Architectural Designs

Could you please name some famous churches or chapels for me?

I am both an artist and a game designer, so I have to study building design for alot of things. The only problem is the fact I'm not exactly sure what the typical church looks like. I've always been fascinated with churches' designs, however, I've never actually gone to one because my family isn't very religious. Could you please name any famous Churches or Chapels? I'd like to do an image search on them and get the basic idea of design. It would be really helpful. Thanks!

Public Comments

1. St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica Seville Cathedral, Spain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville_Cathedral Sistine Chapel, Italy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel
2. *Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris) *St. Patrick's Cathedral (New York City) *St. Paul's Cathedral (London) Basilica di Santa Maria (Florence) Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (Chartres) Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia (Barcelona) Westerkerk Church (Amsterdam) *Westminster Abbey (London) *St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City) St. Joseph's Oratory (Montreal) *Templar Church (London) *Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (NYC) *Sistine Chapel (Vatican City) Duomo (Pisa) *Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (Ivory Coast) (world's largest church) *Hagia Sophia (Turkey) (once a contender in the New Seven Wonders of the World contest) (now a museum though) *St. Basil's Cathedral (Moscow) *The Pantheon (Rome) Onces with a * are probably the most famous Obviously the architecture of churches changes from era to era, but those are the most famous churches in the world. The Gothic Cathedral is probably the most popular (and, in my opinion, most striking) example of Christian/Church architecture
3. You will definitely want to check out the work of Sir Christopher Wren. After the Great Fire of London, he was the chief architect of the reconstruction. His St. Paul's cathedral is the best known of his works, but there are Wren churches all over London, either designed by him, or supervised by him. A "typical" church is often gothic based. Often in a "t," with a steeple (or bell tower) over the main door (at the bottom of the t). The Sanctuary, with the altar, is at the other end. The Roman style has a dome over the crossing place, and may or may not have steeples as well. Those are the main 2 basic designs, although there are others. Some Saxon churches (and others) had their door in the middle, rather than at one end. If you Google "church" in the image section, there are 93,600,000 hits. Lots to see there!