Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral

Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral stands at 1085 Rue de la Cathédrale in downtown Montreal, Quebec, near Place Ville Marie and Gare Centrale. Bishop Ignace Bourget commissioned it after the great fire of 1852 destroyed his earlier cathedral in the east end, and he chose a site in the then largely Protestant west end to assert the Catholic Church's presence in the growing commercial centre. Construction ran from 1875 to 1894, and the design was modelled on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome at a smaller scale, reflecting the strong ties between Quebec Catholicism and the papacy in the 19th century, a stance often called ultramontanism. The exterior has a Neo-Baroque facade with a Corinthian portico and a copper dome, and statues of patron saints of the parishes of the diocese line the roofline. Inside, the nave is lit from the dome, and a bronze baldachin above the main altar, based on Bernini's canopy at St. Peter's, stands under the crossing. Paintings and decorative work illustrate episodes from the history of Montreal's Catholic community, and a chapel holds the funerary monuments of the city's bishops. The cathedral is a National Historic Site and has been conserved through periodic restoration of its masonry, roof, and interior decoration; the surrounding skyscrapers now make its form stand out as a contrast to the modern district. Visiting is mainly self-guided, and the building functions as a working cathedral, so services take priority over sightseeing. The space is compact and a visit takes about 30 minutes. It is a short walk from Christ Church Cathedral and from the Underground City.