Largest - Church in the World - St. Peter's Basilica - Vatican City State
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 41° 54.129 E 012° 27.306
33T E 288907 N 4642044
St. Peter's Basilica is almost twice as large as the 2nd largest church 20,139 square meters with Brazil's National Cathedral in second with 12,000 square meters.
Waymark Code: WMJ75V
Location: Vatican City State
Date Posted: 10/05/2013
Views: 57
Wikipedia provides a list of the largest churches in the world (
visit link)
That article also explains its definitions as:
"The term church is open to interpretation and debate. In this article, it means any building that was built for the primary purpose of Christian worship, for any recognised denomination of Christianity. This includes every cathedral (the seat of a bishop), basilica, and other type of church. It does not include temples of other religions, such as mosques, synagogues, and so on. It does include at least one building, Hagia Sophia, that was built as a church and later became a mosque (it is now a museum)."
As for St. Peter's, Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"St. Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri; Italian: Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano) is a Late Renaissance church located within Vatican City.
Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and remains one of the largest churches in the world. While it is neither the mother church of the Roman Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world" and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".
By Roman Catholic tradition, the basilica is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, also according to tradition, the first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession. Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the time of Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica of the 4th century, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.
St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilgrimage, for its liturgical functions. Because of its location in the Vatican, the Pope presides at a number of services throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Vatican Basilica, or in St. Peter's Square. St. Peter's has many strong historical associations, with the Early Christian church, the papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Counter-reformation, and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age. St. Peter's is one of the four churches of Rome that hold the rank of Major Basilica. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral as it is not the seat of a bishop; the cathedra of the Pope (as Bishop of Rome) is located in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran."