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    Places & Buildings

    The basilicas, shrines, and holy sites of the Catholic world, and the history that made each one sacred.

    The dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, seen framed by trees against a clear blue sky.
    St. Peter's Basilica
    The story behind St. Peter's Basilica, why it stands where it stands, and what it has to do with the apostle whose name it carries.
    The twin towers and rose window of the west facade of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, seen from across the Seine.
    Notre-Dame de Paris
    The history of Notre-Dame de Paris, from its 12th-century foundation stone to the 2019 fire and its 2024 reopening.
    An 1836 painting of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, showing its facade and bell tower
    The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi
    Inside the Upper and Lower Church built over Francis of Assisi's tomb, why it houses Giotto's famous fresco cycle, and how it became a major pilgrimage site.
    An 1835 painting of the facade of the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome, crowded with pilgrims
    The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
    Why the Pope's actual cathedral in Rome isn't St. Peter's Basilica, and what makes St. John Lateran the "mother and head of all churches."
    A historic photograph of the earlier church that stood on the Nazareth Annunciation site before the present 1969 basilica was built
    The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth
    Inside the church built over the traditional site of Gabriel's announcement to Mary, its 1969 design, and the courtyard's Marian mosaics from around the world.
    Pilgrims inside the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, sunlight streaming past hanging lamps and columns
    The Basilica of the Nativity, Bethlehem
    How a church built by Constantine's mother survived war after war to become one of the oldest churches still in use, over the traditional site of Christ's birth.
    Carved jamb statues of the Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral, photographed around 1850
    Chartres Cathedral
    The history of Chartres Cathedral in France, its relic of Mary's veil, its famous blue stained glass, and the labyrinth set into its floor.
    The entrance courtyard and facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, 1858
    The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
    Inside the traditional site of Golgotha and Christ's tomb, and the centuries-old "Status Quo" agreement that governs who may touch what inside its walls.
    An 1860 illustration of the Grotto of Massabielle at Lourdes, site of the Marian apparitions
    Grotto of Massabielle, Lourdes
    A cave near the town garbage dump, so unremarkable no one had named it — until a spring appeared and a fourteen-year-old's visions made it a major pilgrimage site.
    The tidal island and abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, photographed in the 1930s
    Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey
    The history of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, from a bishop's dream and a hole in his skull to a tidal island crowned by a medieval abbey.
    The Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino and its cloister, photographed in February 1944
    Monte Cassino Abbey — The Cradle of Western Monasticism
    How Saint Benedict's hilltop monastery became the birthplace of Western monasticism, was destroyed four times across fifteen centuries, and rose again after 1944.
    The spires of the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, still under construction, photographed in 2010
    The Sagrada Família in Barcelona
    How Antoni Gaudí's unfinished basilica in Barcelona became a working church, and what its soaring towers and forest-like columns actually symbolize.
    The golden mosaic sanctuary and crucifix inside the Basilica of the Holy Trinity at Fatima
    Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima
    How a barren field where three shepherd children saw a "lady brighter than the sun" became one of the largest Marian pilgrimage sites on earth.
    Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel
    The Sistine Chapel
    How a Renaissance pope's private chapel became home to Michelangelo's ceiling and Last Judgment, and why cardinals still lock themselves inside it to elect a pope.
    The surviving octagonal bell tower and palace wing of the Abbey of Cluny in France, seen from the abbey courtyard
    The Abbey of Cluny
    For two centuries it was the largest church in Christendom and the head of a 10,000-monk empire — then the French Revolution left almost nothing standing.
    A 1953 archival photograph of the Villa de Guadalupe grounds in Mexico City, site of the basilica
    The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
    A sinking colonial church, a circular modern replacement, and a 500-year-old cloth still on display — inside the world's most visited Marian shrine.
    The ancient Good Shepherd fresco from the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome
    The Catacombs of Rome
    Forty miles of tunnels, tens of thousands of burials, and a persistent myth about hiding from persecution that historians have largely put to rest.
