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The Finest Church In America

The Finest Church In America image
Parent Issue
Day
14
Month
December
Year
1877
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The great Catholic cathedral on Fifth venue, which lias now been nearly ;wenty years in building, promises soon io be completed. The building has been epeatedly delayed by the absence of unds to oarry on the necessary work, , ut it is calculated the requisite help will be forthcoming to acoomplish the einainder of the design, which is pure j Gothio. The main exterior of the eatheLral, the roof inoluded, is already ( shed, and all that remains to be built up outside are the towers on the Fifth avenue front, the parapet around the J side aisles, and the pianacles connected - therewith. The grading of the ; rounding land will be the last piece of labor, and that will not involve much ! cost. Standing within the main aisle of , the cathedral, the impression it gives is . one of harmonious vastness. The great . clustering pillara, larger than those of [ tlw Oathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, have nothing like an appearanoe of bulk or heaviness as the pillars of Notre Dame have. They do not seem in the least to interfere with the view, and, though each section of a pillar weighs eight tons, they look as light and graceful in the coup-d'osil as so many single slender columns of about twelve inches in diameter. The whole interior at the present moment is covered with scaffolding which, at the extreme elevation of the ceiling, resembles a spider's web, so great is the height of the roof from the ground floor. The plastering appears to have been almost entirely done, acd the coloring of 1hj ceiling, iutended to give it the appearance of stone, was the only work going on íd the afternoon of yesterday. It has a triforium like Notre Dame away near the spring of the roof, but it is hardly likely it will ever be used in these modern days for the same purposes it was intended in the early time of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. There will be at least ten side chapela, and the main altar will have a space around it, giving ampie room for large and impressive effects in the matter of decoration. The Catliedral of Notre Dame in Montreal and the celebrated cathedral in Mexico have hitherto put in rivsl claims for pre-eminenco as ecclesiastical structures on the continent of America ; but, though each in its way is vast and imposing, neither can attempt to compare in beauty of material and design with that on Fifth avenue. The raising of this temple to the worship of God has been, like most efforts in the same line of the Catholics in this country, slow and painful, but bound, as it would seem, to be solid and successful. The money has come in in a rather sluggish stroam, but none the less surely, and the cathedral will inevitably be finished and prove the greatest ornament of the city. The cathedral has so far cost about $1,500,000. A vast amount of briekwork has been done in its construction, but not a trace of it is visible to the eye. The stone was laid by Arehbishop Hughes, in the summer of 1858. The towers are at present raised 150 feet to tho bage of the apires, which will asoend 285 feet higlier,- New York Jf#r aid,

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus