Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis

Step inside the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and almost every surface glows: domes, arches, pendentives and chapels are covered in mosaic, about 83,000 square feet of it, made of some 41.5 million pieces of glass in more than 7,000 colours. It is regarded as the largest mosaic collection in the world. The work began in 1912 and was finished only in 1988, so the walls record most of a century of changing taste, from Tiffany Studios' work in the side chapels and sanctuary to the main areas designed by August Oetken and the great central dome by Jan Henryk de Rosen, with its Old and New Testament scenes.

The cathedral, sometimes called the New Cathedral, replaced the old Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, on the Mississippi riverfront. Plans went back to the 1870s, but building started only under Archbishop John J. Glennon. The St. Louis firm Barnett, Haynes & Barnett, with Thomas P. Barnett leading the design, produced a building that is Romanesque Revival outside and Neo-Byzantine within. Ground was broken in 1907, the cornerstone was laid in 1908, the first Mass was said in 1914 and the church was consecrated in 1926. Pope John Paul II named it a minor basilica in 1997.

The mosaic programme tells a story of its own. The narthex depicts the life of King Louis IX of France, namesake of both city and church; the rear dome shows episodes from the history of the archdiocese; Paul Heuduck and his son Arno spent almost their entire working lives on the mosaics. Beneath the church, a museum explains how they were made and keeps the original Kilgen organ console, and a crypt chapel holds the tombs of Cardinals Glennon, Ritter and Carberry. The cathedral also claims a curious first: on Christmas 1922 a Mass was broadcast by radio from here, the first known anywhere.

St. Louis grew up on the Mississippi just below its confluence with the Missouri, as a French fur-trading post founded in 1764, and its Catholic roots go back to those first settlers. The cathedral stands in the Central West End, a district of boulevards and grand houses near Forest Park.

Getting there

The cathedral is on Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End of St. Louis, Missouri, west of downtown. St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) is about 15 km away.