St Mary's Cathedral Sydney

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This is a photograph of St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney Australia taken from the Sydney AMP Centrepoint Tower in October 2004. It shows the addition of two spires originally designed by William Wilkinson Wardell but only added in 1998 - 2000.

In 1868 Archbishop John Bede Polding blessed the foundation stone of the second St Mary's Cathedral after the first was destroyed by fire in 1865. Designed by William Wilkinson Wardell, St Mary's Cathedral is a fine example of gothic revival architecture.

St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney Australia

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St Mary's Cathedral

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St Mary's Cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic church in Australia (and reputedly the Southern Hemisphere). It is the seat of Australia's only Cardinal, George Pell, and holds the title and dignity of a Minor Basilica, which were bestowed upon it by Pope Pius XI in 1930.

The present St Mary's is the second church of that name to occupy the site abutting College Street, Sydney. The foundation stone for the first building was laid by New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie and blessed by the colony's Catholic chaplain, Father Therry, on 3 May, 1821. The building was built of stone in a naive Gothic style, modified in 1851 in line with designs by A W N Pugin, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June, 1865.

The foundation stone for a new building, designed in Gothic-revival style by William Wilkinson Wardell was laid by Archbishop Polding in 1868. St Mary's was declared complete in 1928, and Archbishop Michael Kelly opened the building on 2 September of that year. However, due to a lack of funds the spires designed by Wardell for the cathedral's two main towers were not constructed until 2000 - 132 years after work first began on the building. With the completion of the spires St Mary's became the tallest church in Australia.




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