When I walked into the renovated St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York this last October, I felt like I was walking into Notre Dame in Paris. It’s not surprising that I felt that way, because St. Patrick’s is 24 feet taller. Her glorious vaulted ceilings, made from lumber and plaster, have been painted to look like stone blocks with sepia-toned mortar between them. Combine that with soaring stained glass windows, which were recently cleaned and repaired by Botti Studio, and you have a breathtaking experience. To protect the windows for future generations, a protective glazing was added to the exterior of the windows. To prevent condensation build-up which might cause damage to the windows over time, pieces of stained glass in each window were opened inward ever so slightly  to increase air circulation.

The structure itself is 19th Century Gothic Revival Architecture, dating to 1879, whereas Notre Dame is French Gothic Architecture, and dates to 1163. The Gothic Period traditionally dates from the 12th century to the 16th century, whereas the Gothic Revival Period is a mid 19th century period from about 1830 – 1860.

The $177 million renovations were complete several months ahead of time to prepare for Pope Francis’s visit in September of 2015. It was pure luck that I planned my visit to New York in early October as part of a siblings get-away weekend to celebrate my sister’s 50th birthday. We left no stone unturned during our 4 day extravaganza, including a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, an afternoon at Coney Island, lunch at the Boat House on Central Park, seeing Wicked at the Gershwin Theater, a visit to Tiffany’s, and lots and lots of window shopping for fun photos, which I’ll be sharing on my blog over the coming weeks.

While I’m not a religious guy, I still marvel at the ingenuity of Cathedrals and their ability to make us feel closer to god, or at least closer to our creative source.  Creativity and breathing go hand in hand for myself and many of my friends.  Our creative inspiration made into reality is the completion of a dream.  My chosen mantra for 2016: Make more of your dreams come true.

Learn more about the Cathedral HERE