From the Middle Ages until the advent of the skyscraper, Christian churches have been the world's tallest buildings. Starting in 1311, when the spire of Lincoln Cathedral surpassed the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza, until the Washington Monument was constructed in 1884, a succession of churches held this title. If it is ever completed, Barcelona's Sagrada Familia will become the tallest church in the world, at 170 m (558 ft) tall.

This list does not include structures from other religions. For example, the minaret of Casablanca's Hassan II Mosque is 210 m (689 ft) tall, nor does it include church buildings that are not churches, such as the Chicago Temple Building.

The churches are ordered based on their tallest recorded height in history. Churches in italics and marked with H (for historical) either no longer exist or no longer stand to their original full height as listed. When the current shorter height still is significant, churches may be mentioned a second time on the list. To view the tallest present churches, click the sorting button in the H column.

Height metres (feet)	H	Name	Completion	City	Country	Comment
m (530 ft)		Münster	1890	Ulm		768 stairs going up to a height of 143 m, intended to be shorter, but size increased in order to outdo Cologne Cathedral; largest Protestant Gothic church in Germany
m (524 ft)	H	Lincoln Cathedral	1311	Lincoln		today 83 m - spire collapsed in 1549; tallest building in the world from 1311 to 1549. Was 103 metres from 1549 to 1807.
m (520 ft)	H	St. Olaf	1519	Tallinn		today 123m - spire destroyed by lightning in 1625; tallest building in the world from 1549 to 1625
m (518 ft)		Our Lady of Peace Basilica	1989	Yamoussoukro		possible largest church in the world (disputed with St Peter's Basilica); world's tallest domed church, the dome being lower but the cross taller than that of St Peter's Basilica, Rome; tallest Roman Catholic church in the world; tallest church in Africa
m (516 ft)		Dom	1880	Cologne		tallest building in the world from 1880 to 1884; largest Gothic church in Germany; tallest Roman Catholic cathedral in the world
m (502 ft)	H	Saint-Pierre Cathedral	1569	Beauvais		tower collapsed in 1573
m (495 ft)	H	St. Mary's church	1478	Stralsund		today 104m - spire destroyed by lightning in 1647; tallest building in the world from 1625 to 1647
m (495 ft)		Notre-Dame Cathedral	1876	Rouen		tallest building in the world from 1876 to 1880; tallest church in France
m (493 ft)	H	Old St. Paul's Cathedral	1240	London		spire destroyed by lightning in 1561; whole cathedral destroyed in Great Fire of London in 1666
m (483 ft)		St Nikolai	1874	Hamburg		tallest building in the world from 1874 to 1876; rest of church destroyed in bombing in 1943 - only tower left standing
m (472 ft)		Strasbourg Cathedral	1439	Strasbourg		tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874, tallest 15th century structure in the world
m (464 ft)		Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen	2000	Stary Licheń		largest church in Poland, seventh largest in Europe and eleventh largest in the world
m (435 ft)		St. Peter's Basilica	1560-1626	Vatican City		possible largest church in the world (disputed with Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro); tallest dome in the world (excluding the cross on top); tallest Renaissance structure in the world
m (449 ft)		Stephansdom	1433	Vienna		tallest church in Austria
m (446 ft)	H	St. Peter	1491	Riga		tower collapsed in 1666 and again in 1721; tower and roof damaged in World War II
m (441 ft)	H	Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Lambert	1433	Liège		destroyed by the Liegeois in 1793 after the French Revolution
m (440 ft)		Neuer Dom	1924	Linz
m (436 ft)		St Petri	1878	Hamburg
m (433 ft)		St. Michaelis	1786	Hamburg		the tallest 18th century church in the world
m (431 ft)	H	Abbey	1180	Malmesbury		spire collapsed in the late 15th or early 16th century
m (428 ft)		St Martin	1500	Landshut		tallest brickwork structure in the world
m (426 ft)	H	St Elisabeth	1535	Wrocław		today 83m, spire collapsed in 1529 during storm
m (423 ft)		Saint Joseph's Oratory	1967	Montreal		tallest church in the New World (The Americas)
m (417 ft)	H	Martinikerk (tower called Martinitoren)	1482	Groningen		spire burned down in 1577, now 97 m in height
m (410 ft)		St Jacobi	1962	Hamburg
m (410 ft)		Marienkirche	1350	Lübeck		tallest church facade with two steeples finished in the Middle Ages and only overtaken in height by Cologne cathedral in 1880