    View of the twin spires of Cologne Cathedral rising above the city of Cologne, Germany
    Cologne Cathedral
    A Gothic giant that took 632 years to finish, built to house the bones of the Three Kings, and left standing in a city bombed almost flat.
    Historic coloured etching of the Courtyard of the Kings and basilica at the Monastery of El Escorial, Spain
    El Escorial
    Philip II built a palace with his bedroom positioned directly above the high altar and royal tombs — a king sandwiched between heaven and his ancestors.
    The Baroque western facade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela with its twin bell towers, seen from the Praza do Obradoiro
    The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
    A shepherd following a field of stars, a hermit king, and a thousand-year pilgrimage route that all end at the same silver urn beneath one Spanish cathedral.
    A 16th-century engraving of the Laocoön group, one of the most famous ancient sculptures held in the Vatican Museums
    The Vatican Museums
    A pope's private sculpture collection grew into a 54-gallery labyrinth housing some of the greatest art on earth — and the Sistine Chapel is only one room of it.
    Westminster Cathedral's brick-and-stone campanile and Byzantine-revival facade in London
    Westminster Cathedral
    London's Catholic cathedral is not the abbey next to Parliament — it's a Byzantine-striped landmark half a mile away, built from 12.5 million bricks.
    A 19th-century engraving of the western towers of Canterbury Cathedral.
    Canterbury Cathedral and the Murder That Made It Sacred
    How the 1170 murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket inside Canterbury Cathedral turned it into medieval Christendom's greatest pilgrimage site.
    The Baroque marble facade of the Basilica of the Holy House in Loreto, Italy.
    The Holy House of Loreto: A Cottage Said to Have Flown
    The legend behind the Holy House of Loreto, said to be Mary's own home from Nazareth, and the tradition claiming angels carried it across the Mediterranean.
    A 19th-century print of the Monastery of Montserrat seen from the east, set against its jagged mountain backdrop.
    Montserrat Abbey
    A Benedictine monastery built into the jagged cliffs above Barcelona, home to a centuries-old dark-wood statue of Mary that Catalonia has never stopped venerating.
    The ruined stone arch of the medieval Walsingham Priory, remnant of the original shrine.
    Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
    A Saxon noblewoman's vision of Mary's house in Nazareth led to a replica in rural Norfolk — a shrine that survived the Reformation's fury only in fragments.
    An 18th-century engraving of the facade and piazza of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
    The Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major
    A summer snowfall on Rome's Esquiline Hill, tradition says, marked the spot for the greatest of the city's Marian churches. The story behind it.
    The domed facade and twin bell towers of the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, seen from the plaza below
    Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida
    How three fishermen's empty net near a river in colonial Brazil led to a broken clay statue and, centuries later, one of the largest Marian shrines on earth.
    The gilded coffered ceiling and rows of Corinthian columns lining the nave of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
    The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
    A fire nearly destroyed one of Rome's four papal basilicas in 1823. The story of how it rose again above the apostle Paul's traditional tomb.
    A modern pilgrim with a backpack and walking staff following the Camino de Santiago along a rural road through the Galician countryside
    The Camino de Santiago, the Pilgrims' Way
    How a hermit following mysterious lights in a field became the origin story for Europe's great pilgrimage route, still walked by hundreds of thousands each year.
    A 1948 archival photograph of the Jasna Góra monastery complex in Częstochowa, Poland, with its tall bell tower rising above the fortified walls.
    Jasna Góra Monastery, Częstochowa
    A Byzantine icon, two sword slashes across her cheek, and a 17th-century siege that made a Polish hilltop monastery the soul of a nation.
    The stone Porziuncola chapel with its painted facade, standing inside the great Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi
    The Porziuncola, Assisi
    Inside the tiny stone chapel where Francis of Assisi founded his order, wrote his rule, and died — now enclosed within a much larger basilica built to protect it.
