I suppose part of the reason my camera ran out of juice in the middle of lunch last week has to do with the Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church that just happens to be right across the street from Domenica.
As John and I were walking up to the restaurant, we couldn’t help but snap at least fifty pics of this gorgeous church that has been here since 1851, though technically it was torn down and reconstructed again in 1930. The parishioners are now celebrating its 160th anniversary!
On the left-hand side of the building, there are a pair of huge, bronze doors covered with elaborate geometric designs. On the church’s website, it says that these doors weigh 1,500 pounds each! I believe the doors and some features inside the building, like the cast iron pews and altar, are all from the original church that stood here for 71 years before it had to be demolished and reconstructed later.
Though the church was closed, we couldn’t help trying to sneak peeks behind this beautiful wrought-iron gate and through the bars, we were able to get a shot of this colorful mural of the Virgin Mary…
Though I am wholly agnostic, perhaps even verging on atheism, it’s places like this that make me want to believe.
4 comments
@Cathy – Great story!
I love this church, too. When I was a kid, we lived for several months in an apartment over Kolb's restaurant on St. Charles (my dad was the manager). My mom and I walked to morning Mass here on Sundays and then bought doughnuts to take home. When I was last in New Orleans in December, I went inside and was happy to see the church looked just the same with maybe a little sprucing up here and there. Beautiful.
Immaculate Conception has the most interesting cast-iron pews…possibly my favorite feature of the whole church.
Always wanted to see inside that place.