m (407 ft)		Catedral Basília Menor de Nossa Senhora da Glória	1972	Maringá		tallest church in Latin America
m (406 ft)		St. Olaf	1931	Tallinn		once much taller; tallest church in the Baltic States; tallest church in the former Soviet Union
m (404 ft)		Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal	1521	Antwerp		tallest church in the Low Countries
m (404 ft)		Cathedral of Saint Mary	1315	Salisbury		tallest church in the United Kingdom, tallest 14th century structure in the world
m (404 ft)		St. Peter	1973	Riga		once much taller; tallest church in Latvia
m (404 ft)		Peter and Paul Cathedral	1733	St. Petersburg
m (400 ft)	H	Abbaye-aux-Hommes	13th century	Caen		spire replaced by a lower tower in the 17th century
m (400 ft)		Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk	1350	Bruges
m (397 ft)		San Gaudenzio	1878	Novara
m (392 ft)	H	Cathedral Basilica of St James the Apostle	1892	Szczecin		the cathedral's tower collapsed during a bombardment in 1944; nowadays it measures 110.18 m
m (392 ft)		Riverside Church	1930	New York City		Tallest Church in the United States of America
m (390 ft)		Uppsala Domkyrka	1435	Uppsala		largest church in Scandinavia
m (390 ft)	H	Reinoldikirche	1520	Dortmund		Built in 1454 with 112m (367ft), collapsed in earthquake 1661, now 104m (340ft)
m (387 ft)		Cathedral	1468	Metz
m (385 ft)		Dom	1892	Schwerin
m (384 ft)		St Petri	1577	Rostock
m (381 ft)		Münster	1330	Freiburg
m (381 ft)	H	Dom	1905	Berlin		dome damaged in World War II
m (377 ft)		Sagrada Familia	2026	Barcelona		intended to eventually be 172 m (564 ft) tall
m (377 ft)		St Katharinen	1657	Hamburg
m (376 ft)		St Andreas	1389	Hildesheim
m (376 ft)		Duomo	1434	Florence
m (376 ft)		Basílica del Voto Nacional	1988	Quito		Second tallest in Latin America
m (376 ft)		Collegiate church of St. Mary Magdalene [75766]	1262	Poznan		Third tallest building in Europe in 1262, destroyed in a fire in 1777, finally demolished in 1802
m (375 ft)		Cathedral	1514	Chartres
m (374 ft)		Saint Michael's Basilica	1492	Bordeaux
m (371 ft)		Catedral Basílica Nuestra Señora del Rosario	1901	Manizales		Third tallest in Latin America
m (371 ft)	H	Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church	1895	Berlin		spire damaged in World War II, current height 68 m
m (370 ft)		Torrazzo	1309	Cremona
m (369 ft)		Domtoren	1382	Utrecht		the cathedral's nave collapsed during a storm in 1674
m (367 ft)		Dom	1894	Schleswig
m (367 ft)		Cathedral of La Plata	1999	La Plata
m (367 ft)		Notre-Dame Cathedral	1549	Amiens
m (366 ft)		St. Paul's Cathedral	1710	London		tallest building in London until 1962
m (361 ft)		Herz-Jesu-Kirche	1891	Graz
m (363 ft)		Cathedral Basilica of St James the Apostle	1892	Szczecin		in 1892 - 1944 it measured 119.8 m; until 2008 it was 67 m
m (360 ft)	H	Johanniskirche	1384	Lüneburg		today 108.7 m - spire partially destroyed by lightning in 1406
m (358 ft)		Duomo	1762	Milan
m (357 ft)		Nieuwe Kerk	1496	Delft
m (357 ft)		Johanniskirche	1408	Lüneburg		once slightly taller; spire rebuilt from 1406 to 1408
m (351 ft)		Linköping Cathedral	1886	Linköping
m (350 ft)		Milan Cathedral	1886	Milan
m (348 ft)		Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Luján	1935	Luján
m (348 ft)		Sanctuary of the Black Madonna	1900	Częstochowa
m (348 ft)		Saint-Joseph	1957	Le Havre
m (348 ft)		Resurrection Cathedral	1832	Shuya		freestanding belltower
m (344 ft)		St. Petri Church	1322	Dortmund
m (344 ft)		St. Nicholas	1696	Tallinn		cathedral itself dates from 1275
m (344 ft)		Cathedral	1866	Bayeux		Estimated height; cathedral itself is mostly 12th and 13th century
m (344 ft)		Dom	1856	Regensburg
m (344 ft)		Cathedral	1093	Zagreb
m (344 ft)		Dom	1341	Lübeck
m (344 ft)		Les Invalides	1706	Paris
m (344 ft)		Sankta Klara	1888	Stockholm
m (344 ft)		St Petri	1310	Malmö
m (344 ft)		St. Patrick's Cathedral	1939	Melbourne
m (344 ft)		Cathedral of Christ the Saviour	2000	Moscow		reconstruction; original cathedral consecrated 1883 and demolished by Soviets in 1931; still the tallest Orthodox church in the world
m (344 ft)		St. Catherine Church	1550	Hoogstraten
m (342 ft)		Archcathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaw	1912	Łódź
m (341 ft)		Dom	1520	Magdeburg
m (340 ft)		Reinoldikirche	1954	Dortmund		was 119m (390ft) from 1520 until 1661
m (339 ft)		St. Patrick's Cathedral	1878	New York City
m (338 ft)		St. Stanislaw and St. Waclaw	1496	Świdnica
m (338 ft)		Katharinenkirche	1430	Osnabrück
m (338 ft)	H	Cathedral	1549	Lincoln		today 83 m - spire collapsed in 1549; tallest building in the world from 1311 to 1549. Was 103 metres from 1549 to 1807.
