Ten Most Unique Church

1. Harajuku: Japanese Futuristic ChurchThis futuristic protestant church is located in Tokyo and it was first unveiled by the design firm of Ciel Rouge Creation in 2005. The ceiling is specially made to reverberate natural sound for 2 seconds to provide a unique listening experience for worshipers and tourists.

2. Saint Basil's Cathedral: The Red Square 's Colorful Church

The St. Basil's Cathedral is located on the Red Square in Moscow , Russia . A Russian Orthodox church, the Cathedral sports a series of colorful bulbous domes that taper to a point, aptly named onion domes, that are part of Moscow's Kremlin skyline.

The cathedral was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of the Khanate of Kazan. In 1588 Tsar Fedor Ivanovich had a chapel added on the eastern side above the grave of Basil Fool for Christ, a Russian Orthodox saint after whom the cathedral was popularly named.

3. Hallgrímskirkja: Iceland 's Most Amazing Church

The Hallgrímskirkja (literally, the church of Hallgrímur ) is a Lutheran parish church located in Reykjavík , Iceland . At 74.5 metres (244 ft), it is the fourth tallest architectural structure in Iceland . The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614 to 1674), author of the Passion Hymns. State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937; it took 38 years to build it.

4. Temppeliaukio Kirkko: The Rock Church

Temppeliaukio Kirkko ( Rock Church ) is a thrilling work of modern architecture in Helsinki . Completed in 1952, it is built entirely underground and has a ceiling made of copper wire. It was designed by architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and completed in 1969. They chose a rocky outcrop rising about 40 feet above street level, and blasted out the walls from the inside. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Helsinki and frequently full of visitors.

5. Cathedral of Brasília: The Modern Church of architect Oscar Niemeyer

The Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida in the capital of Brazil is an expression of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. This concrete-framed hyperboloid structure, seems with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven. On 31 May 1970, the Cathedral's structure was finished, and only the 70 m diameter of the circular area were visible. Niemeyer's project of Cathedral of Brasília is based in the hyperboloid of revolution which sections are asymmetric. The hyperboloid structure itself is a result of 16 identical assembled concrete columns. These columns, having hyperbolic section and weighing 90 t, represent two hands moving upwards to heaven. The Cathedral was dedicated on 31 May 1970 .

6. Borgund Church: Best Preserved Stave Church

The Borgund Stave Church in Lærdal is the best preserved of Norway 's 28 extant stave churches. This wooden church, probably built in the end of the 12th century, has not changed structure or had a major reconstruction since the date it was built. The church is also featured as a Wonder for the Viking civilization in the video game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.


7. Las Lajas Cathedral: A Gothic Church Worthy of a Fairy TaleThe Las Lajas Cathedral is located in southern Colombia and built in 1916 inside the canyon of the Guaitara River . According to the legend, this was the place where an indian woman named María Mueses de Quiñones was carrying her deaf-mute daughter Rosa on her back near Las Lajas ("The Rocks"). Weary of the climb, the María sat down on a rock when Rosa spoke (for the first time) about an apparition in a cave.

Later on, a mysterious painting of the Virgin Mary carrying a baby was discovered on the wall of the cave. Supposedly, studies of the painting showed no proof of paint or pigments on the rock - instead, when a core sample was taken, it was found that the colors were impregnated in the rock itself to a depth of several feet. Whether true or not, the legend spurred the building of this amazing church.

8. St. Joseph Church: Known for its Thirteen Gold Domed RoofSt. Joseph The Betrothed is an Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Chicago . Built in 1956, it is most known for its ultra-modern thirteen gold domed roof symbolizing the twelve apostles and Jesus Christ as the largest center dome. The interior of the church is completely adorned with byzantine style icons (frescoes). Unfortunately the iconographer was deported back to his homeland before he was able to write the names of all the saints as prescribed by iconographic traditions.


9. Ružica Church: Where Chandeliers are made of Bullet Shells

Located over the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia, the Ružica Church is La small chapel decorated with... with trench art! Its chandeliers are entirely made of spent bullet casing, swords, and cannon parts..

The space the church now occupies was used by the Turks as gunpowder storage for over 100 years and it had to be largely rebuilt in 1920 after WWI. Though damaged by bombings there was an upshot to the terrible carnage of The Great War. While fighting alongside England and the US , Serbian soldiers on the Thessaloniki front took the time to put together these amazing chandeliers. It is one of the world's finest examples of trench art.


10.Chapel of St-Gildas: Built into the base of a bare rocky cliff

The Chapel of St-Gildas sits upon the bank of the Canal du Blavet in Brittany, France . Built like a stone barn into the base of a bare rocky cliff, this was once a holy place of the Druids. Gildas appears to have travelled widely throughout the Celtic world of Corwall, Wales , Ireland and Scotland . He arrived in Brittany in about AD 540 and is said to have preached Christianity to the people from a rough pulpit, now contained within the chapel.

Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates

Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates (1979-2008)

1979 Philip Johnson of the United States
presented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC

1980 Luis Barragan of Mexico
presented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC

1981 James Stirling of Great Britain
presented at the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.

1982 Kevin Roche of the United States
presented at The Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois

1983 Ieoh Ming Pei of the United States
presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

1984 Richard Meier of the United States
presented at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1985 Hans Hollein of Austria
presented at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California

1986 Gottfried Boehm of Germany
presented at Goldsmiths' Hall, London, England

1987 Kenzo Tange of Japan
presented at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

1988 Gordon Bunshaft of the United States
and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil
presented at The Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois

1989 Frank O. Gehry of the United States
presented at Todaiji Buddhist Temple, Nara, Japan

1990 Aldo Rossi of Italy
presented at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

1991 Robert Venturi of the United States
presented at Palacio de Iturbide, Mexico City, Mexico

1992 Alvaro Siza of Portugal
presented at the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, Illinois

1993 Fumihiko Maki of Japan
presented at Prague Castle, Czech Republic

1994 Christian de Portzamparc of France
presented at The Commons, Columbus, lndiana

1995 Tadao Ando of Japan
presented at the Grand Trianon and Chateau of Versailles, France

1996 Rafael Moneo of Spain
presented at the construction site of The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California

1997 Sverre Fehn of Norway
presented at the construction site of The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

1999 Sir Norman Foster of the United Kingdom
presented at the Altus Museum, Berlin, Germany

2000 Rem Koolhaas of The Netherlands
presented at the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Israel

2001 Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Switzerland
presented at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Virginia

2002 Glenn Murcutt of Australia
presented at Michelangelo's Campidoglio, Rome, Italy

2003Jørn Utzon of Denmark
presented at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando

2004 Zaha Hadid of Britain
presented at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

2005 Thom Mayne of California, USA
presented at the Millenium Park in Chicago

2006 Paulo Mendes da Rocha of Brazil
presented in Istanbul, Turkey

2007 Richard Rogers of the UK
presented at the Banqueting House in London

2008 Jean Nouvel of France
presented at the Library of Congress in Wshington, DC

More information from the Pritzker website:
http://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/year.html