Christ Church was founded in 1695 by members of the Church of England, who built a small wooden church on the site by the next year. In 1700, Evan Evans travelled from Wales to become their rector.
When the congregation outgrew the original building twenty years after its construction, they decided to erect a new church, the most sumptuous in the colonies. The main body of the church was constructed between 1727 and 1744, and the steeple was added in 1754, making it the tallest building in the future United States of America, at 196 feet (60 m). Christ Church is considered one of the nation's most beautiful surviving 18th-century structures, a monument to colonial craftsmanship and a handsome example of Georgian architecture. Modeled on the work in London of Christopher Wren, it features a symmetrical, classical façade with arched windows and a simple yet elegant interior with fluted columns and wooden pews.  Although the architect of the church is unknown, its construction was supervised by John Kearsley, a physician, who was likely also responsible for the design, possibly with John Harrison.  The church was rebuilt in 1777 by Robert Smith, and the interior was altered in 1883 by Thomas Ustick Walter.
The baptismal font in which William Penn was baptized is still in use at Christ Church; it was sent to Philadelphia in 1697 from All Hallows-by-the-Tower in London. Another baptismal font and the communion table were crafted by Philadelphia cabinetmaker Jonathan Gostelowe, who served on the vestry in the 1790s.
Christ Church's congregation included 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  American Revolutionary War leaders who attended Christ Church include George Washington, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross (after she had been read out of the Quaker meeting house to which she belonged for marrying John Ross, son of an assistant rector at Christ Church).  Brass plaques mark the pews where these individuals once sat. At the convening of the First Continental Congress in September 1774, Rector Jacob Duché was summoned to Carpenters' Hall to lead the opening prayers. During the war, the Reverend William White (1748–1836), rector of Christ Church, served as Chaplain to both the Continental Congress and the United States Senate.
In September 1785, clerical and lay deputies from several states met in Christ Church and organized as a general convention, of which White was chosen president. He prepared a draft constitution for the church as well as an address to the archbishops and bishops of the Church of England, asking for the episcopate at their hands. White was also largely responsible for the liturgy and offices of the first American Book of Common Prayer (published 1789), which were to be submitted to Church of England authorities.  At the convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania in 1786, he was elected its first bishop and sailed for England with Dr. Samuel Provoost of New York, seeking consecration. After passage of a special enabling act by Parliament, White and Provoost were consecrated in early 1787 by the archbishops of Canterbury and York. Bishop White returned to Philadelphia that Easter Sunday. In 1789, under White's direction, the first meeting of the House of Bishops was held at Christ Church, marking the first true General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.  White was the first Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania and served the congregations of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church for decades.  White is buried in the church's chancel.
Christ Church is a National Historic Landmark and a unique historic site that continues its original function as an Episcopal parish.  More than 250,000 tourists visit the church each year.


The church can seat 800 people.  The arcades are simple, carried on piers without capitals.  The furnishings were made by Hatch and Sons, the wood carving being by C. J. Allen, and the stone carving by J. J. Millson.  The floor of the church is in black and white Italian marble, the pews, screens and reredos are in English oak, and the roof timbers in Canadian pitch pine.  Most of the stained glass is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.  This includes the windows at the east end, which total 16 lights, the west window, and the windows in the south transept.  There are also two aisle windows of 1950 by Ervin Bossányi.  The four-manual pipe organ was built in 1904 by Henry Willis II of Henry Willis & Sons, and was restored in 2006–07 by the same company.  According to the church website it is believed to be the largest extant four-manual Willis II organ still in its original condition and in everyday use.  There is a ring of eight bells, all of which were cast in 1904 by Mears and Stainbank.  In the Lady Lever Memorial is the chest tomb of Lady Lever, who died in 1913, and of William Lever, who died in 1925.  On this are recumbent bronze effigies by Sir W. Goscombe John.


The church is home to the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite stained glass windows in London by Morris, Marshall Faulkner & Company (later Morris & Co) with work ranging from 1861 to 1913 including windows by Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Philip Webb, John Henry Dearle and William Morris himself. Other features include fine windows by Clayton & Bell. The Faith & Hope window in the nave of the church, designed by Edward Burne-Jones was installed in memory of Letitia Catherine Hayes, sister of the British Imperial Statesman John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence, who resided at Southgate House. The great east window by Clayton & Bell was installed in 1862 in memory of Vincent Figgins Jnr, who continued the work of his father Vincent Figgins the type-founder.


Christ Church, Toxteth Park, is in Linnet Lane, Liverpool, Merseyside, England.  It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Wavertree and Toxteth, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool. Its benefice is united with that of St Michael, Aigburth.  The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.


The Christ Church (or Christuskirche) is a historic landmark and Lutheran church in Windhoek, Namibia, belonging to the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia. It was designed by architect Gottlieb Redecker.
The church was built following the wars between the Germans and the Khoikhoi, Herero, and Owambo. The foundation stone was laid on 11 August 1907, while on 16 October 1910 the church was officially dedicated. It was originally known as the Church of Peace.
Christ Church was constructed from quartz sandstone mined from the vicinity of Avis Dam. It has a mixture of neo-Romanesque, Art Nouveau and Gothic revival influences. Its spire is 24 m (79 ft) high.
The portico was made from Carrara marble imported from Italy. The clock and part of the roof was shipped from Germany, as were the three bronze bells cast by Franz Schilling. They bear the inscriptions "Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe" (Glory to God in the highest), "Friede auf Erden" (Peace on earth), and "Den Menschen ein Wohlgefallen" (Goodwill towards men). During a confirmation service in the 1960 the clapper of the main bell came loose, smashed through the window and fell on the street. Window bars were installed in reaction to this.
The colorful stained lead glass windows in the sanctuary were a gift from Emperor Wilhelm II. In the late 1990s a tourist noticed that all of them were installed with the sun protection on the inside. In the two years following this discovery, all window elements were restored and turned around.
The church is located on a traffic island on Robert Mugabe Avenue, opposite the Tintenpalast.


Christ Church is an Anglican cathedral in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania. It belongs to the Anglican Church of Tanzania. It is a landmark historical church, as well as one of the most prominent examples of early Christian architecture in East Africa.
It was built in seven years, the foundation stone being laid on Christmas Day 1873 until the opening on Christmas 1879, based on a vision of Edward Steere, third Anglican bishop of Zanzibar, who actively contributed to the design. As most buildings in Stone Town, it is made mostly of coral stone. It has a unique concrete roof shaped in an unusual barrel vault (that was Steere's idea) and the overall structure mixes Perpendicular Gothic and Islamic details. The cathedral was consecrated in 1903 and named after Canterbury Cathedral.
The church is located in Mkunazini Road, in the centre of the old town, and occupies a large area where the biggest slave market of Zanzibar used to be; the construction of the cathedral was in fact intended to celebrate the end of slavery. The altar is said to be in the exact place where the main "whipping post" of the market used to be. In the square there is a well-known monument to the slaves (a few human figures in chains emerging from a pit) as well as a museum on slavery.
Edward Steere died of a heart attack when the cathedral was almost completed, and was buried behind the altar. Inside the church there is a cross that was made from the wood of the tree that grows on the place where David Livingstone's heart was buried, in Chitambo.
As many other historical coral-stone buildings in Stone Town, the Cathedral experiences decay and structural problems and needs restoring.
The cathedral is linked with Ely Cathedral, in the diocese of Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK.


WikiWeb_Christ Church Cathedral, Lisburn_4

(Spire and weather vane exactly 106 feet in building plans and tower approximately 75 feet)


WikiWeb_Christ Church Cathedral (Ottawa)_9

Currently, the Right Reverend Shane A.D. Parker serves as the Bishop of Ottawa. The Very Reverend Elizabeth J. Bretzlaff serves as the Dean of Ottawa and the Rector of Christ Church Cathedral. The Reverend Canon Douglas Richards serves as the Vicar, and the Reverend Canon Hilary Murray serves as the Canon Pastor. Christ Church Cathedral is a diverse parish with a wide range of ministries. It is a place where faith is nurtured in creative, traditional and thought-provoking ways.
The cathedral is frequently the site of diocesan, ecumenical, interfaith and state events, including the state funerals of Prime Ministers John Diefenbaker and Lester B. Pearson, Governors-General Ray Hnatyshyn, Vincent Massey, and Roland Michener, and the Canadian funeral services of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Since the 1970s the cathedral has also been that of the Anglican Military Ordinariate of Canada and a seat in the Sanctuary is that of the Anglican Bishop Ordinary to the Canadian Forces. A plaque with those who have served in this capacity is above it. The present Bishop Ordinary is the Right Reverend Nigel Shaw.


The first rector, W. H. Walsh, like Bishop Broughton, was associated with the High Church group in England which was led by Joshua Watson and which also included Edward Coleridge. Walsh was also associated with High Church organisations – the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which initially funded Walsh's stipend, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Walsh also corresponded regularly with the Society for Promoting Church Music and the Ecclesiological Society which he addressed in London in 1851.
Walsh was the foremost proponent in Sydney of the early writings of the Oxford Movement (or “Tractarians”). He was on at least one occasion referred to as "the chief Puseyite" (a usually pejorative term derived from the name of E. B. Pusey, a leader of the Oxford Movement).
The result was a gothic church interior, with an ordered liturgy – Sung Matins and Evensong supported by a robed choir, and frequent Communion services with an offertory of sacramental alms and a surpliced preacher. Bishop Broughton wrote of the worship at Christ Church:
"I have heard objections stated to some of the arrangements in the celebration of divine service, as savouring of novelty and innovation; but I am bound to say that there is no contrariety in any part of the practice to the most approved usages of the Church of England, with which I have been familiar from my earliest years; and everything is marked by such a degree of order and solemnity, that I could wish the observances of this church to be taken, if it were possible, as a model for the imitation of every church in my diocese."
This High Church position was maintained under Walsh's successors, George Vidal and Charles Garnsey. Ritual advances towards Anglo-Catholicism were suppressed by the Evangelical diocesan, Bishop Frederic Barker (Bishop of Sydney, 1854-1882). The most significant dispute with Christ Church occurred in 1868 when Barker ordered the removal of an image of the cross above the altar from the newly installed tiled reredos.
Following Bishop Barker's death, the parish, under Charles Garnsey, began to adopt Anglo-Catholic practises, which had appeared in England in the 1860s and gathered strength (while also generating opposition) in the 1870s. In 1884–5, the parish introduced a cross and candles on the altar, a credence table, festal processions with cross and banners, daily services of Holy Communion, eucharistic vestments and choral Communion services. A correspondent to the London Church Times in late 1884 said of Christ Church "It is, indeed, an oasis in a desert."
However, some aspects of Anglo-Catholic practise were not introduced until relatively late, with the "high celebration" involving three sacred ministers (priest, deacon and subdeacon) introduced in 1913, The English Hymnal in 1916 and incense in 1921.
In 1910, in an attempt to discourage Catholic-minded clergy seeking appointment in Sydney, Archbishop John Wright imposed the requirement that all clergy, upon appointment, undertake not to wear the eucharistic vestment (the chasuble) in any church in the diocese. The parish complied under protest in order to secure appointment of a new rector. The chasuble was worn for the last time inside Christ Church on 19 April 1911. Since that date, priests have worn a cope instead of a chasuble when celebrating the Eucharist at Christ Church. In 1911 the Revd Charles William Coles was offered the incumbency, but he declined, due to the archbishop's restrictions. (Coles would go on to be vicar of the English Anglo-Catholic "shrine church" of St Agatha's, Landport in Portsmouth for 40 years.)
A very visible part of Christ Church's commitment to Anglo-Catholicism was the outdoor "procession of witness" held as part of the annual dedication festival from 1927 until 1967. Sometimes led by as many as three thurifers, the processions featured parish organisations and guilds, clergy from around the Anglican Communion (in copes), the occasional mitred bishop (mitres being a rarity in Sydney), clergy from Orthodox churches, and representatives from sympathetic Sydney parishes and St Gabriel's, a girls’ school run by the Community of the Sisters of the Church in the nearby suburb of Waverley.


The High Mass choir sings on Sunday mornings and major feast days and the Evensong choir on Sunday evenings. Additional choir events include carol services for Advent and Epiphany, and an orchestral Mass on the anniversary of the church's dedication in September. Though the choirs are mainly voluntary, between four and eight choral scholars, who are students or early-career musicians, are paid a stipend. At the Sung Eucharist on Sundays the congregation sings the ordinary, using a variety of musical settings, including some written specially for this service. At all services, hymns are taken from the New English Hymnal.
The director of music is Sam Allchurch, who studied at the University of Cambridge with Geoffrey Webber and Stephen Layton as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Sam Allchurch is also music director of the Sydney Chamber Choir and associate artistic director of the Gondwana Choirs. The choir's assistant conductor is Amber Johnson. The organist is David Tagg.
The choir is committed to new music by Australian composers and has commissioned liturgical works from Brooke Shelley (Viri Galilaei, 2021), Fiona Loader (Angelus ad virginem, 2020), Joseph Twist (Missa brevis, 2020), Oscar Smith (St Laurence Service, 2020) and William Yaxley (Mass for St Laurence, 2019).
Apart from its role in liturgy, the choir regularly gives concerts. In recent years, performances have included Bach's St John Passion (2022), Handel's Messiah (2021), Charpentier's Te Deum and Vivaldi's Gloria (2019), Buxtehude's Membra Jesu nostri (2018) and Bach's Mass in B minor (2017).
Concerts and the orchestral Mass are accompanied by the church's ensemble-in-residence, the Muffat Collective, a period instrument quartet, augmented by other professional musicians. The Collective also gives several concerts annually at the church. Other instrumental and vocal concerts are occasionally held in the church.
The choir has released several recordings, including a project to record music for the whole liturgical year. It has toured extensively in New Zealand, the UK and continental Europe, and the United States, with residencies in Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral, London, and services at Notre-Dame, Paris.
The choir's first known performance was for the consecration of Christ Church in September 1845, when it was augmented by members of the Sydney Choral Society. The choir was the first in New South Wales to wear surplices. The choir stalls were originally on each side of the aisle in the nave. In 1885 the choir moved into the expanded chancel. Since the 1940s it has sung in the St Laurence chapel.
The church's first organ, built by George Holdich of London in 1844, was destroyed by fire in 1905. The present organ, built by William Hill & Sons of London in 1891, was privately owned in Sydney before it was bought by the parish in 1905. It was restored by Orgues Létourneau of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, in 1979. As well as its liturgical function, the organ is heard in a monthly recital before Evensong, and appears on a number of recordings. The Hill organ is supplemented by a 2011 continuo organ by Henk Klop of Garderen, Netherlands.
An independent entity, St Laurence Music Incorporated, was established in 2001 to promote the appreciation of choral, organ and orchestral music through performances, recordings, tours and scholarships at or in association with the church.


Christchurch Mansion is a substantial Tudor brick mansion house built in Ipswich, Suffolk by Edmund Withypoll (also written "Withipoll") around 1548–50. The Grade I listed building is located within Christchurch Park and sits by the southern gates close to the town centre of Ipswich. The mansion belonged to various noble families throughout its history but was purchased by the Ipswich Borough Council in 1884. Since 1885, the building has been used as a museum and is today run by the state funded Colchester + Ipswich Museums organisation. The museum's rooms are preserved as past inhabitants would have known them, complete with original items such as furniture, fine clothing and children's toys. The museum also holds a collection of paintings by renowned local artists including John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. The Mansion is free to enter but due to current pandemic restrictions, visitors must book timed tickets online via the Colchester and Ipswich Museums website.


It was the location for two episodes of BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow filmed in 2020 and transmitted in January and March 2021.


In 1976 Highcliffe Castle donated the glazing of the window in the south nave aisle, which had come originally from Jumièges Abbey in Normandy. The window depicts the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Anne.
In 1999 a window celebrating the 900th anniversary of the priory was installed, which shows a starry night in which the Cross of Christ dominates, surrounded by a pattern of circles, the symbols of Eternity and Perfection, and the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ.  Christchurch Priory, as its website puts it, is 'a living church' with daily services of matins and evensong, as well as being open every day except Christmas for visitors.
In the 21st century The Times described it as 'the least appreciated of the Great Churches of England'.
In March 2021, a carving of a mask-wearing NHS worker was placed on the priory as a permanent tribute to the National Health Service's efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Carved by Rory Young, the stone feature is part of an ongoing project to replace damaged gargoyles and grotesques. The concept was inspired by a photograph of a doctor in an intensive care unit, wearing her PPE at the beginning of the pandemic, an image to represent all NHS workers for centuries to come.


The Priory has a ring of 12 bells plus a 6th flat. The Bells are rung twice on Sundays and Monday nights and for extra services. They are in the Key of D and the Tenor (largest) weighs 30cwt (1½ Tons). The two oldest bells in the ring were cast in 1376 by John Rufford.


The choir at the priory consists of a boys choir, a girls choir, and a men's choir. The children of the choir can earn medals as they gain experience and skill, the rank of chorister is: probationer - full choir member (given surplice) - light blue medal - dark blue medal - red medal - purple medal (Yellow for girls) - deputy (green medal) - head (green medal).
The choir sing three services during term time on Sundays:
Eucharist: 9:30- 10:30
Matins: 11:30- 12:15
Evensong: 6:30- 7:30
The men sing all three services while the two children's choirs alternate weekly between morning services and evening service (one week a choir will do eucharist and matins, the next week it will do evensong).
On occasion, such as Christmas and Easter services Both children's choirs will sing alongside the men.


WikiWeb_Church and Convent of São Francisco, Salvador_5

The most important characteristic of the church is its exuberant inner decoration, mostly executed in the first half of the 18th century. All interior surfaces--walls, pillars, vaults and ceilings--are covered by golden sculpted gilt woodwork and paintings. The altarpieces have Solomonic columns and concentric arches decorated with golden foliage, angels, and birds. The vaults of the aisles are covered by wooden panels with paintings. Of particular note are the carvings of eight massive Atlanteans support the lateral altars.
Blue-white tile (azulejo) panels, by Bartolomeu Antunes de Jesus and imported from Lisbon, cover the lower parts of the walls of the main chapel and transept and depict scenes of the life of St Francis of Assisi. The decoration of the church is considered one of the most complete and imposing in Portuguese-Brazilian Baroque gilt woodwork art (talha dourada), being a perfect example of the "golden church" (igreja dourada).
The convent of São Francisco is also an important repository of Baroque art. The wooden ceiling of the entrance hall (portaria) was painted with scenes in illusionistic perspective by José Joaquim da Rocha in 1774.
Two holy water fonts are located below the choir level at the center of the nave. They are of brecha Arrábida, a multicolor limestone from Portugal of variegated in color but predominantly reddish brown, and were a gift from King John V of Portugal. Brecha Arrábida was also used on the columns and altars of the Monastery of Jesus of Setúbal.


The church was built between 1919 and 1924 using funds donated from many different countries. The coat-of-arms of twelve of the countries from which donations originated are incorporated into the ceiling, each in a separate, small dome, and also into the interior mosaics. The countries honored in this way are, east to west (altar to entrance) and beginning with the northern apse: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico; in the middle of the church are commemorated: Italy, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, and to the right: Belgium, Canada, Germany, and the United States of America. The mosaics in the apses were donated by Ireland, Hungary, and Poland (by the sculpturist Tadeusz Adam Zieliński). The crown around the bedrock itself was a gift of Australia. These multi-national donations give the church one of its present names as the "Church of All Nations".
Two types of stone were used in the construction of the church: the interior utilizes a stone from the quarries at Lifta, north-west of Jerusalem; and the exterior, a rose colored stone from Bethlehem. The building is divided by six columns into three aisles, but with an even ceiling lacking a clerestory. This design gives the impression of one large open hall. Alabaster panels dyed violet were used for the windows to evoke a mood of depression analogous to Christ's agony, and the ceiling is painted a deep blue to simulate a night sky.
The facade of the church is supported by a row of Corinthian columns. Atop each column sits statues of the Four Evangelists. First is Mark. Second, Luke holds a quote from Luke 22:43–44 “…factus in agonia prolixius orabat et factus est sudor eius sicut guttae sanguinis decurrentis in terram" or translated from the Vulgate, "And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Followed by Matthew holding Matthew 26:42b
"Pater mi, si non potest hic calix transire nisi bibam illum, fiat voluntas tua" or translated “My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” The final statue is of John. The columns and statues are set below a modern mosaic depicting Jesus Christ as mediator between God and man. The designer of the facade mosaic was Professor Giulio Bargellini.
The bubble-domed roof, thick columns, and facade mosaic, give the church a Neoclassical look.
The church was designed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi and is currently held in trust by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.


