Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

Admont Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1074. It houses the world's largest monastic library, which was started in the mid-18th century and completed in 1776. For centuries, the monastery was not only the religious centre of Upper Styria, but also a centre of art and science. After a decline caused by the Turkish wars and the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation under Abbot Johann Hoffmann gave the abbey a new impetus. A fire in 1865 had devastating consequences. Apart from the library, it destroyed almost the entire monastery, including the organ built by Franz Xaver Krisman in 1782. Reconstruction began a year later, but the corresponding building plan was only partially realised.

Built in the 18th century to replace a older wooden church in the same place. Its cemetery is where René Descartes was first buried in 1650, before his remains were moved to France. There is now only a memroial to him inside the church.

The Cathedral of Adria, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, was built at the beginning of the 19th century from a pre-existing 14th century building. The cathedral houses frescoes, a bas-relief dating back to the 6th century and beautiful cupboards sculpted by Jacopo Piazzetta.

The Adventkirken is a Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Norwegian town of Bodø. Photo: Tom Angelsen

This 14th-century cathedral was built on the site of a former 12th-century Romanesque church and an even older chapel. It was the site of where the reformation began in Hanover. The church was destroyed in an air-raid during the Second World War, leaving only the tower and some walls. Today it stands as a war memorial, featuring a sculpture, dedicated in 1959 and a peace bell donated from Hanover's sister city, Hiroshima, Japan.

The present Åfjord church was built between 1877 and 1879 and is the third church built on this site. The first church was built after the Reformation, and was dedicated to John the Baptist. It burned down due to lightning in 1766.

In the early 14th Century an early Gothic basilica was built in the middle of the village. The aisles were removed and the arcades were bricked up in 1500, when the church was fortified. Above the chancel a defence tower was erected. The chancel’s polygonal closure was heightened with two defence levels and the buttresses were connected by arches, in order to build a machicoulis gallery behind them. The ensemble was strengthened by a surrounding wall in 1502, completed by a gate building and an adjoining bacon Chamber on the north-west side . The tower was heightened in 1827 and received its striking pyramidal roof. At the same time its defence systems together with the defence level of the chancel were removed . The typical western gable of the church was erected in the same time with the renewal of the roof in 1854. Inside the church the mainly 18th-century furniture is still preserved.

The church in Agdenes was built in 1857 according to the designs of the architect Christian Heinrich Grosch. The church has a gallery, which was added in 1982. Originally, there was a bell tower in the middle of the nave, so that the bell rang from the middle of the church hall. But in 1869 a separate tower was built over the church entrance. The church in Agdenes was due to be consecrated on 24 March 1858, but the weather was so bad that the dedication had to be postponed for two days.

Tradition has it that a church in homage to Saint Caprais was built at the beginning of the 5th century by Bishop Saint Dulcid who allegedly transported the relics of the martyrs there. A basilica dedicated to Saint Caprais probably existed in 580. After being cleared again in December 1561, during the Wars of Religion, the collegiate church of Saint-Caprais became a fodder store in 1791 before being reopened in 1796 and becoming the official cathedral of Agen, after the destruction of the old Saint-Étienne cathedral during the Revolution. It was elevated to the rank of a cathedral in 1802.

The connected island of Agios Ahillios is a site steeped in history. Indeed, in the 10th century, this islet was one of the centres of Bulgarian imperial power, at which time it preserves the massive ruins of the Basilica of St. Achilles. South of the site are still several other churches and monasteries.