Gran Madre Church in Turin

The Basilica di Superga was built to satisfy a vow made by Vittorio Amedeo II made in front of the statue of the Mother of Graces during a difficult time for the Savoy dynasty. In 1706 Turin was invaded by the French troops of Luigi XIV who ambitiously hoped to transform Piedmont into a French province, but found a fierce resistance on the part of the Duke Vittorio Amedeo II.

The story claims that on the 2 September 1706 the Duke, along with Prince Eugenio, climbed the hills of Superga to examine the battlefield from a great height. The small church at the top of the hill served the few parishioners of Superga. In front of the statue of the Madonna, the Duke made a vow: if he obtained victory against the French, he would erect in that place a large church in his honour.

When descending the hill the two princes discussed their plan of battle. On the morning of the 7th September at 10 o'clock the fighting began. The battle was bloody and terrible but the Piedmontese army had the better of their French counterparts who were defeated. Turin was free and Piedmont maintained it's liberty.

The Duke Vittorio Amedeo II assumed the crown of Sicily and then Sardinia and in 1717 laid the first stone of the glorious temple vowed in the honour of the Madre del Salvadore - The Savour of Turin. It was necessary to lower the hill by forty metres, and after having demolished the existing church, sold to the King by the Council of Turin. The project to build the Basilica was handed to the messinese abbot Filippo Juvarra, who produced an outstanding piece of architecture. The Basilica was opened to the public after 14 years of work on the 1st November 1731.

(Source: basilicadisuperga.com)

[High quality pictures available in Google Earth]

The Church of the Holy Wisdom, commonly known as Hagia Sophia in English, is a former Greek Orthodox church converted to a mosque, now a museum, in Istanbul (Constantinople). It is universally acknowledged as one of the great buildings of the world.

The name comes from the Greek name Αγία Σοφία (ah-YEE-ah soh-FEE-ah). It is also known as Sancta Sophia in Latin and Ayasofya (EYE-ah SOHF-yah) in Turkish.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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The history of the Cathedral begins on December 25, 1812. This was the day that the last soldiers of Napoleons' 600,000 man army were driven out of Russia. Emperor Alexander I signed a Manifesto ordering the construction of a magnificent Cathedral in honor of Christ the Savior in Moscow as a thanksgiving to God and to honor the victorious Russian army.

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (also known as The Duomo) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, noted for its distinctive dome. Its name (which translates as "Saint Mary of the Flower") refers to the lily, symbol of Florence. The cathedral complex includes the Duomo, the baptistery and the campanile (bell tower)

The cathedral, the third to be built in Florence, was built on the site of the previous one, Santa Reparata, prompted by the magnificence of the new cathedrals in Pisa and Siena. It was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1294 to be the largest Roman Catholic church in the world (although the design was later reduced in size), with the first stone being laid on 1296-09-08. After Arnolfo died in 1302, work on the cathedral slowed. In 1331, the Arte della Lana (Guild of Wool Merchants) took over responsibility for the construction of the cathedral and in 1334 they appointed Giotto as overseer for the work. His major accomplishment was the campanile, but he died in 1337. It was not until 1355 that work resumed on the cathedral itself under a series of architects, including Francesco Talenti, Alberto Arnoldi, Giovanni d'Ambrogio, Giovanni di Lapo Ghini, Neri di Fioravante and Orcagna. The nave was finished by 1380, and by 1418 only the dome was uncompleted.

The Basilica of the Sacré Cœur (Sacred Heart) is a Parisian Roman Catholic church and landmark, crowning the butte Montmartre ('Montmartre hill'), the highest point in Paris. The nineteenth century church was designed by the architect Paul Abadie (who died in 1884, when only the foundations had been laid) in the Romano-Byzantine architectural style. Its foundation stone was laid in 1875, and was built with the direct involvement of the Third French Republic to mark the foundation of the new French state whose constitutional laws were enacted that year. It also was intended as a public monument to mark the memory of the many French citizens who lost their lives in the Franco-Prussian War and its aftermath, the Commune of 1871. However it was not completed until 1914 and not officially opened for worship until 1919 after the end of the First World War, which ironically was seen by many French people as revenge for Prussia's¹ defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War.

Church built started in 1608. All around is small Polish city - Lezajsk in the south of Poland.

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Church's build started in 1288 year - build completed in XIV century.

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