Thread by @the_culturist_

Those who say that America doesn't have magnificent cathedrals are simply wrong.

A thread of the finest churches in the U.S. 🧵

1. St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, NY (1878)

A Gothic sanctuary in the heart of the city - it's the largest Gothic Catholic cathedral in the country, and a symbol of the triumph of religious freedom in America.

2. The Cathedral of Saint Paul, Saint Paul, MN (1915)

A 306-foot-tall Beaux-Arts masterpiece crowned with a mighty copper dome. The architect, Emmanuel Louis Masqueray, was also chief architect of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.

3. The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacramento, CA (1889)

Built in the Italian Renaissance style, it's one of the largest cathedrals west of the Mississippi River, dating back to the California Gold Rush era.

4. The Basilica of St. Josaphat, Milwaukee, WI (1901)

An elaborate Neo-Renaissance style church modeled after Rome's St. Peter's Basilica. Known for its dazzling frescoes, ornate plasterwork and breathtaking dome.

5. The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, Savannah, GA (1876)

Built in the French Gothic style, with ornate stained glass and slim columns reaching up to a vaulted ceiling. It was largely destroyed by fire in 1898 but was rapidly rebuilt in the following decade.

6. Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. (1988)

Modeled on the English Gothic style, it's the second largest cathedral in the U.S. and the sixth largest in the world. It's a solid masonry build without any structural steel supports, constructed mostly from limestone.

7. St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, LA (1850s)

The oldest cathedral in continuous use in the U.S., and a now-iconic design - blending Spanish Colonial and French Gothic styles.

8. The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ (1954)

One of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the Western Hemisphere. The fifth largest cathedral in North America, equal in footprint to Westminster Abbey and taller than the Notre-Dame de Paris.

9. The Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis, MN (1914)

A masterpiece of ornate Beaux-Arts architecture, it was the very first Basilica established in the United States.

10. The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO (1914)

A huge Romanesque and Byzantine basilica home to one of the world's largest collections of mosaics - there are over 41 million tiles in total.

11. The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia, PA (1864)

Roman-Corinthian magnificence with a Palladian facade of four huge columns. It was modeled after the famous San Carlo al Corso in Rome.