It's nice to see this photo getting a little extended play online - mostly through the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. Also it's gotten a few hits via this National Geographic website.
During my visit to Denver the last week of May, I took a few shots of this imposing and historic structure from street-level while urban hiking on the 26th. The next day, while on a tour of the nearby Colorado State Capitol, I was very pleased and surprised to get a nice exposure of this Catholic landmark as I walked around the building's open-air dome.
Construction of the Cathedral was substantially completed in 1911 before a lightning strike badly damaged the west tower on August 7, 1912. The local Denver congregation was still able to formally dedicate their church on October 27,1912. Afterwards, it was solemnly consecrated in 1921 prior to its designation as a minor basilica in 1979.
Detroit-based architect Leon Coquard's French Gothic design of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was inspired by the St. Nicholas Collegiate Church that was sited at Munster, a small village in the Dept. of Moselle in the Lorraine region of northeastern France. Legend ties the origins of this church to the 13th-century exploits of Lord Guillaume Torcheville.
(Image by Jean-Marc Pascolo)
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