m (337 ft)		St. Mary	1854	Chojna
m (336 ft)		St-Maartens Cathedral	20th century	Ypres		almost exact replica of the medieval church destroyed during the First World War. This is a proto-cathedral
m (335 ft)		St. Bartholomew	1600	Plzeň
m (334 ft)		Saint Isaac's Cathedral	1858	St. Petersburg
m (331 ft)		Anglican Cathedral	1978	Liverpool		largest cathedral and Protestant church in Europe and possibly the largest Protestant church in the world
m (330 ft)		St. Wenceslas Cathedral	1892	Olomouc
m (328 ft)		Gedächtniskirche	1904	Speyer
m (328 ft)		Münster	1893	Bern
m (328 ft)		Catedral da Sé	1954	São Paulo
m (328 ft)		Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception	1959	Washington, DC		largest Roman Catholic church in the Americas
m (328 ft)		Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida	1980	Aparecida		Steeple at 100.0 m; dome at 70.0 m
m (328 ft)		Basilica	1869	Esztergom		still the tallest building in Hungary
m (326 ft)		Saint Vincent	1883	Eeklo
m (326 ft)		St. Vitus Cathedral	1929	Prague
m (326 ft)		Frauenkirche	1525	Munich
m (325 ft)		St. John	1892	Stargard Szczeciński
m (325 ft)		Votivkirche	1879	Vienna
m (322 ft)		Marktkirche	1862	Wiesbaden
m (322 ft)		St.-Petri-Dom	1893	Bremen
m (322 ft)		Onze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren	15th century	Amersfoort		rest of church accidentally blown up in 1797
m (322 ft)		Grote Kerk	1547	Breda
m (322 ft)		St. Martin	1534	Amberg
m (321 ft)		Nidaros Cathedral	1300	Trondheim
m (320 ft)		Cathedral	1568	Seville
m (319 ft)		Sint-Romboutskathedraal	1520	Mechelen		the tower was supposed to be 167 m (+ 545 ft) tall, but the money ran out.
m (319 ft)		Marktkirche	14th century	Hannover		Rebuilt after World War II in 1952
m (318 ft)		Sameba Cathedral	2004	Tbilisi
m (318 ft)		Duomo	1885	Pavia
m (318 ft)		Temple Saint-Étienne	1866	Mulhouse		Tallest Protestant church in France
m (318 ft)		Martinikerk (tower called Martinitoren	1627	Groningen		spire burned down in 1577, was 127 m tall
m (317 ft)		Agricola Church	1935	Helsinki		tallest church in Finland
m (315.10 ft)		Cathedral	1884	Clermont-Ferrand
m (315 ft)		Basilica of St. Anthony	1906	Rybnik
m (315 ft)		Norwich Angican Cathedral	1480	Norwich		second tallest spire in England. Norwich Cathedral also has the largest cathedral close (Grounds) in Europe and is the tallest building in the city of Norwich, uk.
