St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Catholic cathedral located in the

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

of Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. It is the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Halifax and is the largest Catholic church in the Archdiocese. Consecrated on October 19, 1899, it was made a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. The St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica boasts the tallest granite spire in North America.

History

The church has been significantly expanded and altered over time. Originally constructed of wood, it was replaced by a stone structure beginning in 1820 inspired (as were many churches of the day) by

Saint Martin in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

in London.J. Philip McAleer, ''A Pictorial History of the Basilica of St. Mary, Halifax, Nova Scotia'', Library of Canadian Architecture, Technical University of Nova Scotia, 1984 (unpaginated) It was expanded to its present size beginning in 1869, according to designs of

Patrick Keely Patrick Charles Keely (August 9, 1816 — August 11, 1896) was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildin ...

who introduced the

facade and spire. Besides the Gothic features, the spire also includes Norman and Germanic design elements. The facade and spire are notable for being built entirely of granite. All of the stone was locally obtained, except for the three portals which have a jamb shaft of pink Aberdeen granite. The spire has a height of . The basilica was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 1997. The church was heavily damaged in the

Halifax Explosion On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship collided with the Norwegian vessel in the waters of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The ''Mont-Blanc'', laden with high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastating the Richmond ...

on 6 December 1917. All of the

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows were shattered by the force of the blast, and tiny pieces of glass were embedded in the walls. In addition to being peppered by the glass shards, the paintings on the walls suffered

water damage Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...

from a

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...

which entered the church through the broken windows. The

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s were covered over with white paint in the 1950s. In June 2019, work was begun to remove the layers of white paint (using scalpels) and restore damaged portions of the paintings—a project expected to continue until January 2020.

Cemetery

St. Peter's Cemetery located to the west of St. Mary's Basilica is the oldest Catholic cemetery in Halifax, created when the original chapel was built at the site of the basilica in 1784. The St. Peter's Cemetery served as the main Catholic burial place in Halifax until 1843 when it was replaced by

Holy Cross Cemetery Holy Cross Cemetery may refer to: United States California *Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California) *Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California * Holy Cross Cemetery (Menlo Park, California) * Holy Cross Cemetery (Pomona, California) *Holy C ...

.Gordon Douglas Pollock and Sharon Riel, “St. Peter's/St. Mary's Burial Registers”, ''Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia''
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Basilica spire seen from Citadel Hill, Halifax Churches completed in 1899 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Canada Churches in Halifax, Nova Scotia Roman Catholic cathedrals in Canada Roman Catholic churches in Nova Scotia Gothic Revival architecture in Halifax, Nova Scotia Gothic Revival church buildings in Canada Basilica churches in Canada

History

Cemetery

See also

References

External links