List of largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings

This is a list of the largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings in the world, based on area and capacity. Any Eastern Orthodox church building that has a capacity of 3,000 people or more, can be added to this page. Entries are included even if a premises otherwise meeting the criterion currently does not function as a church. For example, the Hagia Sophia in Turkey is included – it was originally built as a church but was later converted into a mosque. Sorting is done by volume (priority) and area. The church buildings are listed in alphabetical order according to country. The churches are from various jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

List

Name	Image	Area (m²)		Gross volume (m³)	Capacity	Built	City	Country	Jurisdiction	Notes
		Interior	Exterior
People's Salvation Cathedral		8,400 m² [1] [2] [3] [4]	ca. 13,670 m² [1] [4] [5] [6]	478,857 m³ [4]	7,000 [a] [7]	2010–present	Bucharest	Romania	Patriarchate of Romania	Along with the largest volume and interior area, 126,1 m high and 120 m long, it is the tallest and longest Orthodox church building in the world. [4]
Hagia Sophia		7,960[ citation needed ]		255,800 m³ [8]		532–537	Istanbul	Turkey	Ecumenical Patriarchate (537–1453)	Converted to mosque,
Saint Isaac's Cathedral [b]		4,000 m² [9]	7,418 m² [10]	260,000 m³	12,000 [11]	1818–1858, Museum 1931 Partly reopened for services 1992	Saint Petersburg	Russia	State Russian Museum	With 105 m length and 93 m width it is the Orthodox church building that has the greatest groundfloor extent.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour		3,990 m² [12] [13] [c]	6,829.3 m² [12] [14]	194,900 m³ [12]	10,000 [15]	1839–1883, Demolished 1931, Rebuilt 1994–2000	Moscow	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate	The church building has an underground area of 28,000 m², it contains the hall of the church council with 1,250 places, the hall of the synod meetings, refectory, and technical installations [16]
Church of Saint Sava		3,650 m² [d] [17]	4,830 m² [18]	170,000 m³ [17]	6,000−10,000 [e] [19] [17]	1935–2004	Belgrade	Serbia	Serbian Patriarchate	It is the tallest (78 m), longest (91 m), widest (81 m) and largest (by area and volume) church building in the Balkans.
Kazan Cathedral		4,000 m²[ citation needed ]			6,000[ citation needed ]	1811	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral		3,500 m² [20]			3,000 [20]	1835	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi (Tsminda Sameba Cathedral)		3,000 m²[ citation needed ]		137,000 m³[ citation needed ]	10,000[ citation needed ]	1995-2004	Tbilisi	Georgia	Patriarchate of Georgia
Novocherkassk Ascension Cathedral		2,988 m²[ citation needed ]		135,000 m³ [21]	5,000[ citation needed ]	1904	Novocherkassk	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral		3,170 m² [22]		86,000 m³ [23]	5,000 [24]	1882-1912	Sofia	Bulgaria	Patriarchate of Bulgaria
Transfiguration Cathedral		3,100 m²[ citation needed ]			9,000 [25]	1837, rebuilt 2003	Odesa	Ukraine	Moscow Patriarchate	severely damaged by a Russian missile attack on July 23, 2023
Smolny Convent		3,000 m²[ citation needed ]			6,000 [26]	1764	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Kronstadt Naval Cathedral		3,000 m²[ citation needed ]			5,000[ citation needed ]	1913	Kronstadt	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Saint Sophia Cathedral		2,276 m²				1011	Kyiv	Ukraine	Orthodox Church of Ukraine
Church of Saint Panteleimon		2,068 m²[ citation needed ]			5,000[ citation needed ]	1930	Athens	Greece	Greek Orthodox Church
Holy Trinity Cathedral		2,100 m²[ citation needed ]			5,000[ citation needed ]	1990–present	Baia Mare	Romania	Patriarchate of Romania
Annunciation Cathedral		2,000 m²[ citation needed ]			5,000 [27]	1901	Kharkiv	Ukraine	Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Saint Andrew of Patras		2,600 m² [28]			7,000 [28]	1908–1974 [29]	Patras	Greece	Greek Orthodox Church
Cathedral of the Lord's Ascension		1,706 m² [30]			5,000[ citation needed ]	2017	Bacău	Romania	Patriarchate of Romania
Resurrection Cathedral		1,772 m²[ citation needed ]			5,000[ citation needed ]	2014	Tirana	Albania	Albanian Orthodox Church
Timișoara Orthodox Cathedral		1,542 m² [31]		50,000 m³ [31]	5,000 [32]	1940	Timișoara	Romania	Patriarchate of Romania	With 91 m height It is the second tallest church building in Romania.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral		1,450 m²[ citation needed ]			4,000[ citation needed ]	1900	Tallinn	Estonia	Moscow Patriarchate
Agios Minas Cathedral		1,350 m² [33]			3,000[ citation needed ]	1895	Heraklion	Greece	Greek Orthodox Church
Saint Mark's Church		1,150 m²[ citation needed ]			3,000[ citation needed ]	1931–1940	Belgrade	Serbia	Serbian Patriarchate
Saints Boris and Gleb Cathedral		1,100 m²[ citation needed ]			3,000[ citation needed ]	1905	Daugavpils	Latvia	Moscow Patriarchate
Poti Cathedral		1,000 m²[ citation needed ]			3,000[ citation needed ]	1906	Poti	Georgia	Patriarchate of Georgia
Uspenski Cathedral		1,000 m²[ citation needed ]				1868	Helsinki	Finland	Finnish Orthodox Church
St. Michael's Cathedral					12,000[ citation needed ]	2000	Cherkasy	Ukraine	Orthodox Church of Ukraine
Church of the Holy Sepulchre					10,000 [34]	326	Jerusalem	/ Israel/Palestine	Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Transfiguration Cathedral of Ugresha Monastery					7,000[ citation needed ]	1894	Dzerzhinsky, Moscow Oblast	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Church of the Nativity of Christ					6,875 [35]	1857	Kyshtym	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral					5,000[ citation needed ]	1753	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Sophia Cathedral					5,000[ citation needed ]	1788	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Moscow Patriarchate
Uzhhorod Orthodox Cathedral					5,000[ citation needed ]	1990	Uzhhorod	Ukraine	Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Iași Metropolitan Cathedral					3,000 [36]	1887	Iași	Romania	Patriarchate of Romania
Church of Holy Transfiguration						1873–1878	Pančevo	Serbia	Serbian Patriarchate

