Modern and post-modern architectures

Modern architecture spans several styles with similar characteristics resulting in simplification of form and the elimination of ornament. The most influential modernist architects in the early to mid 20th century include Rudolf Schwarz, Dominikus Boehm, and Auguste Perret.While secular structures clearly had the greater influence on the development of modern architecture, several excellent examples of modern architecture can be found in religious buildings of the 20th century. For example, Unity Temple in Chicago is a Unitarian Universalist congregation designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, started in 1954 and completed in 1962, was designed by Walter Netsch and is an excellent example of modern religious architecture. It has been described as a "phalanx of fighters" turned on their tails and pointing heavenward. In 1967, Architect Pietro Belluschi designed the strikingly modern Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption (San Francisco), the first Catholic cathedral in the United States intended to conform to Vatican II.

Post-modern architecture may be described by unapologetically diverse aesthetics where styles collide, form exists for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space abound. The Temple at Independence, Missouri was conceived by Japanese architect Gyo Obata after the concept of the chambered nautilus. The Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Los Angeles) was designed in 1998 by Jose Rafael Moneo in a post-modern style. The structure evokes the area's Hispanic heritage through the use of adobe coloring while combining stark modern form with some traditional elements. The Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń on the other hand is a much more traditional edifice. Designed by Barbara Bielecka and built between 1994 and 2004, its form includes references to a number of Polish structures. The columns possess a slenderness and delicacy inspired by those of the Renaissance court of Wawel Castle in Cracow, while the huge 420-foot spire that will be erected next to the basilica bears more than an accidental resemblance to the Baroque spire that adorns the Jasna Gora monastery of Czestochowa, home of the Black Madonna.

The architecture of cathedrals, basilicas and abbey churches is the architecture of those church buildings which are usually of large size, including most cathedrals, and follow one of several branching traditions of form, function and style that stem initially from Early Christian traditions of the Roman Empire.

Cathedrals in particular, as well as many abbey churches and basilicas, have certain complex structural forms that are found less often in parish churches. They also tend to display a higher level of contemporary architectural style and the work of accomplished craftsmen, and occupy a status both ecclesiastical and social that an ordinary parish church does not have. Such a cathedral or great church is generally one of the finest buildings within its region and is a focus of local pride. Many cathedrals and basilicas, and a number of abbey churches are among the most renowned works of architecture on the planet. These include St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome; Notre Dame de Paris, Cologne Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Prague Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, the Abbey of St Denis, Paris; the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome; the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna; St Mark's Basilica, Venice; Westminster Abbey, London, Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Washington National Cathedral, Gaudн's incomplete Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and the ancient church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, now a museum.

The earliest large churches date from the Roman Empire. As Christianity and the construction of churches and cathedrals spread throughout the world, their manner of building was dependent upon local materials and local techniques. Different styles of architecture developed and their fashion spread, carried by the establishment of monastic orders, by the posting of bishops from one region to another and by the travelling of master stonemasons who served as architects. The styles of the great church buildings are successively known as Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, various Revival styles of the late 18th to early 20th centuries and Modern.Overlaid on each of the academic styles are the regional characteristics. Some of these characteristics are so typical of a particular country or region that they appear, regardless of style, in the architecture of churches designed many centuries apart.