St
Mary's Cathedral is the largest Roman
Catholic church in Australia (and reputedly
the Southern Hemisphere). Of a similar
scale, but not quite as long, is William
Wardell's other great neo-gothic church,
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. So
large are they that Sydney and Melbourne
share the honour with New York of being
home to the largest cathedrals of the
19th Century in the world. Of course,
there are several larger 20th Century
ones, including the Episcopalian cathedrals
of New York and Washington, and Liverpool
Cathedral, UK. St Mary's Cathedral is
the seat of Australia's only resident
Cardinal, George Pell (Cardinal Cassidy
being nonresident), and holds the title
and dignity of a Minor Basilica, 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.
Looking up from the east Aisle one can
see the two types of vault used in the
Cathedral the wooden fan type vault is
used in the north (right). The Bell tower
sits on top of the four columns.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.
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