St. Mary's Church, Gdańsk

St. Mary’s Church is recognizable by its massive, dark red brick facade and a bulky, eighty-two-meter-high tower that dominates the skyline of Gdańsk. Officially known as the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is frequently cited as the largest brick church in the world. Construction began in thirteen forty-three and spanned one hundred and fifty-nine years, concluding in fifteen hundred and two. The structure was built to demonstrate the wealth and power of the city's Hanseatic merchants, and its interior volume is large enough to accommodate up to twenty-five thousand people.