Early Christian

This lovely 12th-century basilica stands over two previous sacred buildings: a church built in 392 and a 2nd-century Mithraic cave temple.

The Baptistère Saint-Jean in Poitiers dates from around 360, making it the oldest church in France and one of the oldest in the world. Enlarged in the 6th century and decorated with frescoes in the 12th century, it is now a museum.

Dating from the 4th century, when Milan was the capital of the western Roman Empire, this is the oldest church in the city. Sixteen ancient Roman columns line the front of the church.

This baptistery was built at the end of the 5th century, when the Arian Visigoths ruled Italy. The dome mosaic shows the baptism of Christ with a personification of the River Jordan.

The Orthodox Baptistery in Ravenna dates from the 5th century and has even more beautiful mosaics than its Arian counterpart.

Dura Europos (nicknamed the “Pompeii of the Syrian Desert.”) is an important archaeological site in eastern Syria on the Euphrates river.

This church commemorates the Feeding of the Five Thousand and includes a portion of rock where the miraculous meal was laid. The Byzantine-style church preserves splendid 5th-century mosaics.

The ruins of the traditional House of St. Peter, where the New Testament says Jesus lived during his Galilee ministry, healed a paralytic and healed Peter's mother, also contain evidence of multiple Early Christian churches.

The area known as Wadi Kharrar has long been believed to be the biblical Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, where John the Baptist lived and Jesus was baptized.

Located on an strategically important site in North Africa, Carthage was an important ancient city and a center of early Christianity.

The Cathédrale St-Sauveur in Aix was built from the 5th century to the 15th century. Its many highlights include an ancient baptistery, a lovely cloister, and Nicolas Fromen's Burning Bush Triptych.