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St Mary's Cathedral
St Mary's Cathedral, Hobart 1.jpg
St Mary's Cathedral, Hobart
St Mary's Cathedral is located in Hobart
St Mary's Cathedral
St Mary's Cathedral
Location in Hobart
42°52′52″S 147°19′09″E / 42.88111°S 147.31926°E / -42.88111; 147.31926
Location Hobart, Tasmania
Country Australia
Denomination Catholic
History
Status Cathedral
Founded 12 September 1860 (1860-09-12)
Dedication Sacred Heart
Dedicated 29 June 1865 (1865-06-29)
rededicated 23 January 1881 (1881-01-23)
Consecrated 14 July 1866
Architecture
Functional status Active
Architect(s)
  • William Wardell (1860)
  • Henry Hunter (1898)
Architectural type Cathedral
Style Gothic Revival architecture
Years built
  • 1822 (first cathedral)
  • 1866 (nave completed)
  • 1881 (rebuilt)
Groundbreaking 1860
Specifications
Length 26 metres (84 ft)
Width 16 metres (52 ft)
Nave width 5.5 metres (18 ft)
Nave height 5.8 metres (19 ft)
Materials Sandstone
Bells Ring of 10 Bells and two semitones
Administration
Parish Cathedral
Archdiocese Archdiocese of Hobart
Province Hobart

St Mary's Cathedral in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hobart, presently Julian Porteous.

The cathedral's origins can be traced back to 1822 when the first permanent Tasmanian priest Philip Conolly (1786–1839) constructed a temporary wooden chapel near the present cathedral site and dedicated to God, under the invocation of St. Virgilius, an "Irish Saint".

Location and features

St Mary's Cathedral is located in Harrington Street, Hobart, and is place of worship for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hobart.

St Mary's College is located next to the cathedral. The college celebrates the Catholic liturgical year by attending Mass.

History

The first cathedral foundation stone was laid in 1860 to a design by William Wardell, a student of Augustus Pugin. The cathedral was consecrated in 1866. The cathedral was built in the Gothic Revival architectural style.

Structural problems caused by faulty construction resulted in the cathedral being largely dismantled and re-constructed to a new design based on Wardell's initial plans, by Hobart architect Henry Hunter. He laid the new foundation stone in 1878.

A Norman-era baptismal font, with connections to Pugin is believed to have been installed in St Mary's Cathedral, Hobart. A historian noted that 'the detail repertoire of this font is characteristic of transitional work of roughly the period 1170 to 1200.'

Organ

St Mary's Cathedral (Hobart) Organ

The first organ at St Mary's Cathedral was moved to Sacred Heart Catholic Church, New Town. The current organ was built in 1893 by Fincham & Hobday for the International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art, Queen's Domain, Hobart of 1894 where the organ was awarded the first prize. This organ was installed in the cathedral in June 1895 in its present location. Subsequent rebuilds and renovations of the organ occurred in 1934 by Hill, Norman & Beard; in 1957 by Keith Davis; in 1966 by George Fincham & Sons; and in 2007–2009 by Wakeley Pipe Organs, when minor additions were made.

Stained glass windows

Dominated by the exquisite Hardman Studio window in the style of a fourteenth century Gothic window; the five lancets depict pivotal scenes from the Gospels and the tracery at the top of the window details heavenly images, from 1869.

The rose window in the west end of the cathedral (1981), the Pentecost window (1989), and the Heroic and Saintly Women (1995) are other windows specific to the cathedral.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Catedral de Santa María (Hobart) para niños

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