Largest churches
Salt Lake Temple, Utah, USA (1993) has a floor area of 23,506 m. St Peter's in the Vatican (1612), the centre of the Roman Catholic church, is 218.7m long and covers an area of 23,000sq m. It was the largest Christian cathedral in the world until 1989, when it was overtaken by the 30,000sq m basilica in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire.
Tallest mosques
The Great Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco (1993) is the tallest mosque at 210m. The Saddam Mosque, Baghdad, Iraq was designed to be the largest in the Middle East, with a record-breaking 280m minaret, but it has not been completed.
Largest mosque
The Masjid al Haram is the holy mosque of Makkah (formerly Mecca), the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad. Millions of Muslim pilgrims visit the mosque every year. The mosque covers 82,000sq m and the surrounding yards cover another 985,000sq m. Together they can accommodate up to 1.2 million worshippers.
Largest Buddhist temple
The largest Buddhist temple in the world is Borobudur (many Buddhas), near Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia: It was built between AD 750 and 842. The temple covers 60,000sq m and contains 56,634cu m of stone.
Largest Hindu temple
Angkor Wat, Cambodia, built between 879 and 1191, is the largest religious structure in the world. The complex of buildings inside its walls and moat covers 83,110sq m.
Largest synagogue
The world's largest synagogue is Temple Emanu-El, New York City, USA. It opened in 1929 and occupies
an area of 3,523sq m.