Qualla: Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar

Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Shaw, CC BY-SA 2.0. Look closely at the mosaic of Saint Anne in the Cathedral of Christ the King, and you may notice that her name is spelled wrong. Or rather, spelled differently — "Anna" rather than "Anne," the Russian form rather than the English. There is a reason. The face of the saint, gazing down at pilgrims in a quiet provincial town in the Irish midlands, is the face of the poet Anna Akhmatova, a woman the artist had loved during the First World War, lost to the Bolshevik Revolution, and never spoken to again. He smuggled her into a Mullingar chapel because it was the only place left where he could.

Image: Brian Shaw | CC BY-SA 2.0

Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar: The Pope's Particular Request

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeanne dArc, CC BY-SA 3.0. Planning began in 1920 to replace the older Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. By 1933, Bishop Thomas Mulvany was laying the foundation stone of something altogether grander: a basilica-form cathedral in Renaissance Revival style, designed by William Byrne & Sons of Dublin, ...

Image: Jeanne dArc | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar: Boris Anrep and the Russian Past

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gavigan 01 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The mosaics in the side chapels were the work of Boris Anrep, a Russian-born artist who had become one of Europe's foremost mosaicists. His work covers the floors of the National Gallery in London and the chapels of Westminster Cathedral. In Mullingar he was given two chapels: on...

Image: Gavigan 01 at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar: The Face in the Other Chapel

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeanne dArc at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5. The Saint Anne mosaic is something else. Anrep had met Anna Akhmatova in Saint Petersburg before the First World War, and during the war they had a brief, intense affair. He left Russia just before the Bolsheviks took power. She stayed, became one of the great poets of the twenti...

Image: Jeanne dArc at English Wikipedia | CC BY 2.5

Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar: Quiet Faith in a Cathedral Town

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sarah777 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Today the cathedral still dominates Mullingar's skyline beside the Royal Canal, those twin towers visible from kilometres out across the lowland Westmeath countryside. The seating capacity is rarely tested any more — Ireland's vocations crisis and the long erosion of regular Mass...

Image: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar: Where to Find Her

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MarkusMark, CC BY-SA 3.0. Visitors come down Mary Street and find the cathedral set back from the road behind a small forecourt. Inside, the nave is high and bright, the granite walls catching the light from the clerestory windows. The Saint Anne chapel is to one side, modest in scale, easy to miss. Stand...

Image: MarkusMark | CC BY-SA 3.0