Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Pair of Basilica

Top: St Patrick's Basilica, Waimate: Centre&Bottom: Sacred Heart Basilica, Timaru. Nov.2008. Ajr
It’s just as well I LIKE candid photography snapped from moving car windows because that’s all I got a chance for when I was driven south (by a speedy driver in a hurry) last week. As we went through Timaru (2 hours south of Christchurch), I managed to get these delightfully ‘vague’ shots of one of my favourite churches – The Church of the Sacred Heart. This Basilica is part of a cluster of Catholic Church buildings on a large site in the centre of Timaru. It was designed by the very busy architect, F.W. Petre (1847-1918), who designed a swathe of stunning churches all over the South Island, including the gorgeous Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch, which I have featured here several times before. The top image here is also his design – the very pretty St Patrick’s Basilica in Waimate, which was built 1908-09. It’s three tower bells were cast in Belgium (I hope you’re reading this Hermione) and the largest weighs three-quarters of a ton. Petre was New Zealand’s most significant Neo-Classical architect and he’s also renowned for his design of the Wellington Sacred Heart Cathedral (1901); St Patrick’s in Oamaru (1894); St Patrick’s Dunedin; St Mary’s Basilica, Invercargill (1905) and the Catholic Church in Gore (1914). To see the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch, click on the name (or Churches) in the label line below this post.

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