Church Architecture

St. Michael's Cathedral (Springfield, Massachusetts)
Architect: Patrick Keely
1860 - 61 Architecture

St. Michael's Cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts, United States.

The parish was established in 1847 as the church of St. Benedict.Rev. Michael P. Gallagher, the first priest, began construction of the current building in 1860. In recognition of Fr. Gallagher's work, the parish changed its name to St. Michael.

When Pope Pius IX established the present Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts in 1870, St. Michael's church became its cathedral.

St. Nicholas Cathedral, Elbląg
13th Century Architecture

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St. Nicholas Cathedral is a 13th-century Gothic Roman Catholic church in Elbląg, Poland. Established in c. 1247. Since 1539 the city council tacitly tolerated and gradually openly promoted Lutheranism, so that St. Nicholas Church had become a Lutheran church by 1573.In 1611 the free practice of the Catholic religion in prevailingly Lutheran Prussia was allowed by law. Based on that St. Nicholas was restored as a Roman Catholic parish church in 1612, then the only one in Elbląg, and remaining a Catholic church since.

It was damaged by fire in the late 18th century and suffered damage during World War II. It was elevated to the status of cathedral in 1992.

St. Patrick's Cathedral
Architect: James Renwick Jr.
1858-1878 Architecture

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The Diocese of New York was founded by Pope Pius VII in 1808. St. Patrick's was founded shortly afterward to serve New York City's small, but growing, Catholic population. The original site was on Mulberry Street where St. Patrick's Old Cathedral was dedicated in 1815.At the time, there were 15,000 Catholics in the diocese.When Catholics increasef to 200,000+ a new site for the Cathefral was chosen on Fifth Avenue.

St. Patrick's boasts some exquisite Neo-Gothic architecture, with two elegant spires lying either side of a stunning stained glass rose window.

Inside are some fine altars and artworks, with the huge Pieta statue being the undoubted highlight. The largest cathedral of its type in the States, St. Patrick’s can be found on Fifth Avenue, right in front of the renowned Rockefeller Center.

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When we think of Christian architecture, we may picture towering cathedrals with intricate stained-glass windows, but the roots of this style are much more humble. The earliest Christian structures were not grand, but rather simple house churches. As Christianity grew, its places of worship grew in size and intricacy.

The transition from early Christian to medieval architecture paralelled societal and religious changes. The Romanesque style, characterized by its rounded arches and massive walls, was followed by the Gothic style with its pointed archs, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses.

Christian architecture has created some of the world’s most iconic structures. These buildings all share a common thread: they are physical manifestations of the Christian faith.

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