Ten Unique Churches
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Harajuku:
Japanese Futuristic Church
This futuristic
Protestant church is located in Tokyo , and it was first
unveiled by the design firm of Ciel Rouge Creation in 2005. The
ceiling is specially made to reverberate natural sound for 2 seconds
to provide a unique listening experience for worshipers and tourists.
Saint Basil's
Cathedral: The Red Square 's Colorful Church
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The St. Basil's Cathedral is located on the Red
Square inMoscow, Russia .
A Russian
Orthodox church, the Cathedral sports a series of colorful bulbous
domes that taper to a point,
Aptly named onion
domes, that are part of Moscow's Kremlin skyline.
The cathedral
was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of
the Khanate of Kazan.
In 1588 Tsar
Feodor Ivanovich had a chapel added on the eastern side above the
grave of Basil, Fool for Christ,
a Russian Orthodox
saint after whom the cathedral was popularly named.
Hallgrïmskirkja:
Iceland 's Most Amazing Church
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The Hallgrïmskirkja (literally, the church
of Hallgrïmur ) is a Lutheran parish church located in
Reykjavïk , Iceland .
At 74.5 metres
(244 ft), it is the fourth tallest architectural structure in
Iceland .
The church is
named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrïmur Pïtursson
(1614 to 1674), author of the Passion Hymns.
State Architect
Guïjïn Samïelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937;
it took 38 years to build it.
Temppeliaukio
Kirkko: The Rock Church
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The Temppeliaukio Kirkko ( Rock Church )
is a thrilling work of modern architecture in Helsinki .
It is built
entirely underground and has a ceiling made of copper wire.
It’s final
design was by architecture brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and
completed in 1969.
They chose a
rocky outcrop rising about 40 feet above street level, and blasted
out the walls from the inside.
It is one of the
most popular tourist attractions in Helsinki and frequently
full of visitors.
Cathedral of
Brasïlia: The Modern Church of architect Oscar Niemeyer
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The Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida in
the capital of Brazil is an expression of the architect Oscar
Niemeyer.
This
concrete-framed hyperboloid structure, seems with its glass roof to
be reaching up,
open, to
heaven. On 31 May 1970, the Cathedral's structure was finished,
and only the 70
m diameter of the circular area was visible.
Niemeyer's
project of Cathedral of Brasilia is based on the hyperboloid of
revolution.
The hyperboloid
structure itself is a result of 16 identical assembled concrete
columns.
These columns,
designed as hyperbolic sections and weighing 90 t, represent two
hands moving upwards to heaven.
The Cathedral was
dedicated on 31 May 1970.
Borgund
Church : Best Preserved Stave Church
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The Borgund Stave Church in Laerdal is the best
preserved of Norway 's 28 extant stave churches.
This wooden
church, probably built in the end of the 12th century, has not
changed structure
Or had a major
reconstruction since the date it was built.
The church is
also featured as a Wonder for the Viking civilization in the video
game Age of Empires II:
The Age of Kings.
Las Lajas Cathedral:
A Gothic Church Worthy of a Fairy Tale
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The Las Lajas Cathedral is located in southern
Colombia and built in 1916 inside the canyon of the
Guaitara River .
According to
the legend, this was the place where an Indian woman named Marïa
Mueses de Quiïones
was carrying
her deaf-mute daughter Rosa on her back near Las Lajas ("The
Rocks").
Weary of the climb,
Marïa sat down on a rock where Rosa spoke (for the first time)
about an apparition in a cave.
Later on, a
mysterious painting of the Virgin Mary carrying a baby was discovered
on the wall of the cave.
Supposedly,
studies of the painting showed no proof of paint or pigments on the
rock. Instead,
When a core
sample was taken, it was found that the colors were impregnated in
the rock itself to a depth of several feet.
Whether true or not,
the legend spurred the building of this amazing church.
St.
Joseph Church : Known for its Thirteen Gold Domed Roof
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The St. Joseph The Betrothed is an Ukrainian
Greek-CatholicChurch in Chicago .
Built in 1956, it
is most known for its ultra-modern thirteen gold domed roof
symbolizing the twelve
Apostles and
Jesus Christ as the largest center dome.
The interior of
the church is completely adorned with Byzantine style icons
(frescoes).
Unfortunately
the iconographer was deported back to his homeland before he was able
to
write the names of
all the saints as prescribed by iconographic traditions.
Ruïica
Church : Where Chandeliers are made of Bullet Shells
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Located over
the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia, the Ruïica Church is a small chapel decorated
with... with trench art!
Its chandeliers are
entirely made of spent bullet casing, swords, and cannon parts.
The space the church
now occupies was used by the Turks as gunpowder storage for over 100
years and it had to be largely rebuilt in 1920 after WWI. Though
damaged by bombings there was an upshot to the terrible carnage of
The Great War. While fighting alongside England and the
US , Serbian soldiers on the Thessaloniki front took the time
to put together these amazing chandeliers. It is one of the world's
finest examples of trench art.
Chapel of St-Gildas:
Built into the base of a bare rocky cliff
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