The World's Greatest Churches

Considering what defines a church; encompassing its religious uses and its functions as a place of assembly; how the first churches come into being; studying some of the best surviving basilica-type churches in Italy; their structural features.

Tracing the history of this church in the Holy Land; the medieval reconstruction seen today; the church's unusual structure, which incorporates the "aedicule"; individual chapels reflecting events of the passion of Christ.

Learning about the past of this jewel of Constantinople; discovering an extraordinary architectural space; highlighting its dome and interiors; lingering over its mosaics, carved columns and decoration in colored marbles.

Pondering the unusual churches of Turkish Cappadocia, elaborately carved into the sides of mountains; the lives of the monks and hermits who live there; studying the churches' frescoes that illustrate biblical scenes and the life of Jesus.

The beauties of the churches of the Russian Orthodox tradition; the religious culture that inspires these structures; their characteristic gilded domes; their decoration of sculpture, frescoes and tile work; visiting outstanding cathedrals.

The churches of Romanian Moldavia are adorned with frescoes; exploring examples of the exterior paintings; the consistency of their narrative themes; studying the three-room church interiors; the frescoes' range of religious themes.

The Armenian artistic heritage of Christianity; visiting churches and monasteries; the detail and elaboration of stone carvings depicting religious iconography; architectural traditions such as unusual vaulted domes and "khachkars".

The decoration of the historic churches of Georgia; studying exterior stone carvings evoking Christian imagery; the theological vision and frescoes of the Ateni Sioni church, the cathedral of Nikortsminda and the World Heritage site of Gelati.

Visiting the monolithic churches of Lalibela, each carved from a single piece of rock; studying their mysterious architectural details; their interior artworks, rich with religious symbolism; Ethiopia's links to the Old and New Testaments.

Contemplating the history of the hybrid religious structure of a medieval cathedral built within a former mosque; exploring the Islamic archways and scalloped dome; the Renaissance-Gothic cathedral's vaulting, decoration and wood-carved choir.

Rural Norway is home to a unique tradition of wooden churches; studying the construction of the churches; intricate carving; painted sculpture; a blending of indigenous Norwegian decoration and medieval Christian art.

Walking in the shoes of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela in a visit to the church at Conques; the bejeweled reliquary of Sainte Foy; Romanesque vaulting and carved capitals; the imagery of the tympanum that dramatizes the Last Judgment.

Uncovering the cosmopolitan character of a beloved Sicilian cathedral; delving into the decoration of the cloisters; 12th-century doors; the cathedral's ceiling and narrative mosaics, which comprise a beautiful church interior.

Exploring the cathedral's huge and complex decorative scheme; highlighting the explosion of biblical sculpture on the facade and side porches; the stained-glass rose and lancet windows; a detailed view into medieval life and theology.

A virtual handbook of later medieval architecture; the ornate "fan" vaulting; important tombs.

How Siena's cathedral reflects the civic pride and history of the Sienese; exploring masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque art, from the inscribed marble floor and Duccio altarpiece to sculpture by Michelangelo and Bernini.

Experiencing the splendor of the world's largest church and the seat of the papacy; tracing the history of the complex; taking in the dome by Michelangelo; the Renaissance grandeur of statuary, monuments, papal tombs and Bernini's grand baldacchino.

This church embodies the joyful exuberance of the Rococo style, studying its decoration of florid ornamentation, lyrical paintings and animated statuary, and how the detailed symbolism of the artworks expresses the church's themes.

A first look at New World churches; visiting the Spanish Baroque "La Compania"; its sculpted facade, golden interior and artworks; encountering Las Lajas, a neo-Gothic pilgrimage church built to enclose a cave painting of the Virgin Mary.

Journeying to the Mexican shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, followed by Mexico City's great metropolitan Cathedral; how the buildings' construction, art and iconography convey the mixture of Christian, indigenous and Spanish cultures in the New World.

Exploring two classic churches of the New England tradition; how the simplicity of a Quaker meeting house embodies Quaker values; how the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. expresses both its Anglican roots and a distinctly American character.

Interpreting the Gothic cathedral through Gaudi's modernist style; the sculpted decoration of the exterior portals; the interior with its columns fashioned as stylized trees; the Christian iconography of this melding of the traditional and the new.

How this contemporary basilican church's exterior reflects the geological features of the Icelandic landscape; the themes of the church's decoration; they express the character of Lutheranism, Iceland's beauty and a type of Christian spirituality.

How architect Kim Swoo Geun blends elements of Buddhist temples, modern Western architecture, universal church practices and Korean Christian history; reflections on the diversity, cultural adaptations and ultimate universality of great buildings.