    A mid-19th-century engraving of St. Vitus Cathedral rising above Prague Castle, shown still unfinished with its truncated west end
    St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague
    Nearly six centuries to finish, a murdered duke buried inside, and the Bohemian crown jewels locked behind seven keys — inside Prague Castle's Gothic cathedral.
    The modern shell-shaped shrine church of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, with its sweeping arched roof and glass walls.
    San Giovanni Rotondo, the Home of Padre Pio
    A remote mountain town in southern Italy became one of the world's busiest pilgrimage sites, built around one Capuchin friar's fifty years there.
    The modern curved white facade and glass tower of the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Łagiewniki, Kraków, against a partly cloudy sky.
    The Shrine of Divine Mercy, Kraków
    In a quiet Kraków convent, a barely educated nun's diary became a worldwide devotion. Inside the Łagiewniki shrine built around her tomb.
    The neo-Romanesque facade and twin spires of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Canada
    Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
    How a group of shipwrecked sailors' vow beside the St. Lawrence River in 1658 grew into Quebec's largest pilgrimage shrine and a reported site of healing.
    A mosaic of Saint Peter above a sealed Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, with a scroll inscribed with a pope's name and jubilee year.
    The Four Papal Basilicas of Rome
    What makes St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls a set of four, and what a Holy Door actually is.
    Exterior view of Aachen Cathedral in Germany, showing its dark octagonal Carolingian core with later Gothic additions.
    Aachen Cathedral
    Charlemagne built his octagonal chapel at Aachen around the year 800 as a copy of a Byzantine church, then was buried inside it — Germany's oldest cathedral.
    The pink and white striped Gothic facade of the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Assisi, Italy, with its large rose window.
    Assisi's Basilica of Santa Chiara
    Behind a grille in this pink-and-white Assisi basilica rests the crucifix that spoke to Francis, and Saint Clare of Assisi's own body, on view since 1850.
    The Romanesque west front and twin towers of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paray-le-Monial, France, seen from across the river.
    The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Paray-le-Monial
    A quiet Romanesque priory church in Burgundy, France, where a 17th-century nun's visions of Christ's Sacred Heart launched a devotion now practiced worldwide.
    A 19th-century engraving of the west facade of Milan Cathedral, showing its forest of Gothic spires and pinnacles.
    Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano)
    Started in 1386 and only declared finished in 1965, Milan's cathedral holds more statues than any other building on earth and a relic of the Holy Nail.
    Exterior view of Seville Cathedral in Spain with the Giralda bell tower rising alongside it, seen from the Patio de los Naranjos.
    Seville Cathedral
    Built over a mosque with the express goal of making later generations think its builders were mad, Seville Cathedral is still the largest Gothic church on earth.
    Exterior view of the Gothic tower and facade of Toledo Cathedral in Spain against a blue sky.
    Toledo Cathedral, Spain
    Built over Toledo's Great Mosque, which was built over a Visigothic church, Toledo Cathedral houses El Greco masterpieces and the seat of Spain's primate.
    A mid-19th-century color lithograph showing the vast domed interior of Hagia Sophia, with its ring of windows, hanging lamps, and massive marble columns
    Hagia Sophia
    A church built to outshine every building on earth, a mosque, a museum, and now a mosque again — how Hagia Sophia became Christianity's most contested landmark.
    An 18th-century painting of the ornate, golden interior of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, showing its mosaic-covered domes and marble columns
    St. Mark's Basilica
    Venetian merchants smuggled Saint Mark's body out of Egypt hidden under pork to avoid Muslim customs inspectors — and built this golden church to house it.
    An excavated ancient Roman street lined with brick mausoleum facades in the Vatican Necropolis beneath St. Peter's Basilica
    The Vatican Necropolis
    Beneath St. Peter's Basilica lies a buried Roman burial ground, and inside it, archaeologists believe they found the actual bones of Saint Peter himself.
