If you don’t know, Baltimore is home to the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States, and it was designed by Benjamin Latrobe, architect of much of Washington, DC, just 40 miles down the road, and America’s first professionally-trained architect. The church is called the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is a bit of a mouthful, so everyone just calls it the Basilica.
In 2006, a major restoration of the building was completed and it opened to rave reviews. It’s a stunning church, in the classical model, and the restoration won major historic preservation awards.
Most unfortunately, during the very unexpected 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked our region during August of 2011, the building suffered some structural damage and has been closed since then. 
Would love to tour this building, on my list of places that I would like to visit before I...you know.
ReplyDeleteoh never mind this pleasant white box now appears.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful tour, of a wonderful building. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
ReplyDeleteOooh, what a cool picture of the windows.
ReplyDeletePS--I'm pretty sure Google is just using Welsh for its word verification.
I'd love to attend a hard hat tour. The email link keeps trying to open directly into an email program which I don't use nor have I set up. The same with your direct contact! LOL. Is there any way you could write out the email address we need, or perhaps even send it to me at bryantkeller@gmail.com? Many thanks! Looking forward...B
ReplyDeleteI've always admired the building but never been inside. One of these days!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shock to see Latrobe's 'Grecian' Baltimore Cathedral tarted up that way! What on earth are those 'orientalizing' cupolas set atop the 'temple of the winds' modeled towers? And what's with all those brown roofs? Can't tell is that new copper lacquered to not ever age green but to remain that awful artificial color in perpetuity? Who was driving this bus?!
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