The Great Canadian churches thread - Page 11

J.OT13 · #**201** Posted **Apr 9, 2016, 12:06 AM**

Some nice churches in this country, but I think it's safe to say Montréal wins by a mile.

Here are some decent entries from our Nation's Capital:

Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica in the ByWard Market, main section completed in 1846 with the gothic spires added in 1866.

https://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/trip...009b-18b2-ddec

https://www.expedia.ca/Notre-Dame-Ca...ion-Attraction

Christ Church Cathedral, on the Escarpment west of the CBD

http://www.ottawa.anglican.ca/cathed...ning_CCCO.html
http://larrymuffin.blogspot.ca/2012/...st-church.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ...hedral_(Ottawa)

First Baptist Church, on Elgin Street

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_...Church_(Ottawa)

St-Patrick's Basilica, just south of the CBD

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blix613/3046459336

http://wikimapia.org/1692315/St-Andr...yterian-Church

http://www.basilica.org/

Rideau Chapel. This was the interior of a chapel within a convent on Rideau Street demolished in the 1970s. It was rebuilt (the interior) within the National Gallery of Canada in 1988.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bencit...er/19878959376

Martin Mtl · #**202** Posted **Apr 9, 2016, 1:07 AM**

/\ Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Martin Mtl · #**203** Posted **May 3, 2016, 2:37 AM**

Église Saint-Pierre-Apôtre, Montréal (1851)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...569961/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...928242/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...353574/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...351304/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...923296/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...914666/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...487291/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...772763/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135955...466191/sizes/l

MolsonExport · #**204** Posted **May 3, 2016, 1:35 PM**

I am still reeling by how many beautiful churches there are in my beloved hometown...most of which I haven't set foot inside (yet, when I am in Europe, I always check out the Gothic, Romanesque and other style churches)

bobi · #**205** Posted **May 6, 2016, 5:41 AM**

Fabulous thread... Not sure if anything has been posted about Basilique Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré (located some 20 minutes north-east of Québec City), I may have skipped a few pages, but in all event and from the awesome Facebook page of Photos du Québec :

All from : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Basil...86621891368007

esquire · #**206** Posted **May 10, 2016, 3:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I am still reeling by how many beautiful churches there are in my beloved hometown...most of which I haven't set foot inside (yet, when I am in Europe, I always check out the Gothic, Romanesque and other style churches)

This thread has really driven home what a priceless collection Montreal has... yet the only ones that really register on the tourist radar are Notre Dame and to perhaps a slightly lesser extent, the Oratory.

Barnes · #**207** Posted **May 10, 2016, 6:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy6

The interior of St. Mark's, Hardisty (Alberta), decked out for the wedding of the recipient in 1914:

My Grandparents would have been married here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

No it definitely had a paint job. It was stained-wood brown, as I recall, in my younger days. I worked at the nearby McShitties for years (back in the 80s)...we would get monumental "church rushes" every time mass let out.

I remember it more brown too. Split my church time between St Edmunds and St. Thomas A Becket.

Church side (left) was almost burned down sometime in the 80's. The crucified Jesus that hung over the alter was left all burnt after the interior was rebuilt.

Fascinating thread!

Rico Rommheim · #**208** Posted **May 10, 2016, 6:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

Tyet the only ones that really register on the tourist radar are Notre Dame and to perhaps a slightly lesser extent, the Oratory.

St-Joseph Oratory should be a monument known on a national scale, it's a fantastically massive temple unlike anything else in this country. It's sorely underrated building, even here in Montreal.

esquire · #**209** Posted **May 10, 2016, 6:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

St-Joseph Oratory should be a monument known on a national scale, it's a fantastically massive temple unlike anything else in this country. It's sorely underrated building, even here in Montreal.

I agree totally, I was blown away when I visited it.

I think location matters greatly when it comes to churches... I was in Brussels recently and the standard tourist itinerary includes the beautiful Sainte Gudule in the centre of the city:

Brussels
Sainte Gudule
Source: trekearth.com

Yet on a bus tour to Ghent and Bruges, the bus passed by this admittedly much more modern yet still spectacular church, the Basilique Nationale du Sacré Coeur out in the northern inner suburbs, apparently the fifth largest church in the world:

Brussels
Basilique Nationale du Sacré Coeur
Source:inzumi.com

Unfortunately it was too late in my visit to make time to go and visit it, but I hadn't heard of it and I never would have known about it had I not passed by. I suspect that it's the same thing in Montreal... everyone passes by Notre Dame and drops in for a look, but probably few know about Saint Joseph's Oratory, much less go out of their way to see it.

kwoldtimer · #**210** Posted **May 10, 2016, 7:33 PM**

The Oratoire is impressive, but the whole "Miracle Mart" side of the experience weirds me out.