    A 19th-century engraving of Wawel Hill in Krakow, showing the cathedral's towers and domes rising above the fortified royal complex
    Wawel Cathedral
    Polish kings were crowned here for 800 years, a martyred bishop is buried in its silver tomb, and a future pope once said his first Mass in its crypt.
    The twin Norman towers and massive stone nave of Durham Cathedral in northern England
    Durham Cathedral: Built to Guard Saint Cuthbert's Body
    Durham Cathedral's massive Norman arches were raised to shelter a saint's body monks had carried across northern England for over a century, fleeing Viking raids.
    The ruined stone arches of Glastonbury Abbey standing against a green English landscape
    Glastonbury Abbey: Ruins Wrapped in England's Oldest Legends
    Glastonbury Abbey's ruins hide a tangle of legend — Joseph of Arimathea, King Arthur's grave — on a site monks once called the holiest earth in England.
    A monastery perched atop a tall sandstone rock pillar at Meteora in central Greece
    Meteora: The Monasteries Built Atop Sheer Rock Towers
    Meteora's monks built onto sandstone pillars hundreds of feet high, reachable for centuries only by rope net and ladder, seeking distance from the world.
    The fortified stone walls and bell tower of Saint Catherine's Monastery at the base of Mount Sinai, Egypt
    Saint Catherine's Monastery: The Oldest Monastery Still in Use
    At the foot of Mount Sinai stands the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery on earth, built by Justinian around a bush monks still call the burning bush.
    The twin Gothic towers and elaborately carved west facade of Reims Cathedral in northern France
    Reims Cathedral: Where France Crowned Its Kings
    Reims Cathedral crowned nearly every French king for centuries, following Clovis's baptism there in 496 — a Gothic masterpiece rebuilt after World War I shelling.
    The striped arched courtyard and colorful frescoed walls of Rila Monastery in the Bulgarian mountains
    Rila Monastery: Bulgaria's Mountain Fortress of Faith
    Rila Monastery survived centuries of Ottoman rule as a stronghold of Bulgarian culture, rebuilt after fire into the striped arches pilgrims see today.
    The frescoed medieval church interior of the Sacro Speco monastery built into the cliff face at Subiaco
    Subiaco: The Cave Where Benedictine Monasticism Began
    Before he wrote the Rule that shaped Western monasticism, Benedict lived alone in a cave above Subiaco — now enclosed inside a monastery built into a cliff.
    The carved Romanesque west facade and bell tower of the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay, France
    Vézelay Abbey: Where the Second Crusade Was Preached
    Vézelay Abbey once claimed Mary Magdalene's relics and drew crowds so large that Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade in an open field beside its walls.
    The soaring stone vaults and crossing of Amiens Cathedral in Picardy, France, seen from within the nave
    Amiens Cathedral: France's Largest Gothic Church
    Amiens Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in France by volume, built in just 50 years to house a relic believed to be John the Baptist's skull.
    The facade of the Basilica of Saint Sixtus at Ars-sur-Formans, France, shrine of Saint John Vianney
    Ars-sur-Formans: The Shrine of Saint John Vianney
    Ars-sur-Formans, once a village of 230 people, grew into a major pilgrimage site after Saint John Vianney spent up to 16 hours a day hearing confessions there.
    The baroque facade of the Convent of Saint Teresa in Ávila, Spain, built on the site of the saint's birthplace
    Ávila and the Convent of Saint Teresa
    Teresa of Ávila was born in a house now enclosed inside a grand baroque convent, built on the spot where she later began her Carmelite reform movement.
    The domed Baroque exterior of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar beside the Ebro River in Zaragoza, Spain
    The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, Zaragoza
    The Basilica of the Pillar in Zaragoza marks Christianity's earliest Marian apparition tradition, said to have appeared to Saint James while Mary still lived.
