Skip to comments.
National Cathedral sustained 'mind boggling' damage in earthquake
The Hill ^
| 08/24/11
| Alicia M. Cohn
Posted on 08/24/2011 7:38:09 AM PDT by markomalley
The Washington National Cathedral sustained significant damage in the earthquake that hit D.C. on Tuesday afternoon.
Damage included arch displacement, cracking, falling limestone and rotating pinnacles on the Cathedral's neogothic towers.
National Cathedral Head Mason Joe Alonso estimated a piece weighing about 3,000 pounds toppled from the central tower. He called the damage to that section of the Cathedral "mind boggling."
A link to video of Alonso detailing the damage was tweeted by the National Cathedral on Wednesday morning.
"A lot of what fell, we're fortunate that it fell in toward the roof and not out toward the streets," Alonso said in the video.
National Cathedral staff tweeted out information about damage sustained by the historic building on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning following the 5.8 magnitude earthquake felt across a large portion of the East Coast on Tuesday afternoon.
One of the first questions answered through Twitter may have brought a sigh of relief to fans of the sci-fi trilogy Star Wars. "We've checked, and Darth Vader appears to be okay," staff tweeted.
The Star Wars villain is one of the many gargoyles included on the northwest tower of the Cathedral.
The National Cathedral is the fourth tallest structure in Washington, D.C. Its foundation was laid in 1907.
TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: ecusa; nationalcathedral; washingtoncathedral
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-57 next last
Check original for links.
To: markomalley
pRes_ _ent Hussein reminds us that
there are mosques overseas to rebuild FIRST.
2
posted on
08/24/2011 7:42:02 AM PDT
by
Diogenesis
(No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. - Mark Twain)
To: markomalley
To: markomalley
'mind boggling' damage Some minds are easily boggled.
4
posted on
08/24/2011 7:44:39 AM PDT
by
tbpiper
(Sarah Palin is the antivenin for the Obama poison)
To: markomalley
A Darth Vader gargoyle? Am I missing something?
To: markomalley
I think the building is misnamed. We have no national cathedral because we have no national religion. It is the Roman Catholic cathedral in nation’s capital.
6
posted on
08/24/2011 7:46:33 AM PDT
by
Doulos1
(Bitter Clinger Forever!)
To: markomalley
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/08/what-really-happened-national-cathedral-quake/41644/">http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/08/what-really-happened-national-cathedral-quake/41644/
7
posted on
08/24/2011 7:47:16 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: Doulos1
It is the Roman Catholic cathedral in nations capital. Wrong.
It is the Episcopal cathedral.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral is the Cathedral of St Matthew, located in Georgetown.
8
posted on
08/24/2011 7:48:23 AM PDT
by
markomalley
(Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
To: Rennes Templar
9
posted on
08/24/2011 7:50:36 AM PDT
by
So Cal Rocket
(Task 1: Accomplished, Task 2: Hold them Accountable!)
To: Doulos1
DC has a couple of major Catholic buildings. The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception springs to mind ~ it's a big multi-ethnic Catholic church with a very large basement and main nave full of all sorts of chapels and so forth. If you ever wanted to see what classical Christian architecture was about here it is ALL in one place ~ Romanesque, Gothic, Greco-Roman, Orthodox, Polish, German, English, French, Spanish ~ and others ~ there should be a book on this in the giftshop.
There's also the Catholic Cathedral in downtown DC. It's much less imposing but can hold very large crowds. There's some universities with Catholic affiliation, European style stonework and so on.
Finally, there's the National Cathedral which begun as an Episcopal Church structure and is now, as I understand it, an independent nonprofit charity that has as its purpose the maintenance of the National Cathedral.
So far it hasn't got anything to do with the Catholic Church.
10
posted on
08/24/2011 7:51:54 AM PDT
by
muawiyah
To: Rennes Templar
A Darth Vader gargoyle? Am I missing something?
...Gorgeous building, completed late 70’s?, has stone gargoyles high around outside of building.
They put in one resembling the Star Wars character, which is a hit with the kid tourists.
To: markomalley
I read that, for whatever reason, the builders of the Washington Cathedral shunned the use of steel frames and employed medieval architectural techniques instead. I suppose it's too bad that medieval cathedral builders didn't have access to inflatable vinyl churches like I just saw on another thread. This would have saved them a lot of trouble and expense, as well as those who wanted to copy them later.
12
posted on
08/24/2011 7:53:55 AM PDT
by
PUGACHEV
To: Doulos1
Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle (Catholic):
National Cathedral (Episcopal):
13
posted on
08/24/2011 7:54:22 AM PDT
by
markomalley
(Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
To: markomalley
The National Cathedral is the fourth tallest structure in Washington, D.C. Its foundation was laid in 1907.The Cathedral was also built on the highest elevation in that area.
14
posted on
08/24/2011 7:54:23 AM PDT
by
shield
(Rev 2:9 Woe unto those who say they are Judahites and are not, but are of the syna GOG ue of Satan.)
To: Doulos1
It is the Roman Catholic cathedral in nations capital. Nope. Episcopalian. The Catholic cathedral in DC is St. Matthew's.
15
posted on
08/24/2011 7:54:26 AM PDT
by
Campion
("Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies when they become fashions." -- GKC)
To: Rennes Templar
Bonus: Darth Vader Grotesque A contest for kids in the 80's: "Four winning designs were chosen: a raccoon, a girl with pigtails and braces, a man with large teeth and an umbrella, and lastly, Darth Vader."
To: Diogenesis
there are mosques overseas to rebuild FIRST. Don't short sell the man, Diogenesis.
Rip down the spires, replace them with minarets, replace the bells with a little hutch for the imam to stand on to call for prayers, and destroy those offensive crosses.
You've got a first class mosque fit for The One to take Michelle and the kids to for prayers (separate of course) or for a disenfranchised visa overstay from Yemen to take a class on building a nail bomb.
Good times...
17
posted on
08/24/2011 7:58:12 AM PDT
by
End Times Sentinel
(In Memory of my dear Friend Henry Lee II)
To: So Cal Rocket
Darth is kind of looking like Homer Simpson, there.
18
posted on
08/24/2011 7:58:20 AM PDT
by
Explorer89
(And now, let the wild rumpus start!!)
To: JaxLaxDad; Rennes Templar
A Darth Vader gargoyle? Am I missing something? If memory serves, they used to have stone cutting workshops where people could cut their own gargoyle and potentially have it mounted (I remember seeing those classes listed in some of the local "things to do" lists in the paper about 10 years ago or so).
There are 112 gargoyles total. See here to look at all 112.
19
posted on
08/24/2011 7:58:20 AM PDT
by
markomalley
(Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good-Pope Leo XIII)
To: markomalley
In 1931, Stalin ordered the destruction of Moscow's magnificent
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the largest Orthodox church in the world, in order to build a palace dedicated to the memory of Lenin. Though it was never built (the site became a municipal swimming pool), this may prove an inspiration to our current regime. On the other hand, the Episcopalians who run the present building seem perfectly happy to sprinkle holy water on whatever godless politicians troop through it, so perhaps just patching it up will do the trick.
20
posted on
08/24/2011 7:59:09 AM PDT
by
madprof98
("moritur et ridet" - salvianus)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-57 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson