Grand Old Homes and Choir Singing

Posted by Suzanne Hill Dec 9, 2007

Today I went on a tour of restored homes in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon cultural district. I stopped in the Basilica of the Assumption to listen to a concert of Christmas music.

The interior of the church is clear and bright! It contrasts with many cathedrals so ornate in their adornment – glossy in their golds, purples, reds, and blues. This church is downright simple in comparison. The walls are creamy butter-yellow. The domes are decorated with rows of salmon and blue plaster flowers. Mary looks down from above.

During the concert the whole place smelled of candle wax and incense. The organ played. The singers’ voices echoed throughout the church. I got goosebumps.

The Basilica, built 1806-1821, is the oldest cathedral in the U.S. It is a Roman Catholic cathedral built in the style of Romanesque architecture and has twin Byzantine onion domes. Out front there’s a Greek portico with Ionic columns in remembrance of classical ideals. The Basilica quickly became a symbol of America’s newfound religious freedom.

Romanesque style copied ancient Roman architecture but was built around 1000 AD instead of during the Roman Empire. Romanesque buildings were made of stone and typically had wooden roofs. If the churches had stone roofs, they had thick walls to hold up the roofs; there weren’t many windows so Romanesque buildings were dark inside. Romanesque style evolved into Gothic style.

During the 19th century, when Gothic Revival architecture was fashionable, buildings, like the Basilica, were occasionally designed in the Romanesque style.