List of highest church naves

The nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church, in Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture. "Nave" (Medieval Latin navis, "ship") was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting.[1] The nave of a church, whether Romanesque, Gothic or Classical, extends from the entry (which may have a separate vestibule, the narthex) to the chancel and is flanked by lower aisles[2] separated from the nave by an arcade.

Beauvais 48m

St. Peter's Basilica 46 m

Milan 45 m

Florence 45 m

Barcelona 45 m

Naples 45 m

Bologna 44.24 m

Palma 44 m

Bucharest 44 m

Licheń Stary 44 m

Cologne 43.35 m

Amiens 42.3 m

Metz 41.41 m

Munich 31 m

Spokane 24.3 m

List of highest church naves

#	Cathedral/Church	Nave height	City	Country	Notes
1	Beauvais Cathedral	47 m (154 ft)[3]	Beauvais	France	The "Parthenon of French Gothic", only one bay of the nave was built, but choir and transepts were completed to the same height.
2	St. Peter's Basilica	46 m (151 ft)[4] 45 m (148 ft)[5]	Vatican City	Vatican City
3	Florence Cathedral	45 m (148 ft)	Florence	Italy
3	Milan Cathedral	45 m (148 ft)	Milan	Italy
3	Santa Chiara	~45 m (148 ft)^[a] ~33.5 m (110 ft)^[b][6]	Naples	Italy
3	Sagrada Família	45 m (148 ft)[7]	Barcelona	Spain	Still under construction, although the interior of the church is complete. Vaults of the crossing and the apse reach 60 and 75 metres respectively.
7	San Petronio Basilica	44.24 m (145.1 ft)[8]	Bologna	Italy
8	Palma Cathedral	44 m (144 ft)[9][10]	Palma	Spain	Pillars sustaining vaults are the narrowest in the world: they measure 1/12 of vault width (at Reims, pillars are 1/6 of vault width)
8	People's Salvation Cathedral	44 m (144 ft)[11]	Bucharest	Romania	It is the tallest and largest (by volume) Orthodox church building in the world.
8	Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń	44 m (144 ft)	Licheń Stary	Poland	Highest nave in Poland, 77 m wide. The highest point inside the church (dome presbytery) is 85 meters high
11	Cologne Cathedral	43.35 m (142.2 ft)[12]	Cologne	Germany	Highest height to width ratio of any nave
12	Amiens Cathedral	42.3 m (139 ft)[13]	Amiens	France
13	Seville Cathedral	42 m (138 ft)[14]	Seville	Spain	Ranked as largest medieval Gothic church
14	Metz Cathedral	41.41 m (135.9 ft)	Metz	France	Largest glass surface
15	St Bartholomew's Church	41.15 m (135.0 ft)[15]	Brighton	United Kingdom	Highest nave in the UK, not vaulted (wooden wagon roof).
16	Ulm Münster	41 m (135 ft)[16]	Ulm	Germany
16	Narbonne Cathedral	41 m (135 ft) 40.1 m (132 ft)[17]	Narbonne	France	Only the great choir of this French Gothic cathedral has been built.
18	Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida	40 m (130 ft)	Aparecida	Brazil	Third biggest church in the world. Biggest place of worship in all the Americas.
19	St. Mary's Church	38.5 m (126 ft)	Lübeck	Germany	Highest brick vault in the world.
20	Reims Cathedral	37.95 m (124.5 ft)[13]	Reims	France	Holds the world record for statues: 2303 stone figurines are represented on it.
21	Cathedral of St. John the Divine	37.7 m (124 ft)[18]	New York City	United States
22	Cathedral of La Plata	37.5 m (123 ft)	La Plata	Argentina
22	Nantes Cathedral	37.5 m (123 ft)	Nantes	France
25	Bourges Cathedral	37 m (121 ft)[13]	Bourges	France
25	Chartres Cathedral	37 m (121 ft) 36.55 m (119.9 ft)[13]	Chartres	France
25	Basilica of St. Thérèse	37 m (121 ft)	Lisieux	France
25	St. Nicholas	37 m (121 ft)	Wismar	Germany
25	Cathedral of Christ the Saviour	37 m (121 ft)[19]	Moscow	Russia
30	Liverpool Cathedral	36.54 m (119.9 ft)	Liverpool	United Kingdom
31	Tournai Cathedral	36 m (118 ft)	Tournai	Belgium	Highest nave in the Low Countries
32	New Cathedral	35.4 m (116 ft)	Salamanca	Spain
33	Notre Dame	35 m (115 ft)[20] 34 m (112 ft)[21][22]	Paris	France
33	Málaga Cathedral	35 m (115 ft)	Málaga	Spain
33	St. George church	35 m (115 ft)	Wismar	Germany
36	Granada Cathedral	34.5 m (113 ft)[23]	Granada	Spain
37	Basilica of Saint-Quentin	34 m (112 ft)	Saint-Quentin	France
37	Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe	34 m (112 ft)[24]	Zamora de Hidalgo	Mexico	Tallest Neo-Gothic church in Mexico, 106 m. Still under construction. Known as the "Incomplete Cathedral" ("La Catedral Inconclusa").
37	Girona Cathedral	34 m (112 ft)	Girona	Spain	Widest Gothic nave in the world, 22.98 m, and lower ratio high/wide^[clarification needed] in Gothic architecture
37	Church of Our Lady of the Snows	34 m (112 ft)[25]	Prague	Czech Republic	39 m (128 ft) high nave destroyed during Hussite Wars
41	Chiesa di San Nicolò	33.35 m (109.4 ft)[26]	Treviso	Italy
42	Le Mans Cathedral	33 m (108 ft)	Le Mans	France
