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The Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis, MN

Photo: August Schwerdfeger, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

SightseeingHistory Buff

The Basilica of Saint Mary

See the granite Beaux-Arts front of America's first basilica on Hennepin Avenue, now under restoration with its upstairs nave closed.

1600 Hennepin Ave · Minneapolis, MN

About The Basilica of Saint Mary

The Basilica of Saint Mary on Hennepin Avenue was designed by Emmanuel Louis Masqueray in the Beaux-Arts style and dedicated in 1913, and in 1926 it became the first basilica in the United States. Its white Vermont granite walls stand beside two 116-foot spires, and its dome rises 138 feet above the sanctuary floor. During the current restoration the upstairs nave and its 82-foot barrel vault are closed to the public, tours are suspended, and Mass is held in the lower-level hall.

  • #basilica
  • #historic church
  • #architecture
  • #stained glass

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