The history of the church probably dates back to pre-Norman times. It is thought that there might have been a wooden church on this location for many years prior to the Norman conquest, although no records exist. The first records of the church indicate it was rebuilt some time after 1066 by the Lord of the Manor, William Paganel, who gave it, with other possessions of his, to Drax Priory in the time of Archbishop Thurstan (1119–1140).
This building was probably rebuilt many times over the centuries, culminating in the present structure, which was begun during the reign of Henry VIII (1491–1547). The choir was erected in 1518,  when the church was dedicated to All Saints, having previously been dedicated to Saint Lawrence. The current tower was constructed in the 15th century and heightened with a new belfry added in 1739. The two-light bell openings that adorn each side of the tower were 19th century additions.
The church received a new clock in 1856 and was renovated in 1870–1871 when the Ferrand Chapel became the vestry and some of the pews that were tied to the local Manor Houses were stripped out.
The church has a stained-glass window crafted by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. There is a peal of bells, for many years six in number, with a further two added in 1873. In 1904, a new road was built to the east of the church and cut the churchyard in two. Several gravestones were used to make paths from the exhumed graves. One gravestone that was lost was that of John Nicholson, a poet who had been buried in the churchyard in April 1843.
The church was Grade II* listed in 1966. The two gate piers to the south of the church that lead onto the Old Main Street in Bingley, were grade II listed in 1985. The church's setting is in the oldest part of the town that used to have a school and possibly a castle. The Old White Horse Inn and Ireland Bridge are both nearby, and the Old Main Street is still laid out with cobbled stone setts.
The parish includes the churches of St. Aidan, Crossflatts and St. Lawrence, Eldwick and is part of the Bingley Group Ministry which includes Holy Trinity Church and St Wilfreds in Gilstead. The benefice used to lie within the Diocese of Bradford, but since 20 April 2014 it is now in the Diocese of Leeds.
In October 2018, a special service with the Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, was held to celebrate 500 years of worship at the church.


WikiWeb_Church of All Saints, Cuddesdon_2

Today, the Church of All Saints is part of the Benefice of Garsington, Cuddesdon and Horspath in the Archdeaconry of Dorchester of the Diocese of Oxford. The church stands in the Liberal Catholic tradition of the Church of England.
Due to its proximately, the church has close links with Ripon College Cuddesdon, an Anglican theological college. The college attends the church's evensong each day.


WikiWeb_Church of Christ the Cornerstone_0

Church of Christ the Cornerstone is an Ecumenical church in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. It was completed in 1991 and has the Church of England, the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church working together and share the space. It is situated in Central Milton Keynes on Saxon Gate, between Midsummer and Silbury boulevards, with the Fred Roche Memorial Gardens behind it. It was the first ecumenical metro centre church in the United Kingdom.


WikiWeb_Church of Christ the Saviour, Pristina_1

The church is located on the site of the campus of the University of Pristina. The site was first planned by Albanian architect Bashkim Fehmiu in 1973 as part of an open plan campus and was seen by the local Albanian population at that time as "a symbol of knowledge dissemination" stripped from any religious symbolism. In 1989, the autonomous status of Kosovo within the Yugoslav federation was removed by President Slobodan Milošević of the Serbian Republic and direct control was established from Belgrade. Pristina Municipality, under control from Belgrade took a small parcel of land belonging to Pristina University and gave it to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC). A new plan for the site designed by Ljubiša Folić was announced at that time. A church was to be constructed in a central location of the campus on the grounds of the disputed plot between the University of Pristina and the Serbian Orthodox Church. A 1991 proposition by Serbian architect Spasoje Krunić was the final church design which was selected. At completion, the church would have 1389 (a reference to the Battle of Kosovo) golden crosses according to Krunić's design.
The construction of the church began in 1992 and its symbolism was part of the policies of Serbian nationalism in Serbia. Its foundations were laid in the campus of the University of Pristina at a time when Albanian students and professors were expelled from the university buildings and there was an extensive campaign of serbization going on in Kosovo. Work on the building halted due to dwindling funds and recommenced in March 1995. The external structure was completed by 1998 yet the deteriorating security environment in Kosovo led to the suspension of construction. Construction of the building was not welcomed by the predominantly Muslim population of Kosovo.
Following the war and international military intervention in 1999, Kosovo became a protectorate under a United Nations administration (UNMIK) and a failed attempt was made to destroy the building with explosives that did little damage to the structure. Seen by Kosovo Albanians as a symbol of Milošević's rule, the building was vandalised in the aftermath of the war. The UNMIK administration held concerns that the Orthodox church could become a target due to retaliatory violence and the building was placed under protection along with other Orthodox churches of Kosovo. In 2003 the building became part of discussions by the public over its future.
Pristina Municipality, with an Albanian majority population became part of the newly established UNMIK provisional government institutions of Kosovo and it proposed four uses for the building: preserved as is, demolition, turned into a museum and usage for some alternative purpose. Albanian controlled Pristina municipality was openly hostile to the structure. Based in Gracanica at the time, the SOC stated that it was against the proposals viewing them as an attack toward a religious location and an attempt to remove the Serb presence from Pristina. The SOC compiled property documents demonstrating ownership over multiple locations within Pristina such as the Kosovo parliament, the accommodation buildings of Pristina university and its library. To counter municipal plans, the SOC suggestion was that these buildings be turned into museums. The UNMIK eventually overruled Pristina Municipality over its proposals.
During the riots of 2004 by Kosovo Albanians against Serbs that resulted in the destruction or damage of 35 religious monuments, nearly all Orthodox churches, the building in Pristina was not damaged. Between 2005-2007 the international community sought a political solution for Kosovo's status and it generated the Ahtisaari Plan which outlined supervised independence and a provision to protect SOC property. In relation to the cathedral building, the matter became interpreted through property rights over land ownership and identification of the owner. The Ahtisaari Plan also made the Kosovo government through its Culture Ministry in charge of protecting the property of the SOC, an arrangement which the Serbian church did not acknowledge. To breach the impasse, the EU special representative (EUSR) in Kosovo selected a neutral mediator, ambassador Moschopoulos of the Greek Liaison Office to discuss matters between the government and church. After the communication mechanism was created,  efforts were devoted toward resolving ownership of the site.
In the aftermath of Kosovan independence (2008), communication was nonexistent between the government and SOC. During 2009 the Kosovo Culture Ministry contacted the International Civilian Office (ICO) that through the EUSR contacted the SOC and international neutral organisations mediated between both sides to reach a resolution. The SOC produced title deeds showing the transfer of the site during the mid 1990s and they were allowed permission to undertake any future construction on the site. By 2011 public debate and administrative constraints over the structure had ceased and the SOC devoted its efforts to raising money for restoration and future constriction of the building. In 2015 construction still had not resumed on the site and other administrative and legal issues had arisen, while the building was vandalised.
The future of the building remains uncertain. Ownership of the building and the land on which it is located is disputed between the current University of Pristina and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Various Kosovo Albanian intellectuals have called for its demolition. In response for calls for its demolition, the church has been heavily desecrated and vandalised. Throughout 2016 the church was set on fire and turned into a public toilet and dumpsite. In 2016 the University of Pristina failed in a four-year bid to take ownership of the land on which the church was built on through judicial proceedings. The Kosovo Appeals Court granted land ownership rights of the church grounds to the Serbian Orthodox Church, however the University of Pristina continues to block attempts to refurbish the church.
On 10 June 2021, the Eparchy of Raška and Prizren entered the grounds of the disputed property and conducted a religious ceremony under Bishop Teodosije Šibalić for the first time since 1998. The event was conducted without a police permit and was widely criticized within Kosovo as "political use of religion" and a "political stunt by the Serbian government" just before a new round of negotiations between the Kosovan and Serbian government. Hajrulla Çeku, Minister of Culture of Kosovo announced that the event was illegal as the property on which the church was built in the 1990s is still under legal dispute by the University of Pristina and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Dalibor Jevtić, a Serb politician, posted on Twitter a few photos of policemen standing outside the premises of the church and claimed that the police were sent to monitor the liturgy. The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija of Serbia called the "presence of police officers outside the church premises an obvious threat to believers which served as warning of what will happen to them if they come to this shrine in the city again, from which 40,000 Serbs were expelled from their homes after 1999". During the night of June 11, a graffiti stating "Jesus hates Serbs" appeared on the church entrance. It was quickly removed by student activists of Social Democratic Party of Kosovo the next morning who called it a "provocation aimed at igniting religious and ethnic tensions". On June 11, 2021 the union of the students of the University of Pristina held a protest in the university campus at the location where the church has been built and called it a "monument built by war criminals" (a reference to the presence of war criminal and mafia boss Željko Ražnatović at the ceremony of the beginning of its building in 1992). The students asked for the church to be removed from their campus or to be turned into a museum about the Yugoslav Wars and the war crimes of the Milošević regime.


