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
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
67 Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran 30 m (98 ft) Rome Italy
67 Pavia Cathedral 30 m (98 ft) Pavia Italy
67 St. Peter's Church 30 m (98 ft) Riga Latvia
69 Saint Thomas Church 29 m (95 ft) New York City New York
69 St. John's Cathedral 29 m (95 ft) 's-Hertogenbosch Netherlands
71 St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna 28 m (92 ft) Vienna Austria Height mentioned on the German Wikipedia article without source.
71 St Paul's Cathedral 28 m (92 ft) London United Kingdom
71 Alexander Nevsky Cathedral 28 m (92 ft)[34] of the central nave Sofia Bulgaria
71 Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist 28 m (92 ft)[35] Kutná Hora Czech Republic
71 Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp) 28 m (92 ft)[36] Antwerp Belgium
71 St. Rumbold's Cathedral 28 m (92 ft) Mechelen Belgium Height mentioned on the Dutch Wikipedia article without source.
71 Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia 28 m (92 ft)[37] Barcelona Spain
78 Grace Cathedral 27.7 m (91 ft)[38] San Francisco United States
79 Lancing College Chapel 27.4 m (90 ft)[39] Lancing United Kingdom
80 Uppsala Cathedral 27 m (89 ft)[40] Uppsala Sweden
81 Salisbury Cathedral 25.5 m (84 ft)[41] Salisbury United Kingdom
82 Lincoln Cathedral 25 m (82 ft)[42] 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.
83 Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist 24.3 m (80 ft) Spokane United States
84 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
85 Grundtvigskirken 22 m (72 ft) Copenhagen Denmark
86 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

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
a.^ Height to the top of the roof.
b.^ Height up to the base of the roof trusses.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. "nave".
  2. ^ Nave (definition from Answers.com. Accessed 2010-01.20.)
  3. ^ "Architecture". MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 2009-10-29.
  4. ^ "The Basilica of St. Peter". Argiletum Tour. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  5. ^ "The Nave". St. Peter's Basilica. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  6. ^ Bruzelius, Caroline; Giordano, Andrea; Basso, Andrea; Castagna, Elisa; Giles, Lucas; Repola, Leopoldo; De Feo, Emanuela (2018). "L'eco delle pietre: history, modeling, and GPR as tools in reconstructing the choir screen at Sta. Chiara in Naples". Archeologia e Calcolatori. Supplementi. 10 (Progetti digitali per la storia dell’arte medievale - Digital Projects in Medieval Art History): 81–103. doi:10.19282/acs.10.2018.06. ISSN 2385-202X.
  7. ^ "Informe Del Comité Español Del Consejo Internacional De Monumentos Y Sitios (ICOMOS) Sobre El Posible Impacto Del Tren De Alta Velocidad (AVE) En El Templo Expiatorio De La Sagrada Familia De Barcelona" (PDF). International Council on Monuments and Sites. 1 February 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007.
  8. ^ "Basilica di San Petronio: La Fabbriceria" (in Italian). Basilica di San Petronio [official website]. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Restoration of the Cathedral of Palma de Majorca". Gaudi & Barcelona Club. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  10. ^ Roca, P.; Gonzalez, J. L. "Morphology, Structure and History – The Case of the Upper Flying Arches of Mallorca Cathedral" (PDF). Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2004.
  11. ^ "INTERVIU: "Se vor face multe teze de doctorat" despre construcția Catedralei Mântuirii Neamului". www.digi24.ro (in Romanian). 7 October 2016. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  12. ^ "Measures and dates" Archived 2017-11-08 at the Wayback Machine. Der Kölner Dom. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  13. ^ a b c d Der Geschichtliche Weg Der grossen Kathedralen Frankreichs, France Monuments.
  14. ^ "Seville Cathedral". Spain (official tourism portal). Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  15. ^ "St Bartholomews Church". Visit Brighton. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  16. ^ "St. Mary's Lutheran Cathedral". Université du Québec. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  17. ^ "Narbonne". Université du Québec. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  18. ^ "Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine". New York Architecture. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
  19. ^ "The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour" Archived 2009-03-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  20. ^ "Façade - Notre Dame Cathedral". Buffalo Architecture and History. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007.
  21. ^ "Notre Dame en long et en large chiffres et anecdotes". Notre Dame de Paris. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  22. ^ "Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris – Interior". Planetware. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  23. ^ "Catedral de Granada [homepage]"
  24. ^ "El proyecto". Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  25. ^ "Church of Our Lady of the Snows". Prague Welcome. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  26. ^ "Architettura del Tempio". www.sannicolotreviso.it (in Italian). 30 June 2016. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  27. ^ "Social events"[permanent dead link]. CLIP Lab. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  28. ^ "Stavba". Katedrála sv. Víta. Archived from the original on 25 May 2007.
  29. ^ "Ely Cathedral - Facts and Figures".
  30. ^ Hubel, Achim (2010). Regensburg: St Peter's Cathedral. Schnell, Art Guide (4th ed.). Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner. p. 12. ISBN 978-3-7954-6162-1.
  31. ^ "OKV: De Sint-Baafskathedraal gent. Monument en heiligdom.". Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  32. ^ "Jewels of the Architecture: London". Europanas. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  33. ^ St. Olaf's Church, Tallinn
  34. ^ "Architecture".
  35. ^ "Santini". Česká televize. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  36. ^ "De Kathedraal - Facts and Figures". dekathedraal.be. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  37. ^ "Dimensions".
  38. ^ "Architecture".
  39. ^ "Nimbus Hosting".
  40. ^ "Hur hög och hur lång?" Archived 2014-07-23 at archive.today. Linköpings domkyrkoförsamling. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  41. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions" Archived 2013-10-05 at the Wayback Machine. Salisbury Cathedral. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  42. ^ "Plan and Description of Lincoln Cathedral from an Anonymous guide booklet printed near the end of the Nineteenth Century" Archived 2012-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. The Bourne Archive. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
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