List of oldest church buildings

This article lists some but by no means all of the oldest known church buildings in the world. In most instances, buildings listed here were reconstructed numerous times and only fragments of the original buildings have survived. These surviving, freestanding buildings were purposely constructed for use by congregations (or used at an early date) and the dates are the approximate dates when they were first used by congregations for worship.

"Church" may also be used in the sense of "Christian denomination", or in the singular as the Christian Church as a whole. The "church" (ecclesia, assembly) is traced to Pentecost and the beginning of the Christian mission in the 1st century and was not used in reference to a building.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia the Cenacle (the site of the Last Supper) in Jerusalem was the "first Christian church."Archaeology magazine suggests that the Dura-Europos church in Syria is the oldest surviving church building in the world. While Jordan's Aqaba Church is considered to be the world's first purpose-built church. Several authors have cited the Etchmiadzin Cathedral (Armenia's mother church) as the oldest cathedral.

Church buildings of the 2nd to 4th centuries, either excavated archaeologically or substantially preserved.

Church buildings dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries.

A selection of notable, extant 11th- to 14th-century churches.

Notable early churches built in the New World between the 15th and 19th centuries. Listed are especially the oldest extant church buildings by country.

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