The World’s Oldest Churches

Religion is about as old as human history. Around the world, humans are drawn to study and worship a higher power. Among this huge diversity of beliefs and customs, there’s a consistent feature many share: places of worship. The team at AAA State of Play decided to study church buildings and discover which are the oldest in the world in a beautifully illustrated infographic.

The gorgeous infographic includes beautiful pencil-style illustrations of these beautiful buildings and tells us when it was built, what religion it serves, and a little bit about its history. Their list includes world-famous structures like the Pantheon, Megiddo Church, Dura-Europos Church, Saint Thaddeus, and Aqaba Church. The list required the team to research the purpose of these buildings. While a lot of structures might have served as monuments to a religion, the team decided to define this list with purpose-built structures for religious ceremony and worship. Find out which buildings are the oldest and where they’re located for more insight into religious history.