    The octagonal exterior brick walls and apse of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy
    The Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
    San Vitale in Ravenna preserves the finest surviving Byzantine mosaics outside Istanbul, including famous portraits of Emperor Justinian and Theodora.
    A nineteenth-century photograph of the traditional Tomb of Lazarus at Bethany, near Jerusalem
    Bethany and the Tomb of Lazarus
    Bethany near Jerusalem is where Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb, one of the Gospels' most dramatic miracles.
    The twin openwork Gothic spires of Burgos Cathedral rising above the old town of Burgos, Spain
    Burgos Cathedral: Spain's Filigree Gothic Masterpiece
    Burgos Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famed for its lace-like Gothic openwork spires, holds the tomb of Spain's legendary hero El Cid at its crossing.
    The stone facade and bell tower of the Wedding Church in Kafr Kanna, the traditional site of Cana in Galilee
    Cana: The Village of Jesus's First Miracle
    Cana in Galilee is remembered as the small village where Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast, the first public sign recorded in John's Gospel.
    Ruins of the ancient white limestone synagogue at Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee
    Capernaum: The Town Jesus Called Home
    Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee's shore became Jesus's home base, the fishing town of Peter where he taught in the synagogue and worked many recorded miracles.
    The famous red-and-white striped double arches of the former Great Mosque of Córdoba, now the interior of the Cathedral of Córdoba, Spain
    The Cathedral of Córdoba: A Church Built Inside a Mosque
    The Cathedral of Córdoba, known as the Mezquita-Catedral, rises inside a vast 8th-century mosque, a UNESCO site layered with over a millennium of history.
    A nineteenth-century engraving of the village and landscape traditionally associated with biblical Emmaus
    Emmaus: Where the Risen Christ Was Recognized
    Emmaus is where two disciples recognized the risen Jesus in the breaking of bread, though the road's exact village location remains genuinely disputed.
    The small stone chapel identified as the House of the Virgin Mary on a hillside near Ephesus, Turkey
    Ephesus and the House of the Virgin Mary
    Ephesus in modern Turkey holds a small stone house tradition identifies as Mary's final home, discovered following a nineteenth-century visionary's account.
    A stone courtyard building at the Gethsemane garden compound in Jerusalem, with an ancient gnarled olive tree in the foreground
    Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations
    Gethsemane at the foot of Jerusalem's Mount of Olives is where Jesus prayed in agony the night before his death, now marked by the Church of All Nations.
    The massive ancient stone enclosure of the Cave of the Patriarchs and Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
    Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs
    Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs holds the traditional burial place of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives, purchased by Abraham as recorded in Genesis.
    An ancient sycamore tree in Jericho traditionally associated with the biblical story of Zacchaeus
    Jericho and Zacchaeus's Sycamore Tree
    Jericho, one of the world's oldest cities, is where a short tax collector climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus and found his life changed by the encounter.
    The Basilica of Our Lady, Queen of Ireland, at Knock Shrine in County Mayo, Ireland
    Knock Shrine, Ireland
    In 1879, fifteen villagers in rural County Mayo watched a silent Marian apparition for two hours in the rain, turning a small parish church into Knock Shrine.
    The exterior apse of Monreale Cathedral near Palermo, Sicily, showing its intricate interlaced stone and mosaic decoration
    Monreale Cathedral, Sicily
    Monreale Cathedral in Sicily blends Norman, Byzantine, and Islamic craftsmanship into an interior covered almost entirely in shimmering gold mosaic art.
    The Memorial Church of Moses on the summit of Mount Nebo in Jordan, overlooking the Jordan Valley
    Mount Nebo: Where Moses Saw the Promised Land
    Mount Nebo in modern Jordan is where Moses viewed the Promised Land he would never enter, dying nearby in a place Scripture says no one has ever found.
    The twin-towered facade of the Basilica of the Transfiguration on the summit of Mount Tabor in Galilee
    Mount Tabor: The Mountain of the Transfiguration
    Mount Tabor rises alone above the Jezreel Valley in Galilee, the traditional site where Jesus was transfigured in dazzling light before Peter, James, and John.
