Situated right next to the Spanish Riding School and to Hofburg Palace, the winter residence of the Habsbourgs, the church of St Augustine has a history as long as the imperial family. It was here that the royal heads attended the weekly masses and also here some very famous weddings took place. Among those who […]

When people hear “the cathedral of Rome” usually think of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, from where the Pope delivers the Easter benediction. Well, in fact St Peter’s is not a cathedral at all, it’s a “regular” church, despite its architectural and historical value. The term cathedral comes from the Latin word for seat, […]

The Pantheon was a pagan temple dedicated to all gods, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa. It was meant to impress by its unprecedented dimensions and shape and was heavily decorated, in contrast with the austere interior we see now. It was probably very colorful, with stars painted on the ceiling, statues in every niche and golden […]

According to tradition, St Andrew was the first among the twelve apostles to be called by Jesus to preach His teachings. Andrew was also a fisherman, like his brother, Peter, the founder of the Church. They both spread the Gospel in the Greeko-Roman world and suffered a martyric death, choosing a different shape of the […]

The legend has it that when he first entered his masterpiece, emperor Justinian lift his eyes towards the dome and uttered: “Oh, Solomon, I’ve surpassed you!”. To understand just how entitled this far from modest remark was, we must put our imagination to work, picturing the basilica painted, the marble floor, the precious stones, the […]

Positano is a wonderful small city and resort on the Italian Amalfitana coast, washed by the Ionian see. Surrounded by vacation houses and lemon orchards there is a church built by a perish that is a thousand years old. On the outside, the Dome of Positano shows the influence of Islamic art in this harbor […]

Though the Salzburger Dome is the most famous and the biggest cathedral in Salzburg, there are also other Baroque churches in the city of Mozart. The most important two, the Holly Third Church and the Collegiate Church, are the work of perhaps the most important Austrian architect, Johann von Erlach, the same man who designed […]

The passion of Christ is a popular theme in the Western Christian world, that is almost absent from the Orthodox churches. The later followed the tradition of symbolic representation in icons. When Renaissance came in the West, with its rediscovery of the human body as it was presented by the sculptures of Antiquity, the two […]

The catholic cathedral of Saint Stephen in Budapest is the Hungarian equivalent of St Peter in Rome of London’s St Paul. It is the largest cathedral in the capital, equal in height with the iconic Hungarian Parliament building. It is a Neoclassical catholic church with two bell towers on the sides of the great dome. […]

Five centuries of history have passed over this legendary monastery. The attribute is not arbitrary, as the Monastery of Curtea de Arges (150 km from capital Bucharest) has inspired one of the most famous popular legends in Romania. According to it, the Black King commissioned the building of a church of unseen beauty to the […]

Unfortunately, as the church was under restoration process, I only have some modest pictures from the outside of this Gothic wonder. Though built in the middle of the XIX century, the Votive Church integrates very well in a city that takes great pride in its medieval heritage. The architect Heinrich von Ferstel, who was only […]

Some say that this might be the oldest Christian church in the world that is still in place, while others admit that this is just the oldest monument of this type in Greece or in the city. However, the Rotunda from Thessaloniki, built in 306, is a witness to almost two millenniums of history. It […]

With a history of a thousand years, the monastery of Rila is a favorite pilgrimage place for Bulgarians and a tourist attraction for foreign visitors. Pope John Paul II visited this monastery during his stay in Bulgaria. It is located in the SW of the country, near Blagoevgrad, south the capital Sofia, in the beautiful […]

The tradition of monasticism comes from Egypt and Syria, with the patron of this reclusive lifestyle, St Anthony. In the most extreme form of abandoning the world and its temptations, monks would seek the most remote places, living in the wilderness only by the means provided by nature. The rocky hills of Meteora were ideal […]

The plaza of the catholic cathedral is the central point of Salzburg, Mozart’s hometown. It is the oldest cathedral in the city and one of the largest in Austria. Its monumental proportions are the endeavor of the ambitious archbishop Wolf Dietrich and of the Italian architect Santino Solari. This baroque masterpiece is the place where […]

The Voronet Monastery is the most famous buildings of Stephan The Great, a monument included on the list of UNESCO’s world heritage. Its frescoes speak of subtle esoteric knowledge held by medieval theologians of Moldavia and also of the skills of anonymous painters. Voronet is situated 5 km to Gura Humorului, in the county of […]

The elegant Lutheran cathedral in Salzburg is a testimony of endurance after a turbulent time. It was built in 1867, by the local protestant community after the shock of the religious cleansing a century before. In 1731, the followers of Martin Luther’s Reform movement were forced to leave the city and their possessions by the […]

The small city of Esztergom, resting on one side of the Danube, is one of the most important places in Hungary, packed with religious and historic significance. It was here that the patron of the country and founder of the Hungarian Kingdom, Stephen I was born and died. Esztergom was the capital of Hungaria in […]

Facing its Byzantine model, Agia Sofia, the Blue Mosque is a landmark of Istanbul. The Blue Mosque is the only mosque in Istanbul with 6 minarets. Since minarets (the towers of a mosque) are a rank sign, the sultan was criticized for choosing an equal number of minarets to that of the Ka’aba Mosque in […]