St Patrick’s Cathedral is a catholic church of Saint Patrick in United States which is greatly festooned by various arts and sculptures. Even though there are many other churches it is the most gorgeous church in that city. Cathedrals are significant attractions of structural design as well as construction skills along with the aspects of faith and belief. They always explain about the past of the places where they are situated and the circumstances and substances prevailed at the time of their construction. The arts and crafts done as well as the structure of graves and the accessories made all add to the information about the systems prevailed at the time of making of those cathedrals.
The St. Patrick’s Cathedral is built in the traditional style and form which is the church of Romans who are very orthodox. The structure of this church is entirely different from other churches. One of the main things which make it different from other churches is that it has a tall and broad tower and huge auditorium where many people can assemble at a time for prayer. It is the highest wooden building. Costly and precious materials are used for building this church. The roof of the church is metal with attractive architectural works which also protect from extreme storm and rain. The windows are arch shaped which are painted with variety of colours; moreover, stainless glass is used.
This church is the home of devotion. It is a place for Christian worship and people from different countries visit here to see its beauty and for praying. There are various paintings, statues and other art works of many famous artists. The museum in the church consists of old sculptures and now it is the place of numerous national ceremonies. Many momentous partying is conducted here and people from other countries also take part in these celebrations. At first, the St. Patrick’s Cathedral was open only for Christians for worship; but now people belonging to every religion visit this church.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral is a catholic church situated nearer to Rockefeller Centre in New York City. Cathedral Church is the heart of the diocese, a symbol of trust, a connection of spiritual union, an observable defy to the people of God in that society to provide precedence in their life to the ethics. It is the local Bishop’s own cathedral and it is considered as the church of people who trusted in God. Saint Patrick was born in Britain, his life was completely devotional and as a priest his aim was to translate Irish people to Christians.
His approach was exceptional because he used conventional Irish custom to present the Christians in front of the humanity and he tried to eliminate the resident conviction. Currently, March 17 is a national holiday in Ireland because this day is considered as a religious feast day. In this day, all the religious believers are dressed in green. He tried to develop spirituality among the people. He tried to compare Christian’s belief in different areas of Ireland.
He was successful in the area with the help and support of his friends, such as, the ethnic leaders, to translate Irish people to Christianity. Then he turned out to be an Apostle to the Irish. He also super imposed a sun, an influential Irish sign, on the Christian cross to make what is currently entitled as Celtic cross, so that adoration of the symbol would appear more natural to the Irish people. A cathedral is a place to realize the presence of god; from there we get mental peace through prayers. “St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the largest decorated Neo-Gothic-style Catholic cathedral in North America. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and a parish church” (St. Patrick’s Cathedral (RC), para.1).
When construction started, the Cathedral was situated nearer to the town. When construction progressed, the place where the St. Patrick’s cathedral was situated started to become a city. “The Cathedral’s Gothic Revival design is based on French models. Somewhat generic in its form, it lacks the quaint flavour of Grace and Trinity Churches and the mysterious grandeur of St. John the Divine. A Lady Chapel, added to the Madison Avenue side of the Cathedral in 1906, is more impressive than the rest of the edifice” (St. Patrick’s Cathedral (RC): St. Patrick’s in Popular Culture: Notes).
The architecture is mainly based on a geometrical style, and its plan is unique. The Cathedral has got an important place in history because of its mode of design, the types of materials used, and the amount of materials used, its attractiveness and the ability of the Americans to build such an amazing cathedral. It shows how much talent is there among the Americans to build such remarkable Cathedral which has an important place in the minds of people.
The atmosphere around the church itself gives relief to the people who are suffering from a lot of problems in their life. St. Patrick Cathedral was a great success in the form of utilizing the flair of man and the natural resources together. St. Patrick’s Cathedral’s architecture is a milestone, because it shows how much talent is there within a human being to design and build such a wonderful Cathedral. ” Now, as in the Middle Ages, the cathedral is the tower of gifts from men on earth designed to reach far above the earth both physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in order to with and to receive from the power of the superior Being” (Franz, para.9).
As said above, this church is one of the largest wooden buildings with variety of arts and craft works. It is also built in the way to resist all natural calamities. The metal mainly used was copper because of the normal colour and lustre it provides. The ultimate appearance after the work and the robustness exhibited by the metal made it to the usage in the construction. Also the copper metal once used can be reused in any required cases which give a longer life than other metals. “Today, copper remains a superior building material, adapted and utilized for a wide variety of contemporary and cutting edge applications” (Copper in Architecture Awards, para.1).
As it is made up of copper, still it looks like new church with brightening effect. There is also a wonderful garden for this church and within the garden there is an amazing peace fountain statue and this is meant for the success of good more than sin, and oppose against violent behaviour and deal. The inspiring architecture of the St. Patrick’s Cathedral is nowadays considered as the centre of leading the religious life and it became the very important part of people for receiving a peaceful living.
Even though the design of this church is very old fashioned, still the people are making an attempt to maintain all these sculptures. The idols are covered with gold, so the exude of the gold spreads everywhere in the church which is making it more attractive. The symbolic of this church is meant for devotion and unity. Further, the people believe that if they worship god, the god will give importance to the people who are belonging to the Christian community. This church is controlled by Bishop who has the official power to control and lead the church. As the years passed, newer cultures began to flourish which then slowly entrenched into the American civilization.
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries showed the development of various types structural design techniques in Europe which influenced the construction style in America. “Immediately upon arriving in the New World, the immigrants began using the architectural styles used in the cultures from whence they came” (Powell, para.1). The gothic style of architecture is one of the best architecture which is in classical mode. As the Romans liked the traditional style they mainly made to do this type of art in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
There is also contribution of people from many other countries to build this church; so people from all these nations visit here as they feel it is also their own church. As the climate of this place is always wintry, it feels that the church is freezing due to heavy cold. Both the interior and exterior portions of St. Patrick’s Cathedral are highly decorated with gorgeous materials and for this many resources are imported from different countries in order to make the church more impressive and attractive. Some parts of this church are rebuilt; and even though reconstructed they did not demolish any of the art and other architectural works. Moreover, they maintained the traditional style while reconstructing. Even now, this church maintains the same beauty and attraction which were there when it was constructed.
Works Cited
Copper in Architecture Awards. Copper.: The Ultimate Source for Information on Copper and Copper Alloys. 2009. Web.
Franz, Marcus. St. Patrick’s Cathedral: New York: The architecture and Its Effects. Medieval New York. 1997. Web.
Powell, Carrie Ann. The Gothic Revival’s Survival in the United States: Introduction. 1995. Web.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral (RC). New York Architecture Images: Midtown. 2009. Web.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral (RC): St. Patrick’s in Popular Culture: Notes. New York Architecture Images: Midtown. 2009. Web.