    The chapel of the Convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers, France, where Saint Bernadette Soubirous died in 1879
    Nevers and the Shrine of Saint Bernadette
    Bernadette Soubirous left the fame of Lourdes for a quiet convent in Nevers, France, where she died in 1879 and her body remains visibly incorrupt today.
    The basilica of the Niepokalanów friary near Warsaw, Poland, founded by Saint Maximilian Kolbe
    Niepokalanów: Saint Maximilian Kolbe's Friary
    Maximilian Kolbe built Niepokalanów, near Warsaw, into one of the world's largest friaries and a mass-media operation, before Nazi Germany occupied Poland.
    The surviving facade of the Basilica of Saint Benedict in Norcia, Italy, after the interior collapsed in the 2016 earthquake
    Norcia: Birthplace of Saint Benedict
    Norcia, the mountain town in Italy where Benedict of Nursia was born, lost its basilica to a 2016 earthquake — but its facade and crypt still stand today.
    The eclectic exterior of Palermo Cathedral in Sicily, showing its mix of Norman, Gothic, and Neoclassical architectural styles
    Palermo Cathedral: Eight Centuries of Sicilian History in Stone
    Palermo Cathedral blends Norman, Gothic, Islamic, and Neoclassical styles across eight centuries, and holds the porphyry tombs of Sicily's medieval kings.
    Palma de Mallorca Cathedral, known as La Seu, rising above the harbor and sea walls of Palma, Spain
    Palma de Mallorca Cathedral (La Seu)
    La Seu, Palma de Mallorca's seaside Gothic cathedral, holds one of the world's largest rose windows and an interior later reshaped by architect Antoni Gaudí.
    The soaring Gothic spire of Salisbury Cathedral rising above the cathedral close in Wiltshire, England
    Salisbury Cathedral: Britain's Tallest Spire
    Salisbury Cathedral holds an original 1215 Magna Carta and Europe's oldest working mechanical clock beneath Britain's tallest church spire, at 404 feet.
    The stone facade and bell tower of the church of San Damiano near Assisi, Italy
    San Damiano, Assisi
    A crumbling chapel outside Assisi is where a painted crucifix reportedly spoke to Francis, and where Clare later founded the Poor Clares among its ruins.
    The entrance courtyard of the Sanctuary of Saint Catherine, built around her family home in Siena, Italy
    Siena and the Sanctuary of Saint Catherine
    Catherine of Siena's childhood home in Tuscany became a sanctuary built over her actual rooms, while her severed head, kept separately, rests across the city.
    The neoclassical facade and dome of St. Stephen's Basilica illuminated in Budapest, Hungary
    St. Stephen's Basilica, Budapest
    St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest houses the mummified right hand of King Stephen, Hungary's founding king and patron saint, inside a jeweled reliquary chapel.
    The Byzantine-style domes and Gothic bell towers of the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua, Italy
    The Basilica of Saint Anthony, Padua
    The Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua houses the saint's incorrupt tongue and jaw relics, and draws millions of pilgrims each year to Italy's beloved Il Santo.
    The brick facade and bell tower of the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, Italy
    The Basilica of Saint Dominic, Bologna
    The Basilica of Saint Dominic in Bologna holds the founder of the Dominican Order's tomb, its marble carved by Nicola Pisano and a teenage Michelangelo.
    The facade of the Basilica of Saint Rita in Cascia, Italy, in the Umbrian countryside
    The Basilica of Saint Rita, Cascia
    Saint Rita of Cascia bore a mysterious forehead wound for 15 years before her death, and her body still lies visible and unaltered in this Umbrian basilica.
    Pilgrims wading into the Jordan River at the Yardenit baptismal site in northern Israel
    The Jordan River: Where Jesus Was Baptized
    The Jordan River is where John the Baptist baptized Jesus, a moment marked by a voice from heaven and still commemorated by pilgrims at the river today.
