Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

Today's adventure included the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. I had never been there, but Brian had when he came for his high school choir tour in 2001. It has been on our NYC Bucket List for awhile, so we decided that today was the day. Getting there was quite the hassle though. The main 7 subway line that goes from Queens to Manhattan was closed part way because of construction. So, we had to do a little bit of train hopping and lots of waiting because there were tons of delays. Blah! It was frustrating and took us forever to get where we needed to be, but the trip was well worth it.

On the way to the Cathedral we passed by the diner from "Seinfeld" that was called Monk's Cafe. It is actually called Tom's Restaurant and is located on the corner of 112th St and Broadway. Kind of exciting.

We turned right at that corner and walked down a few blocks to see the Cathedral. It was so amazing. I couldn't believe how BIG it was. The exterior was gorgeous. This was definitely a jaw dropping moment for me.

This Cathedral apparently competes with the Liverpool Cathedral for the title of largest cathedral in the world. It is the fourth largest christian church in the world. Construction of the Cathedral began in 1892. The entire building was first opened up in 1941. Construction/renovation was performed intermittently on the Cathedral from 1941 to 1997.

A more up close view. I absolutely loved the design of the large circular stained glass window.

The front doors are bronze. Each panel on both doors depict scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

The stained glass windows were so beautiful with the sun shining through them. The colors, pictures and designs of each window were so intricate. It's hard to fathom that someone actually made those by hand! This is the interior view of the large circular window on the front of the building. This is called the Rose Window.

The ceilings were so tall. I knew that they would be after seeing just how large the building was on the outside. It was still hard to grasp the space and height of the interior. I loved the Gothic style arches.

The walls on either side of the building are covered with rows of colorful stained glass windows. It was so pretty. I'm so glad it was a sunny day so we could get the full effect.

This is a picture of Brian with the Rose Window in the background. You can see how big the interior was. We are about halfway down the length of the room looking back toward the entrance. You can really see the design of the windows.

A very intricately carved pulpit. Sure is a lot different than the pulpit in an LDS Church building.

This is a view of the apse containing the altar.

Here is a view of the back end of the Cathedral where we entered. We are at the front near the altar. I still can't get over how huge it was.

One of many symbols inscribed in the floor throughout the Cathedral.

We turned back for one last look of the interior before we left and we saw the colors of the stained glass reflected on the stone arches along the length of the building. It was beautiful.

We wandered around the grounds around the Cathedral a little before we left. There was a garden and a large statue. After reading the plaque near the statue we figured out that it was called the Peace Statue. The winged figure represents peace who has overcome evil which is represented by the slain Devil at the feet of the winged figure. Everything else on the statue also has a symbolic meaning, but I don't remember much else.

Visiting the Cathedral was definitely worth our time. It is such a beautiful building and one that I'm glad I got to visit while here in New York.