m (315 ft)		Domkirke	1500	Aarhus
m (315 ft)		Kreuzkirche	1788	Dresden
m (315 ft)		Saint Leopold Church	1914	Floridsdorf, Vienna
m (315 ft)		St. Stephen's Basilica	1905	Budapest		still the tallest building in Budapest
m (315 ft)		St. Paul's Cathedral	1931	Melbourne
m (314 ft)		Tyska Kyrkan	1884	Stockholm
m (312 ft)		Frauenkirche	1743	Dresden		destroyed by bombing in 1945 and rededicated in 2005
m (312 ft)		Kaiserdom	1877	Frankfurt
m (309 ft)		St. Walburge	1866	Preston
m (309 ft)		Grote- of Martinikerk	1430	Doesburg
m (308 ft)		Kreuzkirche	1800	Dresden
m (308 ft)		St. John's Cathedral	1861	Limerick		Tallest church spire in Ireland
m (308 ft)		Dom	13th century	Paderborn
m (308 ft)		Peter and Paul Church	1767	Porechye		Tallest rural belltower in Russia
m (307 ft)		Church of the Savior on Blood	1907	St. Petersburg
m (307 ft)		St. Ulrich und Afra	1594	Augsburg
m (306.5 ft)		Cathedral of St. Paul	1915	St. Paul, Minnesota
m (305 ft)		Eusebiuskerk	1965	Arnhem
m (305 ft)		St. James' Cathedral	1853	Toronto
m (304 ft)		Nicolaikirche	1895	Lüneburg		church built from 1407 to 1440, new spire built from 1831 to 1895
m (303 ft)		Grote Kerk	1424	The Hague
m (303 ft)		Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church	1973 (?)	Fort Lauderdale
m (302 ft)		Cathedral	1792	Murcia
m (301 ft)		New Cathedral	1733	Salamanca
m (301 ft)		Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt	1505	Schlanders
m (300 ft)		National Cathedral	1990	Washington, DC
m (300 ft)		St. Francis DeSales Church	1908	St. Louis, Missouri
m (299 ft)		Grote Kerk	1878	The Hague
m (299 ft)		St. Andreas	12th century	Braunschweig
m (300 ft)		Cathedral of Hope	1935	Pittsburgh
m (300 ft)		St. Mary's Basilica	1884	Kevelaer
m (297 ft)		Långe Jan	1300	Middelburg		the tower was rebuilt after destruction by Luftwaffe bombings in 1940
m (297 ft)		Cathedral	1494	Canterbury		cathedral itself dates from 1077
m (295 ft)		Notre-Dame Cathedral	1345	Paris
m (295 ft)		Cathedral	1440	Toledo
m (295 ft)		Old Cathedral	1433	Coventry		the spire was the only part of the cathedral that survived intact when it was bombed in 1940
m (295 ft)		St. Colman's Cathedral	1919	Cobh
m (295 ft)		Cathedral of Santa Eulalia	15th century	Barcelona
m (295 ft)		Cathedral	1776	Riga
m (295 ft)		Neue evangelische Garnisonkirche	1897	Berlin
m (295 ft)		St. Nikolajs	1829	Copenhagen
m (295 ft)		St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral	1917	Edinburgh
m (295 ft)		St. James' Parish Church	1515	Louth		reputedly the tallest Anglican parish church in the UK
m (295 ft)		Garnisonkirche St. Martin	1900	Dresden
m (295 ft)		Georgskirche	1501	Nördlingen
m (295 ft)		El Escorial	1584	San Lorenzo de El Escorial
m (295 ft)		Abbaye-aux-Hommes	13th century	Caen		formerly much taller
m (295 ft)		Saint-Eloi	15th century	Dunkirk
m (295 ft)		Basilica of the Sacred Heart	1971	Brussels
m (294 ft)		Vor Frelsers Kirke	1696	Copenhagen
m (292 ft)		St. Bavo's Cathedral	1538	Ghent
m (292 ft)		St. Mary Redcliffe	1872	Bristol		second-highest parish church spire in England; the previous spire collapsed in a storm in the 1440s
m (291 ft)		Templo Votivo de Maipú	1974	Maipu		Tallest Church in Chile
m (290 ft)		Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King	1967	Liverpool
m (289 ft)		Peterskirche	1885	Leipzig
m (288 ft)		Washington Temple	1974	Kensington		tallest LDS temple
m (288 ft)		Cathedral	1558	Segovia
m (288 ft)		Cathedral	1400	Burgos
m (288 ft)		Pfarrkirche St. Stephan	1725	Stockerau
m (287 ft)		Dreikönigskirche	1857	Dresden		completely destroyed in the 1945 bombing and now rebuilt
m (285 ft)		Cathedral	1787	Orléans
m (285 ft)		Saint-Epvre	1872	Nancy
m (285 ft)		Kostol Nanebovzatia Panny Márie	14th century	Spišská Nová Ves		the highest church in Slovakia
m (285 ft)		Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo	1977	Bendigo		Tallest provincial Australian church
