The Beautiful Cathedral of Saint Mary - A brilliant architecture in the middle of the Austin downtown, Texas

Whenever I make a plan to explore a place, I heavily use Google-Maps to check the neighbourhood I am planning to visit and then check out what else in that area. So during the same exercise, I found that there is a church close to Texas Capitol as well as Austin Downtown. My plan was to explore this part of the city on foot and hence planned to visit Cathedral of Saint Mary. 

Saint Mary's Cathedral is the cathedral parish of the Catholic Diocese of Austin located in Austin Downtown and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, as St. Mary's Cathedral.The Church was in a Victorian design. The neo-Gothic revival towers and spires were completed in 1907. The original finials were removed in the 1950s, perhaps after being struck by lightning.

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The tree-like columns of the church have their foliage-carved capitals. The murals contain tracery of vines and leaves. The pointed arches on doors and windows and the spires evoke the mountains. The ceiling and the blue dome spangled with stars reflect the sky and the heavens. Isn't that an amazing depiction of nature. All this tells a lot about architect who designed this beautiful church in Austin.

The Cathedral's bell is one of the largest in the State of Texas state of USA. In 1948, when the church was remodelled, many of its neo-Gothic decorations were removed, the neo-Gothic altars and altar rail were replaced with 20th-century marble and the baldachino with its cactus and bluebonnets, evocative of central Texas.

The Cathedral underwent extensive restoration in 2013, due to some safety concerns. This included, among other work, cleaning the exterior, the replacing of some blocks and mortar and the restoration of the large rose window in the front facade. 

I spent some time around the church and then headed towards the famous Congress Bridge in Austin Downtown. Plan was to walk around the Colorado river from other side of the bridge to appreciate the tall buildings of the downtown against blue waters of the river.