Qualla: Baltimore Basilica https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/x/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Baltimore Basilica https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary Baltimore Basilica: Introduction https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/ Photo credit The original uploader was Basilica1 at English Wikipedia., Public domain. The two men who designed the Baltimore Basilica had also designed the United States Capitol. Benjamin Henry Latrobe was the country's first professionally trained architect - born in England, educated in Saxony, trained as a draftsman before he ever sailed for America. Thomas Jefferson, who supervised much of the Capitol's work and considered architecture a calling as much as a hobby, was Latrobe's friend, patron, and occasional design collaborator. When Latrobe began designs in 1804 for a Catholic cathedral in Baltimore - the first major Catholic cathedral built in the United States after the founding - Jefferson suggested replacing the planned masonry dome with a wooden double-shell dome inspired by the work of French master builder Philibert Delorme. The change saved structural weight, allowed for twenty-four half-visible skylights to flood the interior with daylight, and gave the building its singular quality: a Catholic church that feels, inside, almost Quaker in its bright simplicity.

Read more: Baltimore Basilica on Qualla

Image: The original uploader was Basilica1 at English Wikipedia. | Public domain

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/x/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-wp/dqcx-baltimore-basilica-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Baltimore Basilica: John Carroll's Cathedral https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Catholic Church in the newly independent United States was in a complicated position. Until the Revolution, English colonial law had severely restricted Catholic worship in most American colonies. Maryland, founded as a Catholic-friendly colony by the Calverts in 1634, had be...

Read more: Baltimore Basilica on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/x/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-wp/dqcx-baltimore-basilica-john-carrolls-cathedral.mp3 0:06 2 full Baltimore Basilica: Latrobe's Light-Filled Interior https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/ Photo credit MarkusMark, CC BY-SA 3.0. Latrobe drew the cathedral as a Latin cross with a massive dome at the crossing, surrounded by a sophisticated system of barrel vaults and shallow, saucer-like secondary domes. The plan creates an unusual centralizing effect inside - what looks from the street like a long oblong ...

Read more: Baltimore Basilica on Qualla

Image: MarkusMark | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/x/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-wp/dqcx-baltimore-basilica-latrobes-light-filled-interior.mp3 0:06 3 full Baltimore Basilica: The First American Catholic Center https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/ Photo credit Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0. Through the 19th century, the basilica was the center of American Catholic ecclesiastical life. Seven Provincial Councils and three Plenary Councils met there - the gatherings of American bishops that shaped how the Catholic Church would organize itself across the expanding count...

Read more: Baltimore Basilica on Qualla

Image: Farragutful | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/x/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-wp/dqcx-baltimore-basilica-the-first-american-catholic-center.mp3 0:06 4 full Baltimore Basilica: Restoration https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/ Photo credit Junglerot56, Public domain. By the late 20th century the basilica had accumulated, in the words of the eventual restoration architects, many misguided accretions. The original wall colors - pale yellow, blue, and rose - had been painted over. The light-colored marble flooring had been replaced with dark gre...

Read more: Baltimore Basilica on Qualla

Image: Junglerot56 | Public domain

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/x/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-wp/dqcx-baltimore-basilica-restoration.mp3 0:06 5 full Baltimore Basilica: Earthquakes and Permanence https://qualla.com/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/ Photo credit en:User:Steelplug, Public domain. On August 23, 2011, the magnitude 5.8 earthquake centered in Virginia that closed the Washington Monument also sent nearly 1,000 linear feet of cracks through the basilica's ceilings and walls. A seven-month, $3 million restoration was completed on Easter Sunday 2012. The basilic...

Read more: Baltimore Basilica on Qualla

Image: en:User:Steelplug | Public domain

]]> Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/c/x/basilica-of-the-national-shrine-of-the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-wp/dqcx-baltimore-basilica-earthquakes-and-permanence.mp3 0:06 6 full