List of tallest church buildings
This list of tallest church buildings ranks church buildings by height. From the Middle Ages until the advent of the skyscraper, Christian church buildings were often the world's tallest buildings. From 1311, when the spire of Lincoln Cathedral surpassed the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza, until the Washington Monument was completed in 1884, a succession of church buildings held this title.
- The tallest church building in the world is the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, which surpassed Ulm Minster (161.53 m) on 30 October 2025 when its central tower reached 162.91 m. The central tower reached the final height of 172.5 m on 20 February 2026.
- The tallest completed church building in the world is the Ulm Minster (161.53 m), the main Lutheran congregation in Ulm, Germany.
- The tallest domed church building, and the tallest Catholic church until surpassed by Sagrada Família, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (158 m) in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
- The tallest cathedral as well as the tallest church building with two steeples is Cologne Cathedral (157.22 m) in Cologne, Germany.
- The tallest domed cathedral as well as the tallest Eastern Orthodox is People's Salvation Cathedral (132 m) in Bucharest, Romania.
- The tallest brickwork church building is St Martin's Church (130.6 m) in Landshut, Germany.
- The tallest brickwork church building with two steeples is St Mary's Church (125 m) in Lübeck, Germany.
- The tallest wooden church building is Săpânța-Peri Monastery church (78 m) in Săpânța, Romania.
- The tallest church building in the Americas is the Cathedral of Maringá (124 m) in Maringá, Brazil.
The cities with the most churches surpassing 100 metres (330 feet) are Hamburg (5 of the 28 tallest churches, with 5 towers overall) and Lübeck (4 of the 55 tallest churches, two of which with twin towers → 6 towers overall), followed by Tallinn (2), St. Petersburg (2), New York City (2), Dortmund (2) and Stralsund (2).
The cities with the most churches surpassing 75 metres (246 feet) are Berlin (16), Hamburg (9), Paris (8), Dresden (8), Vienna (7), Stockholm (7) and Munich (7), while in the Americas it is New York City (4).