Place of worship

Hagia Sophia mosque is a Muslim place of worship in Turkey

Pura Besakih is a Hindu temple in Bali, Indonesia

Wat Kanlayanamit is a Wat or Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand

Great Synagogue of Plzeň is a Jewish synagogue in Plzeň, Czech Republic

Saint Basil's Cathedral is a church (place of worship for Christians) in Moscow, Russia

A place of worship for Islam. The Great Mosque of Touba in Touba, Senegal

Golden Temple is the holiest Sikh Gurdwara, located in Punjab, India

Mandaean Beth Manda (Mashkhanna) in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq in 2016. Place of worship for the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity

A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is sometimes called a house of worship. Temples, churches, mosques, and synagogues are examples of structures created for worship. A monastery may serve both to house those belonging to religious orders and as a place of worship for visitors. Natural or topographical features may also serve as places of worship, and are considered holy or sacrosanct in some religions; the rituals associated with the Ganges river are an example in Hinduism.

Under international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, religious buildings are offered special protection, similar to the protection guaranteed hospitals displaying the Red Cross or Red Crescent. These international laws of war bar firing upon or from a religious building.

Religious architecture expresses the religious beliefs, aesthetic choices, and economic and technological capacity of those who create or adapt it, and thus places of worship show great variety depending on time and place.