Belfast Cathedral

Also known as St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast Cathedral is the premier monument of the "Cathedral Quarter" in the northern section of the City Centre. Directly across from "Writer's Square", which is generally unsuccessful as a recently created public space, the proud Romanesque facade of the church represents a later incarnation of the original St. Anne's Cathedral originally built in 1776. The current church was established around 1900 and miraculously survived a Nazi air raid during WWII that cleared the neighboring space next to the University of Ulster building.

Notice the white and black stone lines on the floor. If you follow the black lines, you are destined to find a dead end at every turn (representing sin), while if you chose to follow the righteously white path, you are led, uninterrupted through the nave and around the ambulatory.

One of the most recognizable elements of the building are the massive spire, or spike, that seems to be floating above the crossing of the transept and the nave. To be completely honest, I find this to be a frightening monument that imposes a damning vision rather than one of transcendence, which is usually done in religious structures through a glowing cupola or dome. More simply put, when standing below it I far feel more likely to be zapped by a lightning bolt cast down by Zeus than I am to be lifted to heaven.

The church is a temple of the Church of Ireland, which is an Anglican denomination (better understood as Episcopalian in America). The seat of the Church of Ireland is based in Armagh, which is in the southern part of Northern Ireland.