See also

• List of tallest Eastern Orthodox church buildings
• List of largest church buildings
• List of tallest domes
• Lists of cathedrals
• List of Greek Orthodox churches in the United States
• List of Russian Orthodox churches

Footnotes

1. The cathedral is projected for 10,000 people in the main cathedral building and underground galleries. A total of 7,000 peoples/worshipers can attend at the holy liturgy in the same time, with 1,000 – choirs (three places), clergy, three levels of balconies right-left, and 6,000 pilgrims. In the underground galleries can be accommodate 3,000 peoples.
2. Currently functions mainly as a museum, but services are held in side chapels
3. The church covers 3980 m²
4. The official site specifies that, the Nave & Altar area is 3,650 m² and the three Narthex area is 1,444 m². The total internal area of the temple (cathedral) is 5,094 m² (without stairs). On the official site, the area of the temple is specified separately, not as a total. This is why confusion arises. Note! To the paragraph above: No, the official site does not say that. 1,444 sq. meters is the combined area of the second level and not the floor. This 1,444 sq. meters is the combined area of the balconies for the choirs. This is clearly stated in the official site and there is no confusion. Furthermore, the total external area of the church (without the stairs) is 4830 sq. meters – given by the official cadastre.
5. The official site specifies that, on the nave floor can be accommodated 7,000 worshipers. More precisely 6,300 worshipers on the nave floor and 700 choirs (balconies). In the temple galleries (underground), can be accommodated 3,000 worshipers. Also the official site specifies that, in total 10,000 worshipers, can accommodated on the nave floor and in the underground galleries. The nave floor criterion is considered standard without annexes. Also valued at 10,000 can be disputed including the annexes, to increase the value.

