Sunday, November 8, 2009

Faith on Film: The Cathedral of St John the Divine


On a hill overlooking Harlem, can be found the largest traditionally constructed (meaning no steel beams etc, only masonry) Gothic Style Cathedral. I say 'style' because of course it was begun in the late 19th Century, not the Middle Ages.



















Dark and brooding inside...................



















But a great story, because they had the money to finish the Church all those years ago, but instead spent the endowment helping the turn of the last century poor of New Your City.

A hundred years on, they brought in in stone masons from Italy, to train the local Harlem residents to finish the building. A work still in progress, as is the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

2 comments:

  1. It's nice to see some pictures of the cathedral in NYC. I read about that program in the Times to train local people to be stone masons. Absolutely phenomenal opportunity to learn an ancient craft like that!

    I don't know if you have ever run across this site, but John in the UK loves old cameras and posts a lot of film pictures too. You should check out his site: http://vulcan-bomber.blogspot.com/

    Regards from Beantown.

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  2. I loved St Johns as soon as I saw it. Doesn't get the attention of the downtown's St Patrick.


    I'll check out the site right away, thanks!

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