WikiWeb_Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague)_1

The church along with a monastery of the Carmelite order was founded in 1347 on the occasion of the coronation of Charles IV and his wife Blanche of Valois. The Carmelites were a mendicant order since 1245, which meant that they were not allowed to own any land. They therefore had no sources for building the church. Charles IV donated them a large plot, which they could partly rent, and the wood which had been used to build his coronation hall. This, along with contributions from the citizens of Prague, was enough to construct the currently visible part of the building. The construction of the church was delayed because of the problems with funds.
During the Hussite Wars the construction was interrupted, the church was heavily damaged, and the local monks left the monastery. The church fell into disrepair by the end of the 16th century. At the beginning of the 17th century the church was taken over by the Franciscans to whom the church was given by the King of Bohemia Rudolf II.
In 1611, during the Passau army incursion, fourteen monks were killed, when a rabble from the city of Prague attacked and looted the monastery. These monks are known as Fourteen Prague Martyrs. They were beatified in 2012.
The church itself was modified during the Renaissance and Baroque (mostly in the second half of the 17th century).
Today, the Gothic presbytery serves as a church of Franciscans. The northern aisle is accessible from the eastern corner of the Jungmann square through the gate which originally led to the cemetery behind the church.


The original church of the mid-15th century had the shape of a Latin cross. It was consecrated around 1443. It is said to have been erected by prime contractors from Ghent on the site of St. John's Hospice. In 1558, the French troops led by Maréchal de Thermes invaded the city and burnt the church. Only the tower survived. The re-construction of the church started in 1559 under the supervision of prime contractor Jean de Renneville and ended in 1567. The sanctuary was enlarged to the east, the main nave was elevated and the side aisles were re-built with chapels. However, the works were stopped in 1585 because of a lack of funding. The old tower remained isolated from the new church by the ruins of the original church and served as a bell tower, municipal belfry and daymark. The original project was never ended.
The space between the new church and the belfry was transformed into a public pathway in 1591, then into a street in 1731.
In 1782, extension works were made by architect Victor Louis on the behalf of intendant de Calonne to cope with the population growth. Victor Louis offered to move the outer walls beyond the abutments of the side aisles and to merge the two side chapels to build two additional naves. The works lasted until 1787. The campanile added in 1610 was demolished and a new façade (dated 1785) was built. The façade is a Classical portico with pediments and pillars. Between 1793 and 1795, the building was used as a Temple of Reason.
In 1882, the disintegrating façade was demolished and replaced with a new one. The Gothic Revival project of architect Adolphe Van Moë was selected. The first stone was laid on April 11, 1887, and the new façade was ended in 1889 by the city architect Jules Lecoq.
The church was heavily damaged during the First World War, in 1915 and 1917. After long restoration works funded by the war damage compensation (dommages de guerre), the church was re-opened. But in May and June 1940, it was hit by incendiary bombs and only the walls survived. Even though the church was re-opened for worship in 1977, the restoration works lasted until 1985.


After World War I, Serbia was integrated into the new Yugoslav State, thus the idea for the memorial church transformed into a more ambitious project. In the second competition a church with a ground area of 60 x 60 m was publicly announced.
A new impetus came from the foundation of an association to build a memorial church on Vračar. The managing board was held by the patriarch Dimitrije. The church was thought to have a built area of 3000 m², to tower 80 m and offer space to 6.000 faithful. The church was to pay reference to close national building traditions and resemble edifices in late Byzantine art of the so-called "Morava style", highlighting locally built churches commissioned under the reign of Lazar of Serbia (1329-1389) and his successors. The churches from the second half of the 14th century had all a trikonchic floor-plans, a cross-in-square design and some important royal burial places and memorial monasteries were also five-domed. One specification said that only Yugoslav or Russian architects are eligible for entries in the competition. It favoured especially Serbian nationals and Russian émigré architects, who were the main representatives in the neo-Byzantine movement which had graduated at the Vienna Academy of Arts, where Serbian students were lectured by Theophil von Hansen at the end of the 19th century in neo-Byzantine tendencies. They figured prominently in the competition of 1926–27.
The guidelines of the competition stated that the building should be the "greatest and most monumental building in the country, and have ultimate artistic importance".
With the preparation and implementation of the second International Congress of Byzantine Studies 1927 in Belgrade, tendencies of the neo-Byzantine movement culminated in Yugoslavia. The clerical hierarchy sought a church in the tradition of historicism based on classical Byzantine models, more precisely on buildings in the then-called "Serbo-Byzantine Style". The competition marked a climax in neo-Byzantine tendencies in Serbia which saw also the rising of Monastery Gračanica as the ultimate achievement of the late Byzantine architecture and an acclaimed model for the building of the new church on Vračar, even so it was not requested.
It was coincidental that the call for entries was listed on 3 November 1926 in Politika and the competition should be held on 30 April 1927, several months prior to the International Congress of Byzantine Studies 10–14 December 1927. Discourses in the Serbo-Byzantine movement derived not directly from the sphere of architecture, but established here from studies in humanities, which retrospectively sought to highlight the importance of the Byzantine commonwealth to the Serbian cultural tradition. The main proponents came from Russia. With an important Russian émigré community, Belgrade had become after World War I a center of this tendency. Russian émigré architects had become the main architects for public buildings during the reign of the Yugoslav king Aleksandar I, they were located atop the hierarchy and were preferably engaged for building representative government edifices.
The competition itself was not successful, no first-prize winner was announced. None of the entries sufficed the public and professional opinion. Most entries had even not fulfilled the guidelines, most proposed designs were based on models of the Gračanica Monastery as the main representative of national Serbian medieval architecture or even the Haghia Sophia. It is believed that the Jury had recommended the two models. As with the Katholikon of Gračanica, its design was regarded the highpoint of the national architecture, and the competition manifested as the initial point in an evolving discourse about architecture and national identity in Serbian art. Gračanica, even not belonging to the group of memorial monasteries whose royal founders build them as burial places, became a chosen inspiration for the architects. They saw it as a modern source of inspiration in the quest for a true national style.
The second competition saw 22 (24?) entries from major architects in the country. All final proposals had to be submitted before May 1927. Besides Bogdan Nestorović and Aleksandar Deroko, entries came from Dragiša Brašovan, Milan Zloković, Milutin Borisavljević, Branko Krstić and Petar Krstić, Žarko Tatić, Aleksej Papkov, Miladin Prljević, Branče Marinković and Žikica Piperski, Aleksander Vasić and others. The commission had Patriarch Dimitrije, Jovan Cvijić, Andra Stevanović and Bogdan Popović, Pera Popović and Momir Korunović. The commission declined to name a winning entry, as none of the entries had fulfilled the tender criteria. The commission criticised the minor quality of most of the entries.


Forty years after the initial idea, construction of the church began on 10 May 1935, 340 years after the burning of Saint Sava's remains. The cornerstone was laid by Metropolitan Gavrilo of Montenegro, (the future Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo V). The project was designed by Aleksandar Deroko and Bogdan Nestorović, aided by civil engineer Vojislav Zađina. The work lasted until Second World War Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941.
The church's foundation had been completed, and the walls erected to the height of 7 and 11 meters. After the 1941 bombing of Belgrade, work ceased altogether. The occupying German army used the unfinished church as the Wehrmacht's parking lot, while in 1944 the Red Army, and later the Yugoslav People's Army used it for the same purpose. After that, it was used for storage by various companies. The Society for Building of the Church ceased to exist and has not been revived. Children who grew up in the vicinity, including the future President of Serbia Boris Tadić, didn't know the intended purpose of the unfinished construction, so they played inside thinking it was a ruin of an old castle. The granite slabs, intended for the construction of the church, were used for the building of the Tomb of People's Heroes in 1948, in the Kalemegdan section of the Belgrade Fortress.


The greatest achievement of the construction process was lifting of the 4,000 ton central dome, which was built on the ground, together with the copper plate and the cross, and later lifted onto the vaulted arches. The lifting, which took 20 days with the specially constructed hydraulic machines, was finished on 26 June 1989.
Before the dome could be lifted, the four main arches had to be brought into place. The four arches are the elements linking the bell towers both physically and in terms of communication. All four pairs of arches were very successfully lifted and fixed into position between January and June 1988. On the outer arches, which belong to the wing section, the semi-domes were formed, each consisting of eight curved, reinforced concrete trusses covered with curved slab decking. The assembly of the arches was done on the ground from pre-fabricated slabs, with their weight of 4000 kN each, they were lifted with "chains" to their intended position. The lifting of heavy loads to great heights was remarkably easily achieved, which as an innovation was a completely new system especially designed for the building. The chains were tested against safety factor of overloading between 1.6 and 2.2. As the expansion-joint arch rests "hanging" from chains in the lifted position, its own columns had to be subsequently cast underneath. They were then relaxed and together with the columns, form a framed system in a "portal" configuration. As the arches are major elements in the structural safety of the dome, they were analyzed in detail in all stages of static live, both in terms of stresses and deflections. The dimensions of the arches were reduced, optimized, so that the resulting structure could become as light as possible for technological purposes, and at the same time strong enough for the lifespan of the building.
The main work was the heavy-assembly-pushing technology in the raising of the main dome. The dome, weighing 4000 tonnes, was lifted by pushing. For the, dome the main gallery, spanning 39,5 m in diameter, which bears the dome and connects to the four bell-towers was prefabricated inside the central square. It sat as a monolith on gravel embankment of 120 cm height.
As thus it could be completed in one phase with the supporting gallery, the dome and the cross and copper covering. Works began in November 1988 and assembly was finished at the end of February 1989. The main dome was assembled from 24 curved, reinforced concrete trusses with two layers of decking forming outer skins around either flanges of the trusses. The bottom decking was intended for mosaic ornament on the inner surface of the dome. The electro-hydraulic lifting equipment prescribed by KMG "Trudbenik" was designed and delivered by the Hydraulic and Pneumatic equipment and devices factory "Prva Petoletka".
The assembly-lifting of the dome structure, with completely executed copper covering works and cross, weighing 3.9 meganewtons (400 megaponds) from the ground up to the designated position at +40,09 m was done at speeds restricted to 2,5 m/day for safety reasons. With a hydraulic integral lifting power of ca. 49 meganewtons (5,000 megaponds), proportional serve-valves as well as strike and pressure pickup was done on all four reactive supports simultaneously. Computers led the unity lifting, vertical stepping of 110 mm in one step was realized by application of reinforced concrete slab-cribbing in all reactive supports by robots, which were successively placed under the jacks of the dome. Lifting to 13 m was done with supports passing by the bell-towers in order not to destroy the columns of the galleries. From there, the equipment and support steel (pi shaping) girder were moved into the slits which were left intentionally during the slip-forming of the columns. For each day, casting had to be done in situ around the cribbing slabs in order to finalize 2,5 m of columns per day. The columns were stiff enough for 2,5 m and lifting was restricted to five hours a day.
Over 280 electronic elastomers were placed throughout the dome and its elements, all hydraulic components, were supplied by measurement instruments on information about jack's stroke and jack pressure which were fed to a specially designed computer to control the automatic lifting operation. A fully independent outside electronic leveling system was attached to the computer control, which secured the exact levelling information, and could stop the lifting operation in case of mislevelling greater than 5 mm. One of two working Pc-At clones was collecting and monitoring of over 24 essential data during the performance operation which was finished without mistakes.
The last lifting operations were performed at level +39,69 m, while the top of the dome had reach approximately 80 m in elevation. With the lifting method no risky and complicated assemblies were necessary at this height. All the covering works of the copper sheet on wooden basis and the cross had been performed in March and April, while the dome was still on the ground.
After the lifting of the dome, the pendentive was assembled again at ground level underneath the main dome. It represents the transitional tie element through which the rectilinear plan of the church naos changes to the circular plan of the main dome. With the lifting of the pendentive, the central part of the church was rounded off.
The structural connection between the pendentive and the main dome supports the dome in four positions. It was done by means of hydraulic jacks capable to produce 3000 kN each (12.000 kN in total). The pendentive will suffice for later additional loads from applied mortar, mosaic cladding and marble cladding on the facade.
The pendentive was lifted again by chains. The weight of the pendentive, about 1100 Mp, spanning in perpendicular direction 24*24 m and 14 m height was lifted to 28 m beneath the main dome. This was achieved during two days at the end of January 1990. It was lifted in 36 hours, with speeds at 2,0 m/h. It reached an accuracy within the prescribed technological design with 5 cm tolerance.
With this work the structural part of the church was finished.


