Churches
A whole library of churches, from a chapel to a cathedral. Choose a kind of church, and the nave, the aisles, the transept, the apse, the towers, the domes and the windows are built from your sizes. Look at the plan and the elevations and build layer by layer. Click blocks you have placed to keep track of where you are.
Size
Plan
Towers
Dome
Façade and windows
Material
Sets the colours and the blocks in the download. With the block palette you choose per part yourself.
Plan: the church from above, west on the left. The dark blocks are the walls at layer 3, so you can see the doors and windows.
Build breakdown
Parts
Size = length × width × height of the part in blocks. Click a part to go to its bottom layer.
| Part | Size | Layers | Blocks |
|---|
Per layer, from top to bottom
Click a layer to view it.
| Layer | Parts | Blocks |
|---|
Build tips
- First mark out the plan on layer 1: the outer walls, the apse and the base of the towers. Then you see straight away whether the church fits your building site.
- Build the walls all around up to the eaves, and only then the roofs. A roof of stairs instead of full blocks looks softer; put the stairs on the steps of the roof.
- Towers and domes are easiest to build from the middle: put a pole on the axis up to the top and measure the layers from there.
- Inside, add a floor, pews and an altar in the apse. Lanterns or candles behind the glass make the windows glow at night.
- Use stained glass in the rose window and the apse windows. A few upside-down stairs under the eaves make a nice cornice.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the design as a schematic file and paste it into your world with WorldEdit, or rebuild it from a hologram in Litematica. Without a block palette every part gets the block of the chosen material set; windows become glass panes.
Shopping list
Add the amounts of this design to your list. There you see everything together, converted to stacks and shulker boxes.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
From Roman hall to church
The first large churches looked like the Roman basilica. This was a long hall for courts and trade, with a tall nave and lower side aisles.
When Emperor Constantine allowed Christianity in the 4th century, Christians used this shape. The entrance was placed on the west side, and the altar in a round apse on the east side.
Romanesque: thick walls and round arches
Around the year 1000, Romanesque churches were built all over Europe. They have thick walls, small windows and round arches.
A transept turned the floor plan into a cross. Above the crossing there was often a tower. Many village churches started in this style.
Gothic: tall and full of light
From about 1140, the Gothic style began in France. The abbey church of Saint-Denis near Paris is seen as the first Gothic church.
Pointed arches, rib vaults and buttresses carried the weight to the outside. Because of this, walls could be thinner and windows much larger. This made cathedrals like Notre-Dame in Paris, Chartres and Cologne possible.
Domes in the east
In Constantinople, now Istanbul, Emperor Justinian built the Hagia Sophia. It was finished in 537 and has a huge dome.
Byzantine and later Russian Orthodox churches continued with domes. In Russia they got the famous onion shape, as on Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
Baroque, missions and stave churches
In the Baroque period, from about 1600, churches got curved facades, large domes and a lot of decoration. Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome is the best-known example.
Elsewhere people built with local materials. In Norway they built wooden stave churches, such as the one at Urnes. In the Spanish colonies in America, missionaries built mission churches of adobe and lime, with a bell gable.
How was a church built?
Building a large cathedral often took more than a hundred years. Stonemasons, bricklayers and carpenters worked with compasses, ropes and squares.
Builders usually started with the choir in the east, so services could be held there early. The nave and towers came later. This is why many churches show several styles.
Did you know?
- Cologne Cathedral was started in 1248 and only finished in 1880.
- The spire of Ulm Minster in Germany is about 161 metres tall, the tallest church tower in the world.
- The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was the largest church in the world for almost a thousand years.
- Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow was built between 1555 and 1561.
- The stave church at Urnes in Norway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Most churches are 'oriented': the altar is on the east side, towards the rising sun.
About this tool
With this church planner you can build a church in Minecraft, from a small chapel to a Gothic cathedral. Choose a type of church and enter the sizes. The tool works out the nave, aisles, transept, choir, apse, towers, domes and windows for you.
You can choose from twelve types: village church, Romanesque church, basilica, cross-shaped church, Gothic cathedral, Byzantine domed church, Russian Orthodox church, Baroque church, round church, wooden stave church, Spanish mission church and chapel. There are also examples to start from, such as a village church on a dike, a cathedral with two towers or a stave church by a fjord.
You set the roof pitch, the wall thickness, the type of tower and the spire, such as a needle spire, stacked roofs or an onion dome. For the front you choose a pointed gable, stepped gable, bell gable or Baroque gable. Windows can have round arches, pointed arches or two lancets with an oculus. You can also turn on a rose window, buttresses and flying buttresses.
You build the church layer by layer with the build plan. The 3D view shows the whole building. The counter shows how many blocks, stacks and glass panes you need. With the block palette you can pick a block for each part. Then you download the church as a .schem file for WorldEdit or Litematica.
Do you want to design the details yourself? Then also use the rose window generator, the Gothic windows and the buttresses.
Frequently asked questions
How do I build a church in Minecraft?
Choose a type of church or an example and change the sizes. Then lay out layer 1 first: the outer walls, the apse and the base of the towers. After that, build up layer by layer with the build plan. The roof and spires come last.
How many blocks do I need for a cathedral?
That depends on your sizes. The counter at the top shows the total, also in stacks of 64. With 'Add to my list' the blocks go on your shopping list per type, converted to stacks and shulker boxes.
What is the difference between a Romanesque and a Gothic church?
A Romanesque church has thick walls, small windows and round arches. A Gothic church is taller and has pointed arches, large windows and buttresses. In the tool you see this in the windows, the roof pitch and the flying buttresses.
Which roof pitch suits a church?
A Gothic church looks good with a steep roof, 1.5 or 2 blocks up per block. A Romanesque or Byzantine church suits a normal or low roof better. A mission church often has a low roof.
Can I choose which blocks to use?
Yes. First choose a material, such as brick with a slate roof or white marble. With the block palette you can then give each part its own block, for example the walls, the roof and the domes.
Can I build this church in Bedrock?
The layer-by-layer build plan works in every edition, including Bedrock. The .schem file is for Minecraft Java Edition, with WorldEdit or Litematica.