San Francisco - St Mary's Cathedral

St Mary's Cathedral, the third to bear this name, is by far the most impressive of San Francisco's churches, and well worth seeing.

Consecrated in 1971, it replaced the second St Mary's Cathedral, on Van Ness Avenue, which burned down in 1962. Erected on a site formerly occupied by a supermarket, the cathedral can seat a congregation of 2,500.

The building was designed by local architects Angus McSweeney, Paul A. Ryan and John M. Lee in association with Pietro Belluschi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston (Mass.) and Pier Luigi Nervi of Rome.

It has a pillar-less nave and a 195ft/60m-high dome at the apex of which four narrow stained glass windows converge like great translucent pathways to form a multi-colored cross. The windows symbolize the four elements, air (north), earth (south), fire (west) and water (east).

The altar, at which the priest faces the congregation, is surrounded on three sides by seats. Above it hangs a cross and a shimmering baldachino made from 7,000 aluminum rods perpetually in motion. The organ, built in Padua by the Ruffati brothers, is raised on a plinth, creating the effect of a piece of sculpture.

The cathedral's openness towards the outside world is symbolized by great glass windows through which church and city seem to merge. The view to the south-west, with San Francisco's second highest hill, Twin Peaks, in the center, is particularly impressive.

A school with three courtyards, a large auditorium and a council chamber form part of the cathedral complex.