St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny

The Saint Mary's Cathedral of Kilkenny (Irish Ard- Eaglais Mhuire, English: St. Mary's Cathedral or full name: Cathedral Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) is the bishop's church of the Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Ossory, which in their seat Kilkenny has. The foundation stone was laid on 18 August 1843 and on 4 October 1857 the inauguration.

Geographical location

The Saint Mary's Cathedral stands on the highest elevation in Kilkenny over the second highest hill on which the Dating back to the 13th century St. Canice's Cathedral stands, which belongs since the Reformation to the Church of Ireland. The location of Saint Mary's Cathedral was in the Middle Ages outside the city walls. In the 18th century stood here just outside of Saint James Gate also a chapel dedicated to Mary, are still preserved of the parts today.

History

The foundation stone was laid by Bishop William Kinsella ( term 1829-1845 ) on 18 August 1843. Cathedral was under the direction of architect William Deane Butler ( † 1857) built in a comparatively hard and edgy neo-Gothic style using local gray limestone. From the outside the building is dominated by the exceptionally high tower, whose height is even accentuated by the location of the cathedral at the highest elevation. The cathedral is on all sides of the city a distinctive point of view. The height of the tower was also criticized in contemporary commentaries. One explanation for the disparity between the level of the tower and the length of the nave could be the shortening of the nave by an arcade.

1845, when Kinsella died, the walls were only two meters high. His successor Edward Walsh ( term 1846-1872 ) continued the work, even during the devastating famine in Ireland. On 4 October 1857, the cathedral was consecrated by him, where relics of the holy twin brothers Cosmas and Damian were placed under the high altar. The construction costs amounted to a total of 25,000 pounds.

Although after the dedication services were held already, were still several internal work to do. For example, the organ was installed in 1866. End of the 19th century the Sacred Heart altar consecrated by James Pearse, father of Patrick Pearse was constructed. James Pearse was then considered one of the best Irish sculptors.

Architecture

The church has a Latin cross plan with a choir on the west side, the nave on the east side and two transepts, north and south of the crossing. The main ship is equipped with two side aisles, which are separated with five arcades. The ratio between the relatively small width of the nave and the generously sized amount similar to that of Saint - Fir -Barre 's Cathedral in Cork. The very large east window was obscured by the installation of the organ part.

The choir has the form of an apse with nine windows at the top, pointing to the north, west and south, and three smaller windows below, which open to the west. The stained glass windows were made by Early & Powell, the decorated with patterns choir vault was painted by West Lake from London. The ground provided by Bourke from London with mosaics showing the emblems of the four evangelists.