Magdalene Cathedral in Salt Lake City is a Catholic church in Utah, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. This is the only church in America under the patronage of St. Mary Magdalene. It is open to the public, and on Sunday evenings there are free organ concerts.
History of creation
The initiative to open the church belongs to the first Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Lawrence Scanlan. Mary Magdalene Memorial Day is celebrated on July 22, and Pioneer Day is celebrated on July 24, when Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. The city considered it important that Catholics had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday along with the dominant faith in the area.
In the last century, there was a need to open a spacious church, the Magdalene Cathedral in Salt Lake City began to be built with the participation of the American cardinal, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in the USA, James Gibbons in 1900. In total, the work took 9 years. The religious building was designed by architects Karl Martel Neuhausen and Bernard Mecklenburg, the object does not look like typical buildings in Utah.
Short description
The Magdalene Cathedral in Salt Lake City was built of sandstone in a combination of 2 architectural styles: the exterior of the building is decorated mainly in the neo-Romanesque style, inside there are more neo-Gothic details. In the center of the building, a large window with multicolored stained glass is visible from afar. The church has 3 elongated naves, 2 chapels, which were completed only by 1918, and a tower with 4 bells. The main facade is surrounded by sculptures of gargoyles, which were an integral part of Gothic architecture. They decorated the facades of cathedrals, such as Notre Dame in Paris of the XII–XIII centuries. They were also used as a gutter, but in Salt Lake City, the water from the stone creatures does not drain, they are decorative in nature.
Information about the cathedral
Inside the Magdalene Cathedral in Salt Lake City, you can see frescoes decorated with medieval motifs and Byzantine ornaments. The frescoes on the east side depict Joan of Arc and John the Baptist, while images from the Old Testament are immortalized on the western walls. In the transept there is a scene where Mary Magdalene washes the feet of Jesus Christ with her hair.
In 1970, repairs were carried out in this place due to changes in liturgical practice adopted by the Second Vatican Council. During the work, the altar was rebuilt, the tabernacle and the bishop's pulpit were moved. The next time the renovation was in the 1990s, the workers tried to preserve the original appearance of the building.
A choral singing school has been opened at the Magdalene Cathedral in Salt Lake City, and concerts are organized here. The Magdalene Festival is held once a year with choral performances. In 1992, an organ with more than 4,000 pipes was installed in the cathedral. An organ concert starts here at 8 p.m. on Sundays, and admission is free for everyone. Both residents of Utah and tourists from other countries come here.
How to get
Magdalene Cathedral in Salt Lake City is located in the center, it is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., on other days from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. You can get here by bus No. 1, 209. Alternatively, trips by taxi or private/rented car are considered.
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