
phone-shot of north tower from Wilson Ave.
Took advantage of a Baltimore Heritage tour offering to get acquainted with the Baltimore Basilica — that is, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the United States’ first Roman Catholic cathedral — today for the first time. I wish I’d bothered to do it long ago. As cathedrals go, around the globe, this one’s not an especially impressive specimen, really. But it’s hardly without architectural or historical interest. In fact I think it probably ought to be acknowledged as quite a fine instance of the problem of the church in the modern world, expressed in the occasion of a building. I’d like to return to the subject. (Also, before long, with any luck, to the building.)