m (285 ft)		Stadtpfarrkirche St. Stephan, Braunau	1759	Braunau
m (284 ft)		Westminster Cathedral	1903	London
m (283 ft)	H	Schlosskirche	1897	Chemnitz		destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt considerably lower
m (282 ft)		Liebfrauenkirche	1651	Bremen
m (282 ft)		St. Wulfram's Church	1450	Grantham
m (282 ft)		Aegidienkirche	1840	Lübeck
m (282 ft)		St. James's Cathedral	1225	Riga
m (282 ft)		Marienkirche	14th century	Mühlhausen		largest parish church and second largest church in Thuringia
m (282 ft)		Jakobskirche	16th century	Straubing
m (282 ft)		Saint-Ouen	1851	Rouen
m (282 ft)		Lambertikirche	1887	Oldenburg
m (282 ft)		St. Catherine Church	1897	Toruń
m (282 ft)		St. Georg	1904	Ulm
m (281 ft)		Hofkirche	1755	Dresden		elevated to cathedral status in 1980; the largest church in Saxony
m (281 ft)		Cathedral of St. Joseph	1962	Hartford
m (281 ft)		Cathedral	1834	Turku
m (281 ft)		St. Elphin's Church	1860s	Warrington		church itself dates from 1354
m (280 ft)	H	Saint Denis Basilica	1281	Saint-Denis		now considerably shorter
m (280 ft)		Dom	1993	Berlin		reconstructed after World War II; formerly considerably taller
m (279 ft)		Westerkerk	1638	Amsterdam		largest Protestant church in the Netherlands
m (279 ft)		Johanneskirche	1881	Düsseldorf
m (279 ft)		Saint-Esprit	1931	Paris
m (278 ft)		St. Mary Abbot, Kensington	1879	London		tallest church spire in London
m (278 ft)		Saint-Nicolas	1850	Nantes
m (278 ft)		St. Martin's Cathedral	14th century	Bratislava		the highest church in Bratislava
m (278 ft)		Église Saint-Maurice	1893	Strasbourg		Estimated height
m (275 ft)		Cathedral	1782	Malaga
m (274 ft)		Orthodox Cathedral	1946	Timişoara
m (274 ft)		St. Mary's Church	1292	Stargard Szczeciński
m (272 ft)		Cathedral	1807	Lincoln		today 83 m - spire collapsed in 1549; tallest building in the world from 1311 to 1549. Was 103 metres from 1549 to 1807.
m (272 ft)		St. Botolph	1520	Boston		tallest parish church tower (as opposed to spire) in England; known as the "Boston Stump"
m (269 ft)		Cathedral	1863	Chichester		rebuilding of an earlier, slightly lower, spire that collapsed in 1861
m (269 ft)		St. Mary's Church	1502	Gdańsk		the largest brick church in the world; the tower was never completed
m (269 ft)		St. Sava	2004	Belgrade		the largest Orthodox church in the Balkans and the second largest in the world
m (265 ft)		Fort Street Presbyterian Church	1855	Detroit, Michigan
m (265 ft)		St. Anthony's Church	1894	Toledo, Ohio
m (262 ft)		St. Michael's Church	1487	Cluj-Napoca		The tower was built between 1511-1543, but was destroyed by fire in 1697. A second tower was built in 1744, also destroyed in 1763. The present neo-Gothic tower was built between 1837-1860.
m (262 ft)		St. Mary's Basilica	1406	Kraków
m (260 ft)		Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours	1929	Thrissur		The tallest church in Asia
m (259 ft)		Cathedral of Saint Sava	2003	Belgrade		By volume the biggest Orthodox Church in the world
m (259 ft)		St. Matthew Church, Anykščiai	1908	Anykščiai		tallest church in Lithuania
m (256 ft)		St. Anthony of Padua Church	1912	New Bedford, MA
m (256 ft)		Heinz Memorial Chapel	1938	Pittsburgh, PA		Chapel of the University of Pittsburgh
m (255 ft)		Collégiale Saint-Thiébaut	1516	Thann
m (253 ft)		Michael's Church	1905	Turku
m (249 ft)		Église Saint-Paul	1897	Strasbourg
m (248 ft)		Igreja dos Clérigos	1763	Porto
m (245 ft)		St. Mary's Cathedral	2000	Sydney
m (244 ft)		Hallgrímskirkja	1986	Reykjavík		tallest church in Iceland

See also

• List of largest church buildings in the world
• List of highest church naves
• Timeline of three tallest structures in the world
• List of tallest religious buildings in the world

References

History of St. Anthony's Parish, Toledo, Ohio, Anno Domini 1957, F.S. LegowskiNRHP certification #71000424