10 biggest places of worship in Russia
Christian churches, Muslim mosques and Buddhist datsans - we’ve brought together the most impressive places of worship in the country, astonishing in their scale and, of course, their beauty.
1. Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow
This is the biggest Orthodox Christian church in Russia and the main cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church. With its area of about 8,000 sq. m. and height of 103 meters, it can accommodate up to 10,000 people.
The church was initially built in the mid-19th century, but the Bolsheviks had it demolished as part of their anti-religious campaign. They had the ‘Moskva’ open-air swimming pool built on its site. The current cathedral is a 1990s identical reconstruction of the original building.
2. Saint Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg
The largest cathedral in St. Petersburg and one of the biggest Orthodox church buildings in the country, its construction took 40 years, but the result was an amazingly beautiful building in Neoclassical style. The area of the cathedral is about 4,000 sq. m. and it is 101 meters in height. It can accommodate up to 12,000-14,000 people (In the 19th century, it was believed that the cathedral could accommodate 7,000, the difference being accounted for by the voluminous dresses worn by ladies at the time).
Read more about Saint Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg here.
3. The Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces in the Moscow Region
This is the third tallest Orthodox church in Russia after the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and Saint Isaac’s Cathedral. It is 96 meters in height, including the dome. Construction was completed in 2020 and it is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). The cathedral can accommodate up to 6,000 people and its area, including a museum complex, is 11,000 sq. m.
4. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary in Moscow
This is the biggest Catholic church in Russia and serves as the cathedral of the Moscow Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church (it can accommodate more than 2,000 worshippers). The Neo-Gothic building was erected in the early 20th century and sustained severe damage in the Soviet period, but it was restored in the 1990s.
5. The Central Juma Mosque of Makhachkala
This congregational mosque with two minarets in the Republic of Dagestan was built in the 1990s to a design inspired by the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. A reconstruction took place in the 2000s and the area of the mosque was increased. Today, it is one of the biggest mosques in Europe and can accommodate 15,000 worshippers.
6. The Moscow Congregational Mosque
Moscow’s Congregational Mosque has an area of more than 18,000 sq. m. and a capacity of 10,000 worshippers. The first mosque was built there in 1904 and it did not close even in the Soviet period, but, in the 2010s, it was rebuilt from scratch. The Moscow Congregational Mosque has three minarets and one of them is the tallest in the country at 72 meters.
7. The ‘Heart of Chechnya’ mosque in Grozny
This Chechen mosque is another record-sized building not just for Russia, but also the whole of Europe. It was built in a record time of two years and was inaugurated in 2008. It has four minarets and its total area of 5,000 sq. m. can simultaneously accommodate more than 10,000 people for prayers.
More details here.
8. The ‘Golden Abode of the Buddha Shakyamuni’ khurul (monastery) in Elista
The capital of the Buddhist Republic of Kalmykia is the location of Europe's biggest Buddhist temple, built in 2005. Inside is a nine-meter statue of the Buddha. The temple of Tibetan Buddhism, which was blessed by the 14th Dalai Lama, is dedicated to the national Festival of Lamps and it also commemorates the deportation of Kalmyks to Siberia and the Far East in the Soviet period.
9. The Ivolga Datsan (Buddhist monastery) in Buryatia
The spiritual center of the Buddhist traditional Sangha (community) of Russia is located not far from the republican capital, the city of Ulan-Ude. Remarkably, it was allowed to be built in 1945, during the Soviet period. The principal temple, the Dzogchen-Dugan, was constructed in the 1970s and, in the 2000s, the palace-temple of Hambo Lama Itigilov was erected in the grounds of the datsan to house the sacred relic of the lama’s incorruptible body.
10. Sanctuary for the learning and practice of the teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni in Kyzyl
Construction of a new Buddhist monastery, the Thubten Shedrub Ling (Sanctuary for the Learning and Practice of the Teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni), was completed in the Republic of Tuva in March 2023. It is on the point of being inaugurated and has been declared to be the biggest datsan in Russia. The site for it was blessed by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, way back in 1992.