WikiWeb_Church of Saints Simon and Helena_0

The Church of Saints Simon and Helena (Belarusian: Касьцёл сьвятых Сымона і Алены) (Polish: Kościół św. Szymona i św. Heleny w Mińsku), also known as the Red Church (Belarusian: Чырвоны касьцёл) (Polish: Czerwony Kościół), is a Roman Catholic church on Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus.
This neo-Romanesque church was designed by Polish architects Tomasz Pajzderski and Władysław Marconi. The cornerstone was laid in 1905 and the church was completed in 1910. The bricks for its walls were sourced from Częstochowa, whilst the roof tiles came from Włocławek. Its construction was financed by Edward Woyniłłowicz (1847-1928), a prominent Belarusian-Polish landowner, businessman and civic activist. The church was named and consecrated in memory of Woyniłłowicz's two deceased children, Szymon and Helena.


WikiWeb_Church of Sant Llorenç, Lleida_1

It contains four imposing altarpieces: Saint Lawrence, Saint Ursula (attributed to Jaume Cascalls), Saint Peter and Saint Lucy. One of the two entrances, on Plaça de Sant Josep, can be seen the family crest of Berenguer de Gallart. The church has been Lleida's episcopal see twice during its existence. Among the works of art inside Sant Llorenç there are a Gothic painting of Santa Maria de la Candelera by Mateu Ferrer and the sculpture of the Mare de Déu dels Fillols, originally located in the Seu Vella.


WikiWeb_Church of Santa Maria Primerana_1

First mentioned in AD 966, the church was built atop the stylobate of a Roman temple, from which a pietra serena pillar was incorporated into the church's north wall. There is also a Roman decumanus running north–south that flanks the church. Moreover, findings of nearby Lombard sepulchres indicates that the church was once an early Christian site. The church occupies a prominent position in Piazza Mino, near the Fiesole Cathedral. Due to an image inside of the Virgin Mary it appears that the church is the site of the oldest instance of veneration of the Madonna in the Diocese of Fiesole, which would form the basis for "Primerana" in the church's name.
Santa Maria Primerana was expanded in the Middle Ages. From this period, the Gothic chancel remains. A new façade was built at the end of the 16th century in the Mannerist style. The interior was decorated with sgraffito decor by Ludovico Buti.
The portico, which is constituted by an architrave supported by columns of the Ionic order, dates to 1801.
The interior consists of a single transept room. The high altar was constructed between 1745 and 1767 by Bernardino Ciruini. On the altar is a 13th-century tablet by Maestro di Rovezzano, which depicts the Madonna and Child.
In the transept are two marble bas-reliefs by Francesco da Sangallo. One dates to 1542 and is a Self-portrait of the artist; the other dates to 1575 and is a Portrait of Francesco del Fede. Also in the transept is a glazed terracotta from Andrea della Robbia's workshop depicting the Crucifix between the Madonna, St. John, Mary Magdalene and Angels. There is, additionally, a large, painted, wooden crucifix designed in the Giotto school from the 14th-century, which is attributed to Bonaccorso di Cino.
The faded remains of frescoes on the walls are by Niccolò di Pietro Gerini.


WikiWeb_Church of St. Anthony of Padua, Czerniaków_2

The church was built on the plan of a Greek cross coupled with an octagonal sanctuary, and at the intersection of the arms of the cross, a dome was built on the drum. The structure of the church has an interesting arrangement where the proportions have retained their original appearance including the interior which did not undergo major changes, keeping the decor from the end of the 17th century.
The decor of the interior painting shows the life and work of the church's patron, St Anthony of Padua, with 63 of 69 images showing scenes from the life of the patron saint. In the nave there is a series of eight vertical paintings which show scenes of healings performed by him, and the last of the frescoes shows the moment of his death. At the altar is a picture of St. Anthony which is considered miraculous. In the chancel, frescos show the story of the construction of the temple.
The side altars are images of St. Francis and the famous Renaissance triptych, painted on glass, the "Lamentation of Christ", which was a gift from King John III Sobieski. The frescoes in the church were inspired by the founder, and are attributed to either Francesco Antonio Giorgioliemu or Tylman van Gameren.
At the main altar is a reliquary of the martyr St. Boniface, which Lubomirski had received from Pope Innocent XII in 1693 during a pilgrimage to Rome. Because of the reliquary and its relation to the cult of the martyr, there was a pilgrimage here until the dissolution of the monastery resulting from the January Uprising. St. Boniface became the patron of the parish, and the cult of the saint is inextricably linked to it (a pilgrimage and indulgence on May 14).
In the courtyard of the churchyard is a classical chapel dedicated to St. Boniface from 1839.


WikiWeb_Church of St. Apollinaire, Prague_14

In close surroundings there is botanical garden of Faculty of Science Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, biological and geological section of Charles University, Institute of Pathology of the First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital of St. Alzbeta Hospital. There are also two churches – Church of Virgin Mary by Alzbetines with the chapel of St. Tekla and the church of Virgin Mary and St. Charles the Great situated in Karlov.
The church also gave a name to nearby maternity hospital by Apollinaire.


WikiWeb_Church of St. Euphemia, Rovinj_1

This three-nave church was built from 1725 to 1736, over the remains of older, early Christian structures. The dedication was originally to Saint George, later to Saints George and Euphemia; the present building is dedicated to Euphemia only. Its façade dates from 1883.
The relics of Saint Euphemia are preserved in a Roman sarcophagus from the sixth century (but adapted in the 15th century). The church contains several treasures and works of art: Gothic statues from the 15th century, paintings from the 16th and the 17th centuries: Last Supper and Christ in the Gethsemane.
The bell tower resembles the tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice. It was built during 1654–1680, to the plans by Antonio Manopola. On top of this 60 m-high tower stands the statue of Saint Euphemia, serving as a wind vane.
The church is described by Alice Lee Moqué in Delightful Dalmatia:
"At first glance it is seen that the tower with its golden angel is almost an exact copy of the campanile in Venice, only this angel is Saint Eufemia, the little town's patron saint...whose marvelous experiences are plainly depicted upon the walls of the chapel."


WikiWeb_Church of St. James the Greater (Prague)_2

When it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt in the Baroque architecture style. The rebuilding included the addition of over 20 altars. Artists such as Jan Jiří Heinsch, Václav Vavřinec Reiner, and Petr Brandl created paintings for the altars. In 1702, an organ was installed. In 1974 the church was granted the honorary title of Minor basilica by Pope Paul VI.
The church is the final resting place for Count Vratislav of Mitrovice, Bohemian Chancellor of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, who died in Vienna in 1712, but whose remains were transferred to Prague in 1714 after the completion of the magnificent baroque tomb by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. There is also a mummified forearm to the right of the tomb entrance, dating back over 400 years. The arm is the arm of a jewel thief who tried to steal from the high altar, which has a statue of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that when the thief tried to steal the jewels, Mary grabbed his arm and would not let go, therefore his arm was cut off by monks.


