Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament

The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, sometimes referred to as the Christchurch Basilica was a Catholic cathedral on Barbadoes Street in central Christchurch, New Zealand. It was the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Christchurch and seat of the Bishop of Christchurch. It was not a basilica, despite sometimes being referred to as one: the term was used because its design was similar to some European basilicas. Designed by architect Francis Petre, it was generally held to be the finest renaissance-style building in New Zealand. On 7 April 1983, the building was registered as a Category I heritage item by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, with the registration number 47. It was regarded as an outstanding example of church architecture in Australasia and was regarded as Petre's best design. The cathedral was closed after the 4 September 2010 Canterbury earthquake. The February 2011 Christchurch earthquake collapsed the two bell towers at the front of the building and destabilised the dome. The dome was removed, and the rear of the cathedral was demolished. The decision to demolish the cathedral was made public on 4 August 2019. Demolition work was completed in 2021. On 7 December 2019, the Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, Paul Martin, announced that a new $85 million cathedral was to be completed by 2025 and would accommodate up to 1,000 people. It would be bui

Cathedral data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).