Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral

Nestled among office buildings in Montréal’s downtown core, lies Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the third largest church in Québec. Built at the end of the 19th century in the heart of what was then the city's Anglo-Protestant sector, this ornate Renaissance cathedral is replica of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, a departure from the Gothic Revival style so popular at the time. Covering nearly 4,700 square meters, the cathedral is built in the shape of a Latin cross. Inside, a superb Baroque Revival baldachin  and paintings by Georges Delfosse illustrate the historic beginnings of Montréal. In 1919, Pope Benedict XV conferred the title of Minor Basilica on Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur Cathedral, renamed to Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in 1955.