WikiWeb_Church of St. John the Baptist, Cirencester_1

The church is medieval. It is renowned for its perpendicular porch, fan vaults and merchants' tombs.
The chancel is the oldest part of the structure, and construction of the current church started in the 12th century on the site of an earlier Saxon one. It was widened in about 1180. Around 1240 the nave was completely rebuilt. The east window dates from around 1300. The original stained glass of the east window has long since disappeared and it is now filled with fifteenth century glass from other parts of the church.
To the north of the chancel is St. Catherine's Chapel which dates from around 1150. It contains a wall painting of St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child, and vaulting given by Abbot John Hakebourne in 1508 when major reconstruction took place funded by the wool trade making it an example of a Wool church. To the north of St. Catherine's Chapel is the Lady Chapel, first built in 1240 and extended in the 15th century. The tower was built and supported by buttresses around 1400.
The Trinity Chapel dates from 1430 to 1460 and was endowed for a priest of the nearby Abbey to say masses for the souls of Kings and Queens. It contains a squint which enabled the priest to synchronise the celebration of mass with that at the high altar. The nave was completely rebuilt between 1515 and 1530 and is a remarkable example of late Perpendicular Gothic architecture. The tower is fifteenth century and remarkable for the large buttresses which shore it up at its junction with the nave. The great south porch which adjoins the market place was built around 1500 at the expense of Alice Avening. It is elaborately decorated. It was built by Cirencester Abbey around 1480, as an administrative centre and only connected to the church in the 18th century. Between the dissolution of the monasteries and its connection to the church it was used as the town hall. The nave was again rebuilt between 1516 and 1530.
In 1642 the church was used to imprison local citizens overnight after the skirmishes in the town during the English Civil War.
During the 1860s George Gilbert Scott lead a team undertaing a Victorian restoration to strengthen the church, which included moving many of the bodies interred under the nave to the Lady Chapel. This reduced the level of the floor and introduced sub floor voids. These were investigated during alterations carried out in 2008 and 2009, which discovered evidence of the various periods of the church's construction.
In 2019 a design competition was started to commission statues for niches on the church wall, to replace those removed and lost in 1963.


The Church of St. Ludmila (Czech: Kostel svaté Ludmily) is a neo-Gothic Catholic church at Náměstí Míru (Peace Square) in Prague's Vinohrady, built on plans of Josef Mocker in 1888–1892. It is named in honor of St. Ludmila of Bohemia.
It is a brick-made three-aisle basilica with a transversal nave in the shape of the cross. The church front features two 60.5m-high towers with bells and the tall gable with portal above the main entrance with sculptures. The interior of the temple excels in a rich color windows, paintings and sculptures on which participated national artists Josef Václav Myslbek, Josef Čapek and František Ženíšek.
The church was closed due to Metro construction and later for reconstruction in 1974–1992. In 1980, its major reconstruction started. By December 1984, the restoration of the southern nave was completed, where the service of the Mass was temporarily resumed in improvised setting. On September 16, 1992, the day of veneration of St. Ludmila, the whole temple was reopened in the solemn ceremony of consecration of the new altar, which was held by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk. On September 3, 1993, the bells rang again on the towers of the church.
At present, the Christmas and Easter fairs, open-air concerts, and charitable sales are often held in front of the temple. Since 2013, the videomapping has been screened every year in October on the church during the Signal festival. The temple is open to visitors only during services.


WikiWeb_Church of St. Mary of the Spring (Istanbul)_3

According to historians Procopius and Cedrenus, the church was originally erected by Emperor Justinian in the last years of his reign (559-560) near a fountain of water from a holy well (Greek: ἁγίασμα, hagiasma, whence Turkish: ayazma) situated outside the walls of Theodosius II in correspondence of today's Gate of Silivri. During hunting the Emperor noticed a small chapel surrounded by many women. Asking the meaning of the building, he was told that this was the “source of the miracles”. He at once ordered that a magnificent church be built there, with the material remaining after the erection of the Hagia Sophia.
According to a later legend, the sanctuary was erected by Emperor Leo I the Thracian (r. 457–474) because of a miracle that occurred when he was still a soldier. Before entering the city, Leo met a blind man who asked him to give him water. A female voice ordered the future Emperor to wet the eyes of the blind man with water from a nearby swamp. The same voice added that she had chosen that very place to be worshiped and that he would one day receive the crown to the empire. Leo followed her order and at once the blind man recovered his eyesight. After his accession to the throne, the emperor erected a magnificent church on this place. This legend is possibly a later invention of the monks of the sanctuary. It is possible that, before the Justinian's building was erected, a small monastery had already existed there.
The building underwent many repairs over the centuries. The largest were required because of earthquakes: in 790, under Empress Irene, and – after the great earthquake of 869 – under Basil I (r. 867–886). On 7 September 924 Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria burned the complex, which was at once restored by Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944). Three years later the son of Simeon, Peter was married to Maria, the niece of Lekapenos.
Due to its position outside the city, the monastery was often used as place of exile. In 1078 Georgios Monomachos was banished there. In 1084, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos confined the philosopher John Italus to the monastery, because of his neoplatonic theories.
After the Latin invasion of 1204, the church was occupied by the Latin clergy and, according to Byzantine sources, this caused the end of the so-called "habitual miracle" (to synetés thauma).
In 1328 Andronikos III Palaiologos used the monastery as base to attack Constantinople. Two years later, as he lay dying in the town of Didymoteicho, he drank water from the spring and recovered at once.
During the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1422, Sultan Murad II camped in the sanctuary. It is unknown whether the Byzantines restored the building before the conquest of the city in 1453  Russian pilgrims of the fifteenth century do not mention the church, only the spring.


WikiWeb_Church of St. Nicholas, Rijeka_1

The church was designed by local architect Ignazio Hencke in 1787 year and was built in 1790 using money of Orthodox Serbs who fled the Ottoman Empire and settled in Fiume (Rijeka) city in 1768. At the same time urban local authorities hindered the construction. The church kept numerous icons from monasteries in Bosnia and Vojvodina.
Rijeka has a notable Serb minority (6.57% in 2011, 11,24% in 1991), while the Serb-inhabited villages of Milaši and Moravice (Gorski kotar) historically gravitated towards Rijeka.


WikiWeb_Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis)_2

The parish of Montreuil was probably already formed in the Merovingian period as shown by the presence of a small monastery on a hill that overlooked Vincennes. The city of Montreuil probably derives its name from the Latin word monasteriolum ("small monastery").
In the 8th century, a royal decree testified the presence of a church on the site on the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul (29 June). The current building replaced an earlier Romanesque church. The oldest part of the building is the choir from the late 12th and early 13th centuries. It was built by Louis IX (later Saint Louis) and is similar to the choir of Notre-Dame de Paris.
St. Peter and St. Paul was the parish church of the royal Château de Vincennes and was therefore attended and maintained by members of the French royal family between the 13th and the 16th centuries, which enabled the residents of Montreuil to pay fewer taxes. The church usually drew the royal family for Sunday and Easter services. At this time, Louis IX and his mother Blanche of Castile frequently attended religious services there. King Charles V and his future spouse Joanna of Bourbon were baptised together at St. Peter and St. Paul in 1375. In the 16th century, the royal family moved to the Palace of Fontainebleau and the Château de Saint-Germain and no longer attended the church of Montreuil regularly. However, it made donations for St. Peter and St. Paul until Notre-Dame de la Pissote became a parish church in Vincennes in the mid-17th century.
The central part of the façade was built in the 14th century, while the façade of an aisle was erected in the 15th century. The bell tower was built in the 14th and 15th centuries, with an interruption during the Hundred Years War. The great nave and the first three bays date back to the 15th century, while the side aisles with the baptismal font were added in the 18th century. In the 19th century, the bell tower was restored after its spire was destroyed by lightning in 1808. The church was completed in the 19th century with the construction of the chapel of Sainte-Geneviève.
St. Peter and St. Paul was listed as a Class Historic Monument in 1913.
By the end of the 20th-century and the early 21st-century, the church was highly deteriorated. The ceiling collapsed several times and the keystone of the nave broke away in 1986, which caused the church to be closed by 1993. After further restoration works that cost nearly €1,9 million, the renovated choir was inaugurated on March 10, 2007.


WikiWeb_Church of St. Stephen Harding in Apátistvánfalva_1

The church was built in 1785. The bishop of Vas, János Szily, aided in the construction and also supported building a school in the village. The first priest was János Marits. The new parish included Permise (now Kétvölgy), Börgölin/Újbalázsfalva (now Apátistvánfalva), Orfalu, Rábatótfalu (now Szentgotthárd), Szakonyfalu, and sometimes Markovci, now in Slovenia.
By the 12th century, Apátistvánfalva was a Cistercian lordship. In 1183 Béla III of Hungary founded a Cistercian abbey in Szentgotthárd. The monks arrived from the Trois-Fontaines Abbey, Champagne, France.
For many years, the Hungarian Slovenes had attended church in Rábakethely (near Szentgotthárd), Felsőszölnök, or Great Dolenci (Slovenia). In Alsószölnök where German, Slovenian and Hungarian people lived, the believers went to Sankt Martin an der Raab in Austria (a church was also built in Alsószölnök built in 1816).
Bishop Szily supported masses being offered in the local language (Croatian, the Prekmurje dialect, or German), and therefore he appointed Marits.
In 2005 Jožef Smej, the bishop of Maribor, and few Hungarian and Slovenian priests blessed a memorial tablet in the church listing the names of Apátistvánfalvian priests and chaplains.


WikiWeb_Church of St Agnes and St Pancras, Toxteth Park_0

The Church of St Agnes and St Pancras is in Ullet Road, Toxteth Park, Liverpool, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is an active Anglican church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Liverpool and the deanery of Toxteth and Wavertree. Pevsner described it as "by far the most beautiful Victorian church of Liverpool...an epitome of Late Victorian nobility in church design".


WikiWeb_Church of St Catherine, Żurrieq_2

The church includes a number of paintings by Mattia Preti. These include the Martyrdom of Saint Stephen, Martyrdom of Saint Andrew, Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Eternal Father, Visitation of the Virgin to Saint Elizabeth, Saint Roch, Saint Blaise, Saint Dominic, Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and of Our Lady of Graces. The Church also includes a painting of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by Antonio Zammit inaugurated in 1908. The titular statue of St Catherine of Alexandria, dating from 1818, was made by Marjanu Gerada. Another statue is that of Our Lady of Mount Carmel made by Salvu Psaila and finished in 1842.


WikiWeb_Church of St Catherine, Montacute_3

The north transept of the church contains monuments to the Phelips family, of Montacute House, including David and Ann, who died in 1484, and Bridget, who died 1508. There are canopied effigies of Thomas, died 1588, and Elizabeth, died 1598. On the west wall is a marble monument to Edward, who died in 1680.
An Anglo-Saxon Hamstone font lay unidentified in the churchyard for many years, but has now been reinstated replacing its Tudor successor. The majority of the interior decoration is from the Victorian restoration.


