Saint John the Divine Cathedral stands within the Morningside Heights neighborhood, lower than 500 meters from Central Park. For a lot of New York vacationers, it’s a compulsory place of passageboth for spiritual causes or for architectural causes and even for each. Manhattan's Saint John the Divine Cathedral is solely the most important cathedral on the planet.
The land on which Saint John the Divine Cathedral stands was acquired by the Diocese of New York in 1887. It then had a floor space of 47,000 m² which covers the world presently bounded by Morningside Dr., Amsterdam Avenue, 133rd Road and Cathedral Parkway. Reverse the cathedral, we discover the charming Morningside Park with its mountain climbing trails and its lake.
Development of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
Development of the cathedral started on December 27, 1892. The architectural mission chosen was that of George Lewis Heins and John LaFarge. A number of years later, the primary died, which considerably delayed the progress of the work.
Particularly since World Warfare II additionally affected this system attributable to labor grabs and since the Bishop of New York earmarked a big portion of his funds for charity. Regardless of every thing, development progressed and in 1925, the west facade was accomplished; work on the nave started and in 1942, the primary companies had been celebrated there.
Stopped or slowed down for a very long time, work to finish the mission actually started in 1979. However this time, Bishop Paul Moore revised the mission due specifically to the shortage of funds and the exhaustion of endowments. The towers had been constructed with out ever being completed.
As for the portal on the west facade, it was adorned with statues of Simon Verity and Jean Claude Marchionni. Initially, the mission for the Saint John the Divine Cathedral adopted a Byzantine Romanesque type. Through the work, it advanced in direction of a French Gothic type (for the a part of the nave and the apse), whereas the transept retained its Romanesque type.
Visiting the cathedral
Right now, guests can recognize this cathedral whose thirteenth century Gothic type attracts its inspiration from the church buildings of northern France. Its dimensions place it as the most important cathedral on the planet : a size of 186 meters, a nave with a ceiling peak of 38 meters and a size of 70 meters.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine is endowed with seven chapels referred to as the “Chapels of the Tongues”: Ambrose, Ansgar, Boniface, Columbia, James, Martin and Savior. Every chapel represents one of many seven main ethnic teams that immigrated to New York when Ellis Island opened in 1892.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine steadily provides live shows.
Entrance charge : free / $15 for guided excursions.