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Buxoro Viloyati, Uzbekistan
Chor Minor
Chor Minor means 'four minarets,' but the towers were never minarets. Three stored supplies; one had stairs.
From the CommunityPlaces of Worship
These sacred spaces span cultures, continents, and time. Some have led many lives, meaning different things to different people at various times. Many are old. Some are brand new. All of them serve as a space to acknowledge a higher power.
Nice, France
Cathédrale Saint-Nicolas de Nice
Built for Russian aristocrats fleeing winter, this cathedral's patron—Tsar Nicholas II—never saw the revolution coming.
From the Community
Kraków, Poland
Tempel Synagogue
Tempel's 43 stained glass windows are the only preserved synagogue stained glass in Poland, surviving Nazi occupation as ammunition storage.
From the Community
Paris, France
Church of Saint Mary Magdalene
After 78 years of identity crises, from military temple to train station, it became a church that hid female singers.
From the Community
Goczałkowice-Zdrój, Poland
Chapel of Our Lady, Healer of the Sick
A mother built this chapel in 1866 to thank Mary for healing her son, then painted him directly into the altarpiece as proof.
From the Community
Kutaisi, Georgia
Great Synagogue
A Soviet auto plant reporter translated Georgia's national epic into Hebrew: now a monument honors him outside this 1886 synagogue.
From the Community
Istanbul, Turkey
Hagia Sofia
Hagia Sophia's original dome collapsed in 558—just 21 years after opening—because workers used too much mortar and didn't let it dry.
From the Community
Marseille, France
Cathédrale de la Major
France's only 19th-century cathedral took 40 years to build and matches St. Peter's Basilica in scale: all to impress sailors.
From the Community
Kazan, Russia
Old Tatar Settlement
Catherine the Great's 1767 decree ended a 215-year ban on stone mosques and her quip about minarets reaching heaven became legend.
From the Community
Sils im Domleschg, Switzerland
St. Cassian Church
A burial church dedicated to a saint killed by his students—with a pulpit installed right after a 21-year religious war.
From the Community
Kraków, Poland
Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Stanislaus
For centuries, every Polish king had to visit this church before coronation, atoning for a royal murder from 1079.
From the Community
Kythira, Greece
Agia Moni
A war hero's vow, a lightning-proof icon, and a WWII resistance radio, all housed in one golden monastery on Kythira.
From the Community
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Kamianets'-podil's'kyi, Ukraine
Dominican Church of St Nicholas
Inside this Ukrainian church stands an Ottoman-era Muslim pulpit from the 1670s: installed for a sultan's wife, never removed.
From the Community
Ogland, Kazakhstan
Beket Ata Underground Mosque
This 18th-century underground mosque carved into desert rock may have doubled as an astronomical observatory.
From the Community
Tuineje, Spain
Ermita Protestante de Violante
A German widower built this 2.5-meter chapel on a Fuerteventura hilltop in 2011; inside, strangers leave wishes in a book.
From the Community
Yucatán, Mexico
Convento de San Antonio da Padua
The world's second-largest atrium was built in six months by 6,000 Maya workers—using stones from their own demolished pyramid.
From the Community
Baku, Azerbaijan
Juma Mosque
This mosque spent Soviet rule as a carpet museum, its prayer hall draped in rugs rather than reverence for seven decades.
From the Community
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Haji Yaqub Mosque
Built for a mystic who mastered the art of disappearing.
From the Community
Monteroni di Lecce, Italy
Chiesa dei Santi Medici Cosma e Damiano
A church honoring twin doctors so committed to free healthcare that a talking camel had to intervene in their burial dispute.
From the Community
Uayma, Mexico
Santo Domingo de Guzmán Church
Built from stones of dismantled Maya temples, this church took priests over 100 years to convince locals to enter.
From the Community
Shiraz, Iran
Nasir al-Mulk Mosque
This mosque's expensive gamble turns morning prayers into a daily light show.
From the Community
Tabriz, Iran
Imam Khomeini Mosalla
Tabriz's forever-unfinished prayer hall has been accused of undermining its ancient neighbor.
From the Community
Paris, France
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre
Sacré-Cœur's travertine stone self-cleans with every rainstorm, releasing calcite that recoats the basilica white.
From the Community
Karkala, India
St. Lawrence Minor Basilica
A basilica in Karnataka that looks like a Disney castle, built on the spot where a wooden statue of St. Lawrence refused to be carried further.
From the Community
Jaipur, India
Monkey Temple
This temple honors the elephant god but houses hundreds of monkeys who commute to Jaipur daily to steal and pickpocket.
AWA visted here
Agra, India
Itmad-ud-Daula
Nur Jahan built this marble tomb for her father in 1622. Shah Jahan studied it before designing the Taj Mahal.
AWA visted here
Agra, India
Mehtab Bagh
Built a century before the Taj, this garden turned to sand, then archaeologists dug for a mythical Black Taj that never existed.
AWA visted here
Echternach, Luxembourg
Abbey of Echternach
Each Whit Tuesday, Echternach revives its centuries-old dancing procession: a handkerchief-linked, brass-band swirl of faith and footwork that even Saint Willibrord would jump back in line for.
From the Community
Gran Canaria, Spain
Las Palmas Gospel Church
In the 1960s, South Korean fishermen settled on Spain’s Gran Canaria, creating the only Koreatown in Spain and a true island melting pot!
Basel, Switzerland
St. Johann Capelle
St. Johann Chapel in Basel, plain and modest beside the grand Minster, endures through centuries of shifting use—once a fruit storehouse, now a quiet space for small services.
From the Community
Cornwall, United Kingdom
Escalls Chapel
Escalls Chapel, a stone church near Land’s End, is now best known for its surfboard cross: a seaside landmark blending faith and beach culture.
From the Community
Skagen, Denmark
The Sand-Covered Church
Cresting above the dunes of Skagen’s beaches stands a strikingly white ruin of a church long gone.
AWA visted here
Presented with
McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Chapel of the Snows
The Chapel of the Snows is Antarctica’s southernmost interfaith church, offering reflection, community, and warmth at the coldest place on Earth.
From the Community
Florence, Italy
Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore
The most famous landmark of Florence, il Duomo still holds some secrets within its constrcution.
AWA visted here
Presented with
Longyearbyen, Svalbard
Svalbard Church
It is also always open, serving as a safe space to duck into if you happen to be chased by a polar bear.