WikiWeb_Church of St Clement, Liverpool_1

The church was built in 1840–41 to a design by Arthur and George Yates Williams.  A west porch was added later, and in 1892 the original straight flight of stairs leading up to the pulpit was replaced by a separate spiral staircase.  In 1984 a screen was placed under the west gallery to provide a parish room.


The church of St. Editha is the largest medieval parish church in Staffordshire. Most of the church is mid- to late-14th-century and 15th-century work with some 19th-century additions.
The present building stands upon the ground where successive churches have stood since the eighth century. The first church was destroyed, along with the town, by the Danes in 874 and it was not until the time of Æthelflæd that a second church arose. The Danes ruined this church in 943 and it was King Edgar who re-founded it around 963. Editha was probably King Edgar's aunt who died in the 960s and was canonized shortly after for her life of devotion and piety and then made the Patron Saint of the now collegiate church.
In 1345 the town and church were destroyed by fire and so began a rebuilding, being the fourth (present) church. Begun in 1350 and completed in 1369, this edifice is a monument to the man whose task it became to rebuild and enlarge the church, Dean Baldwin de Witney.
The College of Canons of St. Editha was probablya royal foundation in the 10th century, although the date of foundation is unknown. Although the right to appoint Canons was disputed, by the 12th century, all appointments were Royal. There were a Dean and six prebendaries.
The college was dissolved in 1548 under the terms of the Dissolution of Colleges Act 1547 and the church became the parish church for the town of Tamworth.
Samuel Parkes (c.1815–1864) was baptised here on 24 December 1815. He won the Victoria Cross in the Charge of the Light Brigade for saving the life of Trumpeter Hugh Crawford. His parents Thomas Park(e)s and Lydia Fearn are buried in the churchyard and commemorated by a tombstone.
The church was extensively restored by Benjamin Ferrey and George Gilbert Scott in the 1850s, and William Butterfield, ca. 1871. There is a rare example of a double spiral staircase in the tower, the only others being in the Château de Chambord, France and All Saints Church, Pontefract.


WikiWeb_Church of St John the Baptist, Heathfield_1

The church is known to have existed in the 1160s however there may have been a church building on the site before that time.
The current tower remains from the 13th century building however the rest of the church, including the chancel was largely rebuilt as part of Victorian restoration in the 1841 by Edward Ashworth, with the vestry being added in 1869 and 1860. At this time box pews and the font were removed and replaced.
The parish is part of the Deane Vale benefice within the Diocese of Bath and Wells.


WikiWeb_Church of St Lawrence, Stanton Prior_0

The Anglican Church of St Lawrence in Stanton Prior, Somerset, England, has its origins in the 12th century but is mainly 15th century. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.
The church has a 3-stage tower, supported by diagonal buttresses with polygonal stair turret on the north east corner.
In 1860 a major restoration was undertaken and it was found that the nave and chancel were the same height, which had been obscured since the insertion of windows, raising of the walls and erection of the open timber roof during the Perpendicular Period.
It is within the benefice of Farmborough, Marksbury and Stanton Prior, Corston and Newton St Loe, and in the Archdeaconry of Bath.


WikiWeb_Church of St Mary de Castro, Leicester_1

It dates its founding to 1107 after Henry I of England granted the lands and castle to Robert de Beaumont, although the chronicler Henry Knighton implies that an Anglo-Saxon college of St Mary had existed and Robert merely refurbished it. Robert established it within the castle bailey as a college served by a Dean and 12 Canons (that is, a collegiate church) in honour of the Virgin Mary and All Souls and as a chantry chapel for the souls of him, his family and the first three Norman kings. He endowed this and four other churches with £6 of his income and land in or near the city. However, in 1143 these endowments were all transferred by his son Robert le Bossu, 2nd Earl of Leicester, to his own new Augustinian foundation of Leicester Abbey. The collegiate church retained, or had restored to it a dean, six clerks and a chaplain, along with Robert de Beaumont's grant of 20 shillings for lamps. It also retained parish offerings and most of the tithes. The collegiate nature of the church lasted until the college was disbanded in 1548 under the Chantry Act of Edward VI.
The early-12th-century church had no aisles, and various parts of these walls survive. It underwent a major expansion in the 1160, with a north aisle, doorways to north and west, and an extension to the chancel. The two doorways provide striking external Norman zigzag decoration, but it is the Sedilia and Piscina in the Chancel extension that Pevsner describes as "the finest piece of Norman decoration in the county". Thirteenth-century alterations culminated in a major reworking of transepts and south aisle, to create an aisle wider than the nave, providing much more space for local parishioners. Also the huge east window of the south aisle, with ingenious tracery, was created around 1300. The tower was built inside the south aisle, apparently as an afterthought, rising to a quatrefoil frieze, four decorated pinnacles, and the needlelike spire rising from the battlements. The spire was completely rebuilt in 1783, but retained its crockets and three tiers of lucarnes. The interior was worked on by George Gilbert Scott throughout the 1860s.


WikiWeb_Church of St Michael and All Angels, Beckwithshaw_22

There are four regular Sunday services per month, conducted by the vicar of both Pannal and Beckwithshaw: Rev. John Smith as of 2014. Three are morning services; one is evensong. There is a junior church for children during the morning services during school term time. There is a pram service on the 4th Thursday of each month.


WikiWeb_Church of St Michael and All Angels, Braydeston_2

On 25 September 1962, the church was designated a Grade I listed building.
This is located with the Benefice of Brundall, Braydeston and Postwick (also known as the Yare Valley Churches) in the Archdeaconry of Norfolk, Diocese of Norwich. The churchyard is still open for burials. The church uses the Book of Common Prayer during its services.


WikiWeb_Church of St Peter and St Paul, South Petherton_6

Extensive restoration of the church was undertaken in stages during the 19th century. The first stage, carried out from 1859 to 1860, involved completing reseating the church and the galleries, and the replacement of many of the fittings, such as the lectern and pulpit. The south transept, which had been supplied with a chimney and grate since 1799, became the vestry, replacing the eastern end of the chancel, which until that time, had been used for the same purpose. This first stage of work was carried out by Hicks and Isaacs of Bristol.
The second, more robust period of restoration was carried out between 1882 and 1890 by noted Victorian architect Arthur Bloomfield. This involved the complete renewing of the fabric of the building, most notably adding a vivid painting to the east wall of the nave above the tower arch; the restoration of the south porch following in 1890. The galleries around the walls were also removed at this time.
The final stage involved the restoration of the tower itself in 1895, carried out jointly by architects J. D. Sedding and H. Wilson.


WikiWeb_Church of St Peter and St Paul, South Petherton_10

The interior, which Pevsner describes as "spacious", is split into several parts. The nave is wide, with two aisles nearly as high as the central nave, similar to a hall church. The nave arcade is from the 15th century with hollow columns, the ceilings above them being late 19th century. The crossing, separated from the rest of the church by 13th century crossing arches, has a highly unusual octopartite tierceron stone vault in a radial pattern around the bell hatch. The vault is much lower than the roof of the nave, and so the gap is filled by solid stone walls above the arches, that of the western wall facing the nave painted with a vivid display of God and several angels, painted in the late 19th or early 20th century. The chancel has a wooden ceiling dating back to 1882 by Bloomfield, with a cinquefoil-cusped piscina and blocked hagioscope to the north transept.

The church has numerous monuments, including to Giles Daubeney, William Ayshe, Samuel Cabel and Jacob Ayshe, all in the north transept. The stained glass is also of note, mostly by Nicholson, depicting several local landmarks including Barrow Mump, Glastonbury Abbey and Sherborne Abbey. There is a moderately sized two-manual pipe organ, located under the tower vaulting, by W. G. Vowles of Bristol, though the date of its construction is unknown. The organ has 22 speaking stops.


WikiWeb_Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Plopiș_0

The Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel is a Romanian Orthodox church in Plopiș village, Șișești Commune, Maramureș County, Romania. Built in 1798, it is one of eight buildings that make up the wooden churches of Maramureș UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is also listed as a historic monument by the country's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.


WikiWeb_Church of the Ascension, Episcopal (Manhattan)_2

Richard Upjohn's design for the church is "closely related" to his designs for Trinity Church in Manhattan, which began construction slightly earlier, in 1839, and Christ Church in Brooklyn, which came afterwards.  The brownstone church is symmetrical, and features a square tower.
Stanford White's interior design was "one of the great collaborative efforts of the era", and features a pulpit designed by Charles Follen McKim; mosaics by D. Maitland Armstrong; a marble reredos by Louis Saint-Gaudens, the brother of Augustus Saint-Gaudens; several stained glass windows by John LaFarge and his altar mural The Ascension, a 30-foot (9.1 m) by 35-foot (11 m) piece considered to be one of his best works
The parish house designed by McKim, Mead and White took a previously existing building and turned it into a Northern Renaissance-inspired building of yellow brick with bottle-glass windows.


