Bellapais Abbey (also spelled Bellapaïs) is the ruin of a monastery built by Canons Regular in the 13th century on the northern side of the small village of Bellapais, now in Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus, about five kilometres from the town of Kyrenia. The ruin is at an altitude of 220m above
Mission Santa Barbara, also known as Santa Barbara Mission, is a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscan order near present-day Santa Barbara, California. It was founded by Padre Fermín Lasuén on December 4, 1786, the feast day of Saint Barbara, as the tenth mission for the religious conversion o
The Monastery of Serra do Pilar is a former monastery located in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, on the opposite side of the Douro River from Porto. The monastery is situated on an outcrop overlooking the Dom Luís I Bridge and the historic centre of Porto. Together with these locations, the monastery
Stavropoleos Monastery (Romanian: Mănăstirea Stavropoleos), also known as Stavropoleos Church (Romanian: Biserica Stavropoleos) during the last century when the monastery was dissolved, is an Eastern Orthodox monastery for nuns in central Bucharest, Romania. Its church is built in Brâncovenesc st
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for
The Monastery of Ostrog (Serbian Cyrillic: Манастир Острог; Tr. Manastir Ostrog) is a monastery of the Serb Orthodox Church placed against an almost vertical background, high up in the large rock of Ostroška Greda, in Montenegro. It is dedicated to Saint Basil of Ostrog (Sveti Vasilije Ostroški).
Rumkale was a powerful fortress on the river Euphrates, 50 km west of Şanlıurfa. It is called Hromkla or Kela zêrîn in Kurdish, Qal'ah Rumita in Syriac, قلعة الروم Qal'at al-Rum in Arabic, Rumkale in Turkish, Հռոմկլա (Hromkla) in Armenian; the name means 'Roman Castle (by extension also Byza
Jvari or Jvari Monastery (ჯვარი, ჯვრის მონასტერი) is a Georgian Orthodox monastery of the 6th century near Mtskheta (World Heritage site), Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, eastern Georgia. The name is translated as the Monastery of the Cross. For another, Jerusalem-located Georgian monastery
The Khor Virap ('Խոր Վիրապ' in Armenian, meaning deep dungeon) monastery is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Armenia. Its location, near the closest point to Mount Ararat within Armenian borders, offers a spectacular view of the mountain, the national symbol of Armenia.
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, reorganised in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries, it is one of the
The Basel Münster (Basler Münster) is one of the main landmarks and tourist attractions of the Swiss city of Basel. It adds definition to the cityscape with its red sandstone architecture and coloured roof tiles, its two slim towers and the cross-shaped intersection of the main roof. The Münster is
The Santuari de Lluc is a monastery and pilgrimage site located in the municipality of Escorca in north-west Majorca. It is located in a basin on a height of 525 metres and is surrounded by a number of high mountains such as the Puig de Massanella. The sanctuary was founded in the 13th century
The Sacra di San Michele, sometimes known as Saint Michael’s Abbey, is a religious complex on Mount Pirchiriano, situated on the south side of the Val di Susa overlooking the villages of Avigliana and Chiusa di San Michele, northern Italy. The abbey, which for much of its history came under B
Whitby Abbey is a ruined Benedictine abbey overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. It was disestablished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under the auspices of Henry VIII. It is a Grade I Listed building in the care of English Heritage and its
Basarbovo Monastery (български. Басарбовски манастир) - the Monastery of Saint Dimitar Basarbowski - is a Bulgarian-orthodox cave monastery near the city of Ruse in north-eastern Bulgaria. It has the same name as the nearby village of Basarbovo and lies about 35 metres above the river Rusenski Lo
The Sümela Monastery (Greek: Μονή Σουμελά, Turkish: Sümela Manastırı) stands at the foot of a steep cliff facing the Altındere valley in the region of Maçka in Trabzon Province, Turkey. Lying at an altitude of approximately 1200 metres, it is a major tourist attraction of Altındere National Park. Fo
Fontevraud Abbey (or Fontevrault Abbey) is located in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in Anjou, France. It was founded by the itinerant reforming preacher Robert of Arbrissel, who had just created a new order, the Order of Fontevrault. The first permanent structures were built