The other grand house of worship in Washington is the National Cathedral located in upper Northwest D.C not far from Georgetown University.  Although this church claims to be a "non-denominational Protestant church", it is the seat of the Episcopal Bishop of the United States and has Episcopal / Anglican services on Sundays.  It's official moniker is The Cathedral of St. Peter & St. Paul...but everyone around here commonly refers to it as the Washington National Cathedral.

 

 

The day I arrived the sky was kind of dreary that morning, which accounts for the dull sky in the above photo.  Even so, I think it turned out pretty good and gives you a pretty good idea of how majestic and grandiose the outer structure is.  The building began construction in 1907 on Mount Saint Alban (an elevation that overlooks the city of Washington) and the foundation was laid by then President Theodore Roosevelt.  It took eighty three years to complete, as the church was constructed using European-style medieval architecture and technology.  It was finally completed in 1990 and the last finial was placed by President George H.W. Bush in September of that year.  Here's a shot of it later in the afternoon (better sky) and from the rear - with the cars in the foreground, you can get a better idea it's imposing size and beauty...

 

 

 

Walking through the front doors, nothing (including these pictures) can quite prepare you for what you will encounter in the main sanctuary.  As the Catholic Basilica stresses mosaic art, the Cathedral is all about stained glass.  There are two hundred and fifteen (215) stained glass windows in the Cathedral and each of them as gorgeous as the next.

 

 

The pride and joy of the Cathedral is the West rose window which overlooks the main entrance.  There are three rose (circular) windows in the cathedral, each above the three entrances into the main sanctuary.  This particular window is named "Creation" and it has 10,500 peices of stained glass...and although it has the most peices of glass, it is not the largest rose window.  But it is the most gorgeous...it even changes color at different times of the day as the angle of the sun hits it differently.  The other two rose windows are named Church Triumphant and Last Judgement, Last Judgement being the largest with a diameter of 26 feet (7.925 meters). 

 

 

The Congress of the United States designated the Cathedral as the "national house of prayer", but it receives no public funding (it operates and maintains itself totally through donations and private grants).  There has been three state funerals for American Presidents there:  Dwight Eisenhower in 1969, Ronald Reagan in 2004 and Gerald Ford just this past January.  President Woodrow Wilson is actually entombed (along with a handful of other great Americans) within the columbarium.

 

This church is just one of the most beautiful churches in the world, and if you are ever in the Washington area I would encourage anyone to visit this lesser known jewel of D.C..  There's just not enough room in this blog to show you everything, but I added the rest of my photos to the album to the left of this entry.

 

 

I have an affinity for taking photos of churches.  There are two grand churches here in Washington D.C. and I've taken pictures of them before, but not with my new SLR.  During the month of April, I packed my new Canon camera and tripod and headed downtown for a few days of photographic bliss.  The first photos I have here are from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  This beautiful structure is located on the campus of Catholic University of the USA and is the seat of the National Capital Diocese of Washington for the Catholic Church.  Some more examples are in the photo album in the upper right of this blog.