Christianity has deep roots in Taiwan. The religion has been a continuous part of the island's religious landscape since the 1860s, although it arrived on Taiwan's shores much earlier. Spanish Dominicans arrived in the north in 1626; at the same time Dutch Protestant missionaries launched a conversion effort in the southwest.

No more than one in 20 Taiwanese is Protestant or Catholic, but Christian places of worship can be found in every corner of the ROC. Among them are buildings designed by world-famous architects, naves rich in local art, and even some intriguing examples of stained glass.

In recent years non-Christian Taiwanese have begun to embrace these chapels, basilicas and mission houses. Some want to learn how Christianity has influenced the development of Taiwanese society. For other Taiwanese, churches as exotic as folk temples are to visiting Westerners.

Many of the missionaries active in Taiwan in the late 19th century – men such as George L. Mackay and James L. Maxwell – were financially backed by co-religionists in their home countries. Some used this funding to purchase plots of land in locations that today would be unimaginably expensive or reserved for government use.

Taipei's Chi-nan Presbyterian Church (濟南路基督長老教會), which faces Zhongshan South Road right beside the Legislative Yuan, is an example. Designed by Moli Yamasi of Japan and completed in 1916 for the use of students and faculty at what is now National Taiwan University Medical College, this building is something of a pastiche – inspired by English country churches, but built of red brick rather than stone. If you step inside, you’ll see a surprising amount of wood, much of which was torn out and replaced in the spring of 2009.

The simplicity of many of Taiwan's Protestant churches has little to do with its background or its relative newness. Rather, it is a reflection of the brand of Christianity preached here, says David Alexander, an assistant to the president of Tainan Theological College, a Presbyterian seminary.

“Protestant architecture in Taiwan is not at all interesting. It's flat-out functional,” remarks the American, who has served in Taiwan since 1976. “However, in terms of decoration, sometimes some interesting things are done.”

“Protestantism in Taiwan is basically Zwinglian,” he says. Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), the Swiss theologian and Reformation leader, believed churches should be austere – even bare.

“What matters is what we say, not what we look like,” Alexander explains, before going on to say that Taiwan does have some visually arresting Protestant churches.

Tainan Theological College (台南神學院) was founded in 1876. The oldest surviving building on the campus is a two-story brick-and-mortar block that dates from 1902 and which includes the college’s original chapel.

Since 1957, the college has used a much larger sacral building. Known as College Church, it is – true to Alexander’s observations – extremely simple within and without. What little color there is comes from the three British-made stained-glass windows behind the altar.

Its design was based on that of the chapel of Westminster College in the English city of Cambridge.

Some of Taiwan's churches look as though they are intended to overshadow other religions' places of worship. The Presbyterian Church in Chiayi County's Xingang (嘉義縣新港鄉) falls into this category. It is close to and much taller than the town’s most important shrine, the 270-year-old Fengtian Temple (奉天宮).

Such buildings may not necessarily be grand statements, Alexander points out, but rather a way of getting the most out of a small piece of land. “Sometimes building or rebuilding is done because a church has the money,” says Alexander. “Sometimes it’s done, not because the congregation has outgrown the current building, but because the church hopes to grow.” Nevertheless, he thinks that Taiwan's Christians are just as likely to suffer from what he calls “edifice complex” as followers of other religions.

China-born American architect I.M. Pei (貝聿銘) and his German counterpart Gottfried Boehm (winner of the 1986 Pritzker Prize) have enjoyed international renown in recent decades. Both are known to local architecture aficionados largely because of the churches they designed in the 1950s.

Pei’s Luce Memorial Chapel (路思義教堂) stands on the grounds of Tunghai University in Taichung City. Nearly 20 meters high, it resembles a shiny concrete tent, or the upturned keel of a boat. Inside, a diamond-shaped frame supports the roof.

Boehm’s contribution to ecclesiastical architecture is less well known, partly because of its remote location. His Saint Cross Church (聖十字架堂) is in Jingliao Village in Tainan County’s Houbi Township (台南縣後壁鄉菁寮村).

Saint Cross's spire is an alloy-covered pyramid much higher than – and in terms of color quite different from – anything else in the village.

Unlike Protestant places of worship, many of Taiwan's Roman Catholic churches resemble Taoist temples with their red columns and green-tile roofs. But there are exceptions. Taiwan’s only Catholic cathedral, the Holy Rosary Cathedral (玫瑰聖母主教座堂) in Kaohsiung, lacks the crypts and sarcophagi that can be found in old European churches, but it shows both Gothic and Romanesque influence.

There are stained-glass windows featuring doves and roses. The vestibule is tiny. Inside the nave you will see confession boxes, the 14 Stations of the Cross, and a traditional pulpit and chancel.

The cathedral, which is just east of the Love River on Wufu 3rd Road, is the seat of the Archbishop of Taiwan. Established in 1860, it was rebuilt to its present dimensions in 1928.

Taiwan’s indigenous people are the most Christianized segment of the population, and several churches in aboriginal districts are among the island’s most attractive.

One of the most remarkable churches in southern Taiwan is, at the time of writing, almost impossible to reach. The road leading into Pingtung County’s Wutai Township (屏東縣霧臺鄉) was seriously damaged by Typhoon Morakot in August 2009.

Wutai Village is dominated by a Presbyterian Church almost as big as the Holy Rosary Cathedral. Most of the structure is concrete, but slate and wood (including a large crucifix made of two varnished tree trunks) give it considerable character.

In northern Taiwan, a renowned hand-built aboriginal stone church is located in an Atayal district of Taoyuan County's Sanmin Township (桃園縣三民鄉). Tuba Church (基國派老教堂) has not been used for its original purpose for more than a decade because the congregation grew beyond its capacity. However, its design has been lauded by cultural heavyweights, and its quaintness draws tourists.

Written by Steven Crook