April 12, 2012
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Mariendome, or One Honking Big Church!
The skyline of Linz is dotted with many church spires. But one stands out. It’s the Mariendome or the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
The building was begun in 1862 and was dedicated in 1924. At the time, it was the largest building project in Europe.
Peter holding the keys to the kingdom looks over the front door.
One of the first things you see upon entering are stone carvings (or maybe just plaster to look like stone?) of the 14 Stations of the Cross.
This place seats 20,000 people!! Temple University’s football stadium seats 20,000. Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen’s Huston mega-church, seats 16,800. Willow Creek Community Church (Bill Hybels) only seats 7,095. In other words, it’s a HUGE church. (But Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome is by far bigger.)
I can’t say the church was particularly “pretty,” although there were lots of stained glass windows depicting events from the history of the Catholic church.
There were also some “design only” stained glass. (That’s not really a term!)
Now, don’t go believing that I thought the place was ugly. It was just that it was more austere and imposing than other churches we have visited.
We were supposed to go on a tour to the bell tower, but we found out the only way to do that was to pay for a one-hour tour all in German. So we opted out. I am sure we’ll climb another bell tower someday!
