Steeple

In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components.

Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure.

Towers are a common element of religious architecture worldwide and are generally viewed as attempts to reach skyward toward heavens and the divine.

A number of Romanian churches feature unusually slender steeples, and over half of these have been lost to earthquakes.

An example of this is Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Luxemburg, Iowa, which lost its steeple in a fire believed to have been started by a lightning strike.