Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
The cathedral of St John the Divine is the world’s largest gothic cathedral. Art treasures include Raphael’s tapestries. Tours include a ‘vertical tour’ to the top of the Nave. In the Close is a Biblical Garden and the fanciful Peace Fountain. Located on Amsterdam Avenue at 112th street, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City represents Medieval Architecture against the backdrop of one of the most modernized cities in the world. In 1888, the Board of Trustees initiated a contest for the Cathedral’s design. The firm of Heins & Lafarge won the contract with a Romanesque, Byzantine design. Their plan called for a cathedral 520 feet in length crowned at the crossing by a towering conical spire. It would be built in the customary cathedral shape – that of a cross.
The next challenge was finding a site for this extraordinary house of worship. One spring day in 1887, a devoted layman, George Macculoch Miller, glanced west on 111th Street while walking up Fifth Avenue. Within a few days, Mr. Miller had shown the site to Bishop Henry Codman Potter. Both of them perceived the heights rising above Morningside Avenue as a potential acropolis. The thirteen heavily wooded acres were the site of the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum. The property was purchased for $850,000. On December 27, 1892, St. John’s Day, Bishop Potter laid the corner stone of the Cathedral. Bishop Potter struck the massive stone three times with a large wooden mallet, “Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.”
Related Travel Information
La Seu Cathedral
Built in the 14th century, this Gothic Cathedral is definitely one of the highlights of the Gothic Quarter. There are also three other palaces in the Cathedral compex: Cases dels Casonges, Casa del Dega and Case de LArdiaca. joni: La Seu Cathedral is great!
address: Plaza de la Seu
Notre Dame Cathedral
The only way to really grasp the magnificence of the Notre-Dame cathedral and towers and view it in its entirety is to catch a glimpse of it from a bridge across the Seine. The size and scope of this almost 800-year-old church are inspiring, the two towers stretching to reach the sky above the main entrance to the cathedral.
Bishop Maurice de Sully laid the first stone of the Notre-Dame in 1163. Age shows on the darkened stones of the Gothic structure, and the dimly lit interior of the cathedral speaks to the centuries the faithful have worshipped here.
St. Peter
Though neither a cathedral, nor the mother church, this enormous church is in fact the center of the Catholic World, a role once performed by the St John Lateran. From here the pope, the successor of St Peter, tends his flock. The church was build over the grave of St Peter. Because of the location of this tomb on the hill, the St Peter is one of few churches that are not orientated towards the east, but just the other way around. Some people read in this orientation a reference to the crucifixion of St Peter, who was crucified
St. Marks Cathedral
St. Marks Cathedral was built in 1812 and enlarged in 1901 for army personal and civilians who had moved in from Srirangapatna. Modelled on St.Paul's cathedral of the 17th century is a beautiful colonial structure with a dome. Roman archers adorn its walls.
Giovanni in Laterano
This church is the Cathedral of Rome. It was the first Christian Basilica build by Constantine. The church was probably build between 314 and 318 AD, and was the key example to almost all churches in the Romanesque era. The present day church is a recreation by Borromini from the 1646-'49, the last chapter in a long history of building, destruction and rebuilding. Scala
