St. Patrick's Cathedral and More

We took a taxi from the National September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan to St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan, located on the east side of Fifth Avenue at 50th Street.

Visiting the cathedral was high on my list, along with five million other people who visit the cathedral every year - 1.5 million more than the Empire State Building.  It was made a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

The iconic New York City landmark is the largest Neo-Gothic Revival style Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States.  It was named for St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.  By 1880, 2.8 million Irish immigrants lived in NYC.

We went in time for their Saturday 5:30 p.m. mass.

The cathedral is 332 feet long and 174 feet wide with 35 columns, and seats 3,000 people.  It has 21 altars and more than 2,800 glass panels including the 26 foot wide Rose Window that faces Fifth Avenue.  The interior is beautiful.  A wedding ceremony was just finishing when we first entered the cathedral. 

~ One of the side altars ~

~ Main interior door that exits out onto Fifth Avenue ~

The building is made of brick and covered with marble. The spires rise 330 feet above street level and the roof is made of slate from Maine.  The cornerstone was laid in 1858 and took 21 years to build.  It opened for worship on May 25, 1879.  At that time it was the largest church in the United States.  

Directly across the street from the cathedral is Rockefeller Center, and Lee Lawrie's bronze statue of Atlas.

We had 6:30 p.m. reservations at the Russian Tea Room on west 57th street, so we made our way through Rockefeller Center on foot. They were busy setting up for a big gathering of some sort, and we passed several heavily armed policemen. We were happy to be quickly passing through!  ;-)

We passed Radio City Music Hall on Sixth Avenue.  No tickets to see the Rockettes on this visit, but we have seen them perform before.  They're amazing.

We were glad our son, Steve, knew his way around New York City.  He led and we followed! Finally we arrived at the Russian Tea Room on 57th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue. Tomorrow's post...