Martin Mtl · #**211** Posted **Jun 4, 2016, 3:27 PM**

Église Sacré-Coeur de Jésus (Montréal)

By une_olive on Instagram

someone123 · #**212** Posted **Jun 5, 2016, 6:06 AM**

Here's a church in St. Bernard, NS. I thought it was pretty interesting because it's much larger and nicer than what you'd expect for that area. It is essentially a small township consisting of a few villages and winding rural roads west of Digby, which is itself just a small town.

Source

Not too far away, Ste-Marie Church is another nice one, supposedly one of the largest wooden churches in the world (its spire is 56 m tall):

Cheticamp (population ~3,000, which I think must generously include surrounding areas) has a nice one too, which fits the pattern of elaborate Catholic churches, particularly in traditionally French-speaking areas. This one looks kind of like it could be in Quebec, but it is in Nova Scotia:

Source

That being said there are some nice ones outside of Acadian areas too. Here's a striking one in Amherst. Amherst is an actual town of about 10,000 people though (it was also a town of ~10,000 in 1911) and, back when these churches were being built, probably would have seemed to be overflowing with riches compared to an area like St. Bernard. In predominantly English-speaking parts of the province the churches are mostly built on the scale of any other important public or commercial building, or are often smaller. In the French-speaking areas they tend to tower over everything else.

Source

kwoldtimer · #**213** Posted **Jun 5, 2016, 2:02 PM**

It would be useful, where it is not obvious, to indicate the denomination of churches shown.

White Pine · #**214** Posted **Jun 5, 2016, 3:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

I understand... I was talking about Catholic churches!

Here is Winnipeg's English-language Roman Catholic cathedral, St. Mary's, located downtown right by MTS Centre. It's one of Winnipeg's three Catholic cathedrals (with one being the seat of the French-language Archdiocese of St. Boniface, and the other being Ukrainian Catholic). Wikipedia says it was built in 1880 and significantly updated in 1896, although I'm not sure what that update entailed.

Anyway, the interior is fairly plain jane as far as Catholic cathedrals go. Of course, it was built at a time when Winnipeg was barely removed from frontier town status. There would have been about 7 to 8 thousand people living here when the cathedral was built.

source:flickr

Here's the exterior:

source: Andy6 (SSP), aka wintorbos on flickr

As nice as it is to have such an old church by Winnipeg standards remain as well-maintained as it is today, I have to admit I wish it would have been replaced by something grandiose from the boom period that peaked around 1912. I'm sure Winnipeg could have ended up with something Montreal-like in scale!

I'd wager that the majority of Winnipeg's mainstream Christian houses of worship (e.g. not including JWs, Mormons, various evangelical branches) would date back to the 1900-1940 period, but that's partly because Winnipeg's biggest boom was during that period. Not all that many buildings from before the turn of the 20th century are still around.

It also could be that it was more ornate until the 60s. A lot of old Catholic churches went through major renos after Vatican II that tore out the old altars and a lot of the decorative stuff. As it is, you can tell that this one didb't look that way in the 1800s. The altar and tabernacle would have been where the Bishop's chair is now. It's possible that there was more painting and such back in the day.

White Pine · #**215** Posted **Jun 5, 2016, 3:45 PM**

Ok, just did some research, it actually on the whole doesn't look a whole lot different, but for reference here is an older picture:

And in case that didn't work, here's a link:

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/imag...cathedral2.jpg

White Pine · #**216** Posted **Jun 5, 2016, 3:57 PM**

Here is Pembroke's Cathedral (All churches pictured are Catholic, because I'm a catholic nerd):

And St Alphonsus de Ligouri, in the town of Chapeau, Que.

Andy6 · #**217** Posted **Jun 5, 2016, 4:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by White Pine

It also could be that it was more ornate until the 60s. A lot of old Catholic churches went through major renos after Vatican II that tore out the old altars and a lot of the decorative stuff. As it is, you can tell that this one didb't look that way in the 1800s. The altar and tabernacle would have been where the Bishop's chair is now. It's possible that there was more painting and such back in the day.

Also this would have been an Anglo-Catholic church of sophisticated parishioners who included the Catholic part of the business elite, looking to fit into the highly multicultural and multidenominational world of late Victorian Winnipeg. The gaudiness of the Catholic churches of Quebec would have been the last thing they wanted to replicate in that environment. They would have wanted their version of Holy Trinity, the Anglican church around the corner, and that is what St. Mary's delivered (if somewhat awkwardly). You likely wouldn't find many massive, lavishly ornamented French-Canadian style Catholic churches in comparable cities stateside - like Minneapolis, Kansas City or Chicago - either. For that matter, even St. Boniface Basilica seems to me to have been relatively restrained by Quebec standards.