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Saint Patrick’s Basilica in Montreal, Canada, is a Roman Catholic church with particular ties to the Irish community, who began immigrating to Montreal to escape famine in their homeland.
It’s more than 170 years old, with constructing starting in 1843 and the first services held in 1847.
The basilica is in the gothic revival style, and it measures 233 feet long by 105 feet wide. The steeple reaches 226 feet.
The interior is ornamented with French fleur de lys and Irish shamrocks. The 82-foot tall columns were each carved from a single great white oak, and then encased in marble. There are four rosette windows, and the pipe organ dates to 1895.
As modern buildings grew around it and the city expanded, the basilica wound up facing backwards, with the entrance at the opposite end from the street! The cover photo to this post shows the “street side” of the church, with no entrance!