WikiWeb_Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes_1

On May 7, 1844, several residents of northwest Washington who had previously attended services at St. John's Episcopal Church in the Lafayette Square neighborhood met to begin forming their own parish. The church was formally established March 1, 1845, and the territory of St. John's was split between the two churches. While the church raised funds to construct a building, the members met in a schoolhouse on 9th Street.
Parishioner Martha Burnes was the owner of 600 acres of Washington real estate, which she had inherited. In 1802, she married John Peter Van Ness, who was a prominent banker and later became Mayor of Washington. Among Mrs. Van Ness's philanthropic endeavors was the Washington Orphan Asylum, which she established and supervised. Mrs. Van Ness expressed a desire to help the building effort, but died before this could happen. In accordance with her wishes, Mr. Van Ness donated land on H Street NW between 9th and 10th to Ascension Parish, and the cornerstone was laid September 5, 1844.
The Gothic Revival brick structure was complete enough to use by December 1844, and the first services were held December 14. The debt the parish incurred for construction was repaid by 1853, and the church was consecrated May 23 of that year. Throughout the 1850s, however, the parish continued to experience difficulties, which included the ill health of its rector, Levin I. Gilliss, resignation of his successor, a decline in the number of communicants and Sunday school attendees, and continued financial problems.
The congregation sought the Rev. William Pinkney, who was then rector of St. Matthias Church in nearby Bladensburg, Maryland, to become the next rector. After initial reluctance, Pinkney agreed and the parish stabilized. In 1859, he oversaw building renovations that included expanding the capacity for approximately 600 additional worshipers.
As many parishioners had friends and relatives in both the Northern and Southern states, their feelings and loyalties boiled over in the church during the period leading to and during the Civil War.  This division was evident in the clerical ranks also as the rector, Mr Pinkney, sympathized with the South while Maryland Bishop William Whittingham was a Unionist.  In March 1862, Bishop Whittingham requested parishes to say a special prayer of thanksgiving for the late (Union) victories; Mr. Pinkney refused.
The Saturday following Pinkney's refusal, Washington's provost marshal notified him that the authorise would assume control of the church to prevent a disturbance.  Ascension became a military hospital to house casualties from the Peninsula Campaign, as did Epiphany Church and Holy Trinity in Washington.
After their church was seized by the government, the parish was without a home.  The problem was solved by member William Corcoran, a prominent banker and partner in the firm of Corcoran and Riggs, later known as Riggs Bank.  Corcoran offered the use of a building he owned on H Street NW between 13th and 14th Streets.
The congregation returned to its permanent home after the war, but by 1870, the structure proved too small and not grand enough for what was now one of the most affluent areas of the city.  After much debate, leaders decided to erect a new structure and began soliciting funds.  William Corcoran donated a site at the northwest corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 12th Street and $100,000 of the $205,000 construction costs.
The congregation engaged the Baltimore firm of Dixon and Carson, and the cornerstone was laid June 9, 1874. The new building was constructed of white marble quarried near Cockeysville, Maryland with accents of pink Ohio sandstone. Designed in the Victorian Gothic style, it reached a height of 74 ft (23 m) with a 190 ft (58 m) tower and spire that was visible across much of the city. The interior featured cast iron columns and timber trusses and was illuminated by gas lamps.
Despite the gift of William Corcoran, the church continued to have financial problems and by 1877 was facing the possibility of dissolution. After a plea to its members, the church was able to raise needed funds and received a challenge gift of $10,000 from Corcoran. The construction debt was finally retired in 1885.
In 1895, the Diocese of Washington was created from the Diocese of Maryland and included the District of Columbia and Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's, and St. Mary's Counties in Maryland.  St. Mark's Church was chosen as the cathedral in 1896.  In 1902, Annunciation assumed that role until 1908, when the parish leaders voted to terminate the relationship with the diocese.  Although the official designation ceased, the church continued to be used as the pro-cathedral for important occasions until 1912 while the Washington National Cathedral was under construction. In 1919, a new chapel (now known as the St. Francis Chapel) was built.
After World War I, membership began to decline, and in 1925 the congregation merged with nearby St. Stephen's to help stabilize the group. This worked briefly until the onset of the Great Depression. This downturn continued through 1947, and the diocese considered selling the building to another congregation when the Vestry received a proposal to merge from St. Agnes Church, located at 46 Q Street NW. Canon Albert J. duBois was rector twice, serving from 1938 to 1941 and 1946 to 1950, with significant interruptions for military service.
The interior was redecorated and a mural was added above the chancel. The nave windows and window above the organ gallery were replaced between 1965 and 1975 with faceted glass and epoxy designs created by the Willet Studios of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Today, the church offers worship services, concerts, and a number of outreach groups for members and nearby residents.


WikiWeb_Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes_2

The current parish is a diverse, urban congregation from both the downtown area and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Some parishioners come from  Baltimore, Annapolis, and Richmond. It has a 20s and 30s group, including students from nearby Virginia Theological Seminary, who also attend services there.


WikiWeb_Church of the Assumption (Penang)_2

The Church of the Assumption has been under the City Parish since 1988. Today the Parish Priest is Msgr Aloysius Tan, and he is assisted by Fr Francis Anthony. It is a World Heritage Church and the oldest church in Penang. It also has a 1914 Morton & Moody pipe organ and is one of seven pipe organs still in use in Malaysia today. The organ is usually  played for Saturday sunset masses and also during festivities like Easter and Christmas.
The church also has a choir, accompanying the organ, singing in both Latin and English. Every year, on 15 August, the feast day of this church, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated.


The modern church was built between 1936 and 1938 near the site of the fourth-century Byzantine ruins. The floor plan is octagonal, the eight sides representing the eight Beatitudes. The church is Neo-Byzantine in style with a marble veneer casing the lower interior walls and gold mosaic in the dome. Around the altar are mosaic symbols on the pavement representing Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance, Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Jerome Murphy-O'Connor describes the selection of the site thus: "It was perhaps inevitable that this well-watered area with its shade trees on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Byzantine pilgrims ate their picnics, should have been identified as the location of two episodes involving the consumption of food, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the conferral on Peter of the responsibility of leadership after a fish breakfast. Then it became convenient to localize the Sermon of the Mount on the small hill nearby." (The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700, p. 277) Regardless of whether this is the very spot, the Church of the Beatitudes stands in the general area and in a very similar setting to where Jesus would have stood as he delivered his famous sermon. As Murphy-O'Connor puts it, "from here one can see virtually all the places in which Jesus lived and worked" (p. 280).


WikiWeb_Church of the Holy Annunciation, Dubrovnik_2

The church sustained damage from bombing during the Siege of Dubrovnik.
In 2009, the church was restored using funds from the Ministry of Culture of Croatia, City of Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik-Neretva County, private contributions and credit. This was the first restoration of the church.


WikiWeb_Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Ras_2

The exact date of founding is unknown; it is mentioned in the 9th century as the seat of the eparchy of Serbia (see Eparchy of Ras). Excavations on the site have unearthed Greek sculptures and Black-figure pottery dating to 7th and 6th century BC, as well as a 5th-century BC princely grave (with regalia, robes, gold-silver jewelry, masks, beads and Attic pottery), underneath the floor of the church in 1957–58. The findings are presently at the National Museum of Serbia, in Belgrade. Roman, Byzantine and medieval Slavic tombs surround the church.
The present church has been built on several earlier churches of which remains have been well preserved. The foundation of the church, the massive columns, ground-plan and the octagonal tower which conceals an inner cupola are examples of the circular mausoleal architectural type used after Emperor Constantine (306–312).
Archaeological findings point that the church has been rebuilt several times in history, beginning in the 4th century, with notable additions made in the 7th century. The architectural style resembles that of early churches in Pomorje, Armenia, Georgia, and Italy, dated to between the 7th and 9th centuries.


WikiWeb_Church of the Holy Communion and Buildings_1

The Gothic Revival church building was constructed in 1844–1845 according to a design by Richard Upjohn, and was consecrated in 1846. In 1853 Upjohn completed the Parish House and Rectory on West 20th Street, and in 1854 he built the Sister's House. The design of the church, which features brownstone blocks chosen for placement at random, made the church "one of the most influential buildings of the 19th century". It was:
[the] first asymmetrical Gothic Revival church edifice in the United States ... Upjohn designed the building to resemble a small medieval English parish church ... The church's founder, the Reverend William Muhlenberg, a leader of the evangelical Catholic within the Episcopal Church, was closely involved with the design ...
Muhlenberg believed that the Gothic style was "the true architectural expression of Christianity."
At the time it was built, the neighborhood around the church was still a fashionable residential area, with homes lining Sixth Avenue. By the late 19th century, as the city continued to expand uptown, the area had become part of the "Ladies' Mile" shopping district, with Sixth Avenue lined with giant department stores and dry goods emporia, which by World War I had all either moved uptown or closed.
In 1975 the declining parish merged with those of Calvary Church, on Park Avenue South at East 21st Street, and St. George's Church, at Stuyvesant Square, and the combined parish of Calvary-St. George's the Church of the Holy Communion granted a ninety-nine year lease to the Lindisfarne Association.
The building became the Lindisfarne Association's headquarters from 1976 to 1979. Through the work of its founder William Irwin Thompson and start-up grants from the Lilly Endowment and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the church became a cultural center in which Gary Snyder, Robert Bly, Wendell Berry, Samuel Menash, and Kathleen Raine gave poetry readings, Paul Winter and David Hykes gave concerts, Jerzy Grotowksi and Andre Gregory lectured on theatre, and philosophers such as Gregory Bateson, Francisco Varela, and Thompson himself gave the lectures that became their subsequent books. Keith Critchlow and John Michel taught courses on sacred architecture, and representatives of world religions such as Nechung Rinpoche, Seyed Hosein Nasr, and Pir Vilayat Khan gave public presentations. The Lindisfarne Association, however, was unable to raise the funds to restore this historical landmark, consequently, Lindisfarne moved to Crestone, Colorado, and returned the church to the Episcopal parish.
The parish subsequently sold the building to Odyssey House, a drug rehabilitation program, in order to meet its fiscal obligations. Odyssey House, in turn, sold the buildings to nightclub entrepreneur Peter Gatien, who opened the New York Limelight club there in 1983.


WikiWeb_Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Warminghurst_0

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a former Anglican church in the hamlet of Warminghurst in the district of Horsham, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex.  The present building, which is no longer used for worship, has 13th-century origins, but a church may have existed on the site in the 11th century or earlier.  Often administered in connection with other churches in the rural area of West Sussex in which it was built–churches at nearby Steyning, Ashington and Thakeham were all involved with it at various times–its congregations declined and closure came first in the 1920s and then for good in 1979, when it was declared redundant.  Unlike many ancient churches in Sussex, it was not subject to restoration in the mid-19th century: its interior has been called "the finest example in Sussex of how many must have looked before the Victorian restorers".  After a period in which the Early English Gothic stone-built church fell into dereliction, prompting one Sussex historian to lament its "unloved" appearance, it was taken into the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.  English Heritage has listed the church at Grade I for its architectural and historical importance.