Thursday Doors – December 29, 2016

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button below. 

Mary Queen of the World Cathedral – Downtown Montréal (Part 1)

On the southern edge of downtown Montreal you’ll find one of my favorite of the city’s grand Catholic cathedrals: Mary, Queen of the World.

After the Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal and St-Joseph’s Oratory on Mont-Royal, it’s probably number three in the city among Catholic churches, in terms of grandeur, opulence, and  importance.

It was also the first building on the island of Montreal that cost over one million dollars to build.

I have no idea what it’s worth today, but I will keep looking into that.

Since I have quite a few shots I thought that this week we could walk around the outside and next week we’ll have a look at some of the beautiful interior features and details, including some lovely doors  🙂

Modeled after St-Peter’s Basilica in Rome, construction was done in two phases starting in 1874; it officially opened its doors to the city’s Catholic worshipers on Easter Sunday in 1894 under the name St-James Cathedral.

Sitting on the northwest corner is a statue of the man who ordered the construction of the cathedral: Mgr. Ignace Bourget, second bishop of Montreal.

In 1955 at the request of Cardinal Paul-Emile Leger, the building was rededicated by Pope Pius XII as Mary, Queen of the World.

The dome has a maximum height of 75 meters (252 feet) and it measures 23 meters (75 feet) in diameter. The original cast-iron cross that sat atop the dome was 5 meters (17 feet tall) and weighed over 727 kgs (1600 lbs) – it was replaced by a slightly taller aluminium one in 1958.

Sad to say but I hadn’t really noticed this building until I had the good fortune to attend a friend’s wedding there about 20 years ago.

It truly is one of the city’s most majestic buildings and if you think the outside is impressive, just wait until you the inside  🙂

Okay, so here’s a sneak peek at some of what you’ll see next week:

As always I thank you for looking 🙂

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