    The baroque dome and facade of the Basilica at the Sanctuary of Loyola in the Basque Country, Spain
    The Sanctuary of Loyola
    A cannonball shattered Ignatius of Loyola's leg in 1521, and the Basque castle where he recovered is now a baroque basilica built around his birth room.
    Xavier Castle in Navarre, Spain, birthplace and ancestral home of Saint Francis Xavier
    Xavier Castle: Birthplace of Saint Francis Xavier
    Xavier Castle in Navarre, Spain, birthplace of the missionary who evangelized across Asia, was partly demolished by Spanish royal order in punishment.
    The vaulted Gothic nave of York Minster in York, England, lined with tall stone columns and pointed arches
    York Minster: Northern Europe's Largest Gothic Cathedral
    York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, holds the Great East Window — the world's largest surviving medieval stained-glass window.
    The exterior facade of the Basilica of Saint Mary in Kevelaer, Germany, one of the country's largest Marian pilgrimage churches
    The Basilica of Kevelaer
    Kevelaer became Germany's largest Marian pilgrimage site after a merchant reported a vision at a wayside cross in 1642, a story still central to its shrine today.
    The Basilica of Saint Anne and the small octagonal Chapel of Grace at the Marian shrine of Altötting, Bavaria
    The Basilica of Our Lady of Altötting
    Altötting in Bavaria houses a tiny octagonal chapel with a centuries-old Black Madonna, making it the most important Marian pilgrimage site in Germany.
    The ruined marble columns and arches of the Basilica of Saint John near ancient Ephesus, Turkey
    The Basilica of Saint John, Ephesus
    A Byzantine emperor built a vast cross-shaped basilica over what tradition holds is the tomb of the Apostle John, near ancient Ephesus in modern Turkey.
    The rocky hillside entrance to the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Greek island of Patmos
    The Cave of the Apocalypse, Patmos
    Exiled to a remote Greek island by Roman authorities, John is said to have received the visions of Revelation inside a small cave still venerated today.
    The twin-towered Baroque facade and forecourt of Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland
    Einsiedeln Abbey and the Black Madonna
    Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland grew from a hermit's cell into one of Europe's great pilgrimage sites, home to a revered Black Madonna venerated for centuries.
    The Gate of Dawn city gate in Vilnius, Lithuania, with its chapel built into the upper level above the archway
    The Gate of Dawn, Vilnius: A Shrine Built Into a City Wall
    The Gate of Dawn in Vilnius holds a revered icon of Mary set above a working city gate, drawing pilgrims of multiple faiths to a chapel built into the wall itself.
    The Crusader-built stone facade fronting the cave church of the Grotto of Saint Peter near Antakya, Turkey
    The Grotto of Saint Peter, Antioch
    In this cave church near ancient Antioch, believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26), and Peter is said to have led the community that named them.
    The striped Romanesque facade and monumental stone staircase of Notre-Dame du Puy cathedral in Le Puy-en-Velay, France
    Le Puy-en-Velay Cathedral: Where the Camino Begins
    Notre-Dame du Puy is where French pilgrims have gathered for a thousand years to begin the Via Podiensis, the historic walking route to Santiago de Compostela.
    The stone basilica church of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland
    The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Emmitsburg
    A widowed mother of five became America's first native-born saint, and the Maryland farmhouse where she founded her religious order is now a national shrine.
    The Byzantine-Romanesque facade and Knights Tower of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC
    The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC
    The largest Catholic church in North America sits on a Washington DC hilltop, its Byzantine-Romanesque domes and mosaics visible for miles across the capital city.
    The village and cliffside chapels of Rocamadour built into a sheer limestone gorge wall in southern France
    Rocamadour: The Cliffside Shrine of the Black Madonna
    A village of chapels stacked into a sheer limestone cliff in southern France has drawn pilgrims to its Black Madonna since at least the twelfth century.