References

1. Romania's National Cathedral. Construction World May 2018
2. "Catedrala Neamului". Patriarhia Română.ro.
3. "The biggest orthodox church in the world". Business-review.eu. 23 November 2018.
4. "Conceptul Catedralei – Catedrala Națională" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2023-10-29.
5. The Database of Buildings: Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului Românesc in Bucharest
6. Annual Report Umdasch Group 2018: The largest church in the Balkans (PDF)
7. Iftimiu, Aurelian (2018-06-29). "Mosaic icons began to be applied on the National Cathedral's iconostasis". Basilica.ro.
8. Wieslaw Woszczyk (27 January 2014). "Aural Architecture: Music, Acoustics, and Ritual" (PDF). Onassis Seminar on music acoustics and ritual. Stanford University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
9. "Архитектура".
10. Zoran Veljovic: the largest orthodox temple
11. "Исаакиевский собор". Artnight.ru.
12. Official Site Построение Храма Archived 2023-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
13. Dmitri Sidorov 2004: National Monumentalization ant the Politics of Scale: The Resurrections of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow (PDF)
14. Dmitri Sidorov 2004: National Monumentalization ant the Politics of Scale: The Resurrections of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow (PDF)
15. "Храм Христа Спасителя". Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
16. https://zoranveljovic11.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/the-largest-orthodox-temple-h.jpg ^{[ bare URL image file ]}
17. "Храм у простору и бројевима" [Temple in space and numbers]. - Hram Svetog Save.
18. Cadastre of the Republic of Serbia cadastral parcel of the church of saint sava 1819/2 at 4830 m², Opstina Savski Venac ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
19. "Организација унутрашњег простора Храма и његове функције" [Organization of the inner space of the Temple and its functions]. - Hram Svetog Save. Archived from the original on 2017-08-24. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
20. "Собор Святой Живоначальной Троицы". Izmsobor.ru. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
21. "Патриарший Вознесенский войсковой всеказачий собор – Достопримечательности – Официальный сайт города Новочеркасска" . Retrieved 5 March 2018.
22. "15 Century Bulgaria Foundation (15 века БЪЛГАРИЯ) website, article with title Patriarchal cathedral stauropigial memorial church St. Alexander Nevsky (pdf in English)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-25. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
23. "София 1968 г. – ОБИКОЛКА НА ГРАДА". www.omda.bg. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
24. "Sofia Sights - Alexander Nevski Cathedral, Boyana Church, Bulgarian National Library and Tsar's Palace". Archived from the original on 2011-11-22. Retrieved 2011-11-26.
25. "ОДЕСА: СОБОР,ЩО ПРЕОБРАЖАЄ". Risu.Orh.ua.
26. Смольный монастырь, собор
27. Благовіщенський собор у Харкові
28. Dr. Charis Alk. Apostolopoulos, University of Patras, "Historical data from construction – damages in the structure of the new church of Saint Andrew in Patras", Proceedings of 3rd National Conference "Mild interventions for the protection of historic structures. New Design Trends", Ministry of Culture, Thessaloniki 2009 (paper in Greek)
29. "Πάτρα - Ι.Ν. Αγίου Ανδρέα: Ο μεγαλύτερος των Βαλκανίων..." 18 November 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
30. "Megaconstrucţii: Catedrala "Înălţarea Domnului" din Bacău". www.deferlari.ro. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
31. "Catedrala din Timişoara, stil şi eleganţă" . Retrieved 5 March 2018.
32. WR. "Metropolitan Cathedral, Timișoara·". www.welcometoromania.ro. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
33. Chiotaki Aspasia, Bachelor Thesis with title Religious Tourism in Heraklion, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, 2009
34. "Israel News – The Jerusalem post". www.jpost.com. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
35. "Kyshtym, Chelyabinsk region – Parks and Landscapes". www.parksandlandscapes.org. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
36. "Iași Metropolitan Ensemble – The Metropolitan Cathedral". iasi.travel. Retrieved 10 July 2019.