42	Segovia Cathedral	33 m (108 ft)[27]	Segovia	Spain
42	St. Vitus Cathedral	33 m (108 ft)[28]	Prague	Czech Republic
42	Speyer Cathedral	33 m (108 ft)	Speyer	Germany	Highest romanesque vault
46	St. Mary's church	32.95 m (108.1 ft)	Stralsund	Germany	World's highest building from 1625 to 1647 (151 m). Today 104 m.
47	St. Mary's Church	32.5 m (107 ft)	Stargard Szczeciński	Poland	Second highest nave in Poland
47	Batalha Monastery	32.5 m (107 ft)[29]	Batalha	Portugal
49	Aachen Cathedral	32 m (105 ft)	Aachen	Germany	Height of the gothic choir.
49	Bayeux cathedral	32 m (105 ft)	Bayeux	France
49	Strasbourg Cathedral	32 m (105 ft)	Strasbourg	France
49	Ely Cathedral	32 m (105 ft)	Ely	United Kingdom
49	Glasgow Cathedral	32 m (105 ft)	Glasgow	United Kingdom
49	Magdeburg Cathedral	32 m (105 ft)	Magdeburg	Germany
49	Santa Maria del Mar	32 m (105 ft)	Barcelona	Spain	Greatest separation between pillars in Gothic architecture (15 m)
49	Engelbrekt Church	32 m (105 ft)	Stockholm	Sweden	Highest nave in Scandinavia
56	Regensburg Cathedral	31.85 m (104.5 ft)[30]	Regensburg	Germany
57	Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels	31.7 m (104 ft)	Los Angeles	United States
58	St. Martin's Cathedral	31.5 m (103 ft)	Utrecht	Netherlands	The nave collapsed during a storm in 1674.
58	St. Mary's Church	31.5 m (103 ft)	Rostock	Germany
60	St Bavo's Cathedral	31.1 m (102 ft)[31]	Ghent	Belgium
61	Westminster Abbey	31 m (102 ft)[32]	London	United Kingdom
61	Munich Frauenkirche	31 m (102 ft)	Munich	Germany
61	York Minster	31 m (102 ft)	York	United Kingdom
61	St. Olaf's Church	31 m (102 ft)[33]	Tallinn	Estonia
61	Washington National Cathedral	31 m (102 ft)	Washington, D.C.	United States
66	Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception	30.5 m (100 ft)	Washington, D.C.	United States
66	Riverside Church	30.5 m (100 ft)[34]	New York City	United States
68	Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran	30 m (98 ft)	Rome	Italy
68	Pavia Cathedral	30 m (98 ft)	Pavia	Italy
68	St. Peter's Church	30 m (98 ft)	Riga	Latvia
70	St. Bavo Church	29 m (95 ft)	Haarlem	Netherlands	The nave is covered by a 16th-century wooden net vault.
70	Saint Thomas Church	29 m (95 ft)	New York City	United States
70	St. John's Cathedral	29 m (95 ft)	's-Hertogenbosch	Netherlands
73	St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna	28 m (92 ft)	Vienna	Austria	Height mentioned on the German Wikipedia article without source.
73	St. Catherine's Church	28 m (92 ft)	Brielle	Netherlands
73	St Paul's Cathedral	28 m (92 ft)	London	United Kingdom
73	Alexander Nevsky Cathedral	28 m (92 ft)[35] of the central nave	Sofia	Bulgaria
73	Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist	28 m (92 ft)[36]	Kutná Hora	Czech Republic
73	Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)	28 m (92 ft)[37]	Antwerp	Belgium
73	St. Rumbold's Cathedral	28 m (92 ft)	Mechelen	Belgium	Height mentioned on the Dutch Wikipedia article without source.
73	Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia	28 m (92 ft)[38]	Barcelona	Spain
81	Grace Cathedral	27.7 m (91 ft)[39]	San Francisco	United States
82	Lancing College Chapel	27.4 m (90 ft)[40]	Lancing	United Kingdom
83	Upper Church	27 m (89 ft)	Kampen	Netherlands
83	Uppsala Cathedral	27 m (89 ft)[41]	Uppsala	Sweden
85	Der Aa Church	26 m (85 ft)	Groningen	Netherlands
86	Salisbury Cathedral	25.5 m (84 ft)[42]	Salisbury	United Kingdom
87	De Krijtberg	25 m (82 ft)	Amsterdam	Netherlands
87	Lincoln Cathedral	25 m (82 ft)[43]	Lincoln	United Kingdom	A central spire from after 1311 until 1548 had a reputed height of 160 m (520 ft), which would have made the cathedral the tallest structure in the world during the spire's existence.
89	Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist	24.3 m (80 ft)	Spokane	United States
90	Church of Our Lady	24 m (79 ft)	Dordrecht	Netherlands
90	Canterbury Cathedral	24 m (79 ft)	Canterbury	United Kingdom	Nave is 80 feet (24 metres) with a crossing height of 92 feet (28 metres), and a tower 169 feet (52 metres) tall
92	East Liberty Presbyterian Church	22.86 m (75 ft)[44]	Pittsburgh	United States
93	Grundtvigskirken	22 m (72 ft)	Copenhagen	Denmark
94	All Saints Cathedral	19.5 m (64 ft)	Halifax	Canada

Note: The lower part of the list probably has many missing cathedrals. For example, St Patrick's Cathedral Melbourne – 24.3 metres

See also

• Description of the term "nave"
• List of largest church buildings
• List of tallest church buildings
• List of tallest domes

Notes

a.^ Height to the top of the roof.

b.^ Height up to the base of the roof trusses.

References

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