    The fortified stone facade and Gothic-Mudéjar towers of the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain
    The Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, Spain
    Spain's Guadalupe monastery in Extremadura is the original shrine whose name and devotion later gave rise to Mexico City's far more famous Basilica of Guadalupe.
    The completed white sanctuary church and bell tower dedicated to Saint John Paul II in the Lagiewniki district of Krakow, Poland
    The Sanctuary of Saint John Paul II, Kraków
    Built in the Kraków district where Karol Wojtyła lived, worked, and served as archbishop for decades, this modern sanctuary holds a relic of his own blood.
    The domed Chapel of the Shepherds' Field near Bethlehem, built on terraced hillside land where shepherds are traditionally believed to have received the news of Christ's birth
    Shepherds' Field, Bethlehem
    Just outside Bethlehem, ancient terraced hillsides mark where an angel is said to have announced Christ's birth to shepherds watching their flocks at night.
    The patterned marble facade and bell tower of the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy
    The Shrine of the Holy Face, Manoppello
    A small Italian town holds a translucent cloth image of a face that some connect to Veronica's Veil, though historians genuinely dispute its exact origin.
    The white marble Gothic Revival facade of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, with its rose window and twin spires rising above a New York City street
    St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City
    Built by Irish immigrants far from Manhattan's center in the 1850s, St. Patrick's Cathedral now stands surrounded by the skyscrapers of Fifth Avenue in midtown.
    The white Renaissance marble facade of Turin Cathedral, home to the Chapel of the Holy Shroud
    Turin Cathedral and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud
    A Baroque architect-priest built a spiraling black-marble dome in Turin for one purpose: to house the linen cloth millions believe wrapped Christ's body.
    The hyperboloid concrete columns and crown-like exterior of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasília, photographed around its 1970 dedication
    The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasília
    Oscar Niemeyer's hyperboloid crown-of-thorns cathedral, built almost entirely below ground level, and why it looks nothing like Europe's Gothic naves.
    The Christ the Redeemer statue under construction on Corcovado mountain, circa 1930-31, before the outstretched arms were fully clad in soapstone
    Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro
    The engineering behind Rio's 98-foot Art Deco Christ, why it was built atop Corcovado's peak, and how the tourist icon still functions as a working pilgrimage site.
    The white travertine domes and facade of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica atop Montmartre, photographed in 1921
    Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris
    How a national vow of penance after France's crushing 1871 defeat built a white-domed basilica atop Montmartre, where prayer has continued unbroken since 1885.
    The neo-Gothic facade and twin bell towers of the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, Argentina, photographed in 1925
    The Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, Argentina
    The 1630 legend of a statue that refused to travel farther, how it made Our Lady of Luján patroness of three nations, and the huge youth pilgrimage held today.
    The gold mosaic dome depicting Pentecost inside the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, showing the apostles and Mary surrounded by tongues of fire
    The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
    The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis holds 41.5 million glass mosaic tesserae, installed over 76 years in a Byzantine-Romanesque church named for Saint Louis IX.
    A 1901 photograph of the ruined interior of the Great Stone Church at Mission San Juan Capistrano, showing its collapsed roof, standing archway, and tiered altar niches open to the sky.
    Mission San Juan Capistrano
    Founded in 1776 by Junípero Serra, this California mission's Great Stone Church lies in earthquake ruins, while swallows and an older chapel keep its memory alive.
    Late-afternoon sunlight on the stone exterior of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with its bell tower and bare autumn trees.
    The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, Stockbridge
    In the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, a Polish nun's visions found their North American home — the story of Eden Hill and its annual Divine Mercy Sunday crowds.
    Interior of the circular Coliseum church at the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York, showing the sanctuary, high altar, and tiered seating.
    National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, Auriesville
    On a hillside above the Mohawk River, pilgrims fill a round, 6,000-seat church built where three Jesuit missionaries were tortured and killed in the 1640s.