With the exception of Vatican‘s Saint Peter’s Basilica, i’ve never visited any megachurch in Europe and the churches i know can hardly accomodate a few hundred people. Not that they have to, most of the time they are half empty.

So this weekend i was totally mesmerized by the report from the Holy Land Experience biblical theme park on BBC. And now there’s this slide-show essay about the architecture of megachurches to remind me how ignorant i am of what’s being built around the world. What distinguishes the current crop of megachurches in the USA is not just their size but their different sense of architectural style, as most of them are resolutely secular -read “graceless”- in design. Unlike what happened in the Gothic period, the architecture of cathedrals doesn’t even seem to try to be evocative of religious feeling. At least they look more comfortable. The sanctuary of Lakewood Church in Houston (actually a converted sports arena) has padded theater seats instead of wooden pews, a stage instead of an altar, and video projection screens instead of stained-glass windows. Willow Creek Community Church in Ill. includes two sanctuaries, a gymnasium, a bookstore, a food court, and a cappuccino bar.

Via archinect Slate.

p.s. The largest church in the world is an overscaled replica of Vatican Saint Peter’s, the Yamoussoukro basilica in Côte d’Ivoire, of all places.