm and rebuilt from recovered stones as a contested but powerful sign of remembrance.Read the full history Reformation · MoravianBerthelsdorf Church and the Herrnhut RenewalBerthelsdorf and Herrnhut, GermanyMedieval parish; central to the Moravian renewal of 1727The village church linked with the 1727 Moravian communion service that became a remembered turning point in renewal, prayer, community, and mission.Read the full history Modern & Global · CatholicMetropolitan Cathedral of SantiagoSantiago, ChileFrom c. 1748Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a cathedral facing the central plaza through colonial, republican, earthquake, dictatorship, human-rights, protest, restoration, and ongoing archdiocesan historiesRead the full history Reformation · CatholicMission San Carlos Borromeo de CarmeloCarmel-by-the-Sea, California, United StatesMission founded 1770; Carmel site established 1771Junípero Serra’s California headquarters and burial church, requiring an account of Franciscan mission, Indigenous labor, coercion, devotion, loss, and survival.Read the full history Modern & Global · CatholicImmaculate Conception Cathedral of PondicherryPuducherry, IndiaFrom c. 1791Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Pondicherry connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through repeated mission churches, French colonial patronage, Tamil Catholic community, destruction and rebuilding, architecture, education, and active archdiocesan worshipRead the full history Modern & Global · CatholicMiagao ChurchIloilo, PhilippinesFrom c. 1797Miagao Church connects architecture, worship, local community, and world Christian history through a fortified parish church whose façade joins Catholic imagery, tropical plants, local craft, colonial defense, community worship, and heritage interpretationRead the full history