Saint Joseph's Oratory
— — a copper dome the city looks up to.
Not only on a wall.
“The largest church in Canada, set on the shoulder of Mount Royal above the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. Brother André began it in 1904 as a small wooden chapel; the great copper dome was finished in 1967 and still rises higher than any other point on the mountain. Pilgrims climb the 283 steps to the basilica, some on their knees, and the city spreads out below in a long grey-green plain. from the studio
Saint Joseph's Oratory, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal sits on the northwest flank of Mount Royal in Montreal, above the Côte-des-Neiges district. It is the largest church in Canada and one of the largest dedicated to Saint Joseph in the world. Brother André Bessette, a Holy Cross brother known for his devotion to Saint Joseph, opened a small wooden chapel on the site in 1904; the basilica that stands today was begun in 1924 and the great dome finished in 1967. The dome rises 97 metres above the floor and reaches an absolute elevation higher than any other point in the city.
The basilica is built in a restrained Italian Renaissance Revival style, designed by Dalbé Viau and Alphonse Venne with later work by Lucien Parent and the Benedictine monk Dom Paul Bellot, who shaped the interior. The exterior is grey granite; the dome, copper-clad and patinaed to a soft green, is the second-largest of its kind in the world after Saint Peter's in Rome. Inside, the crypt church holds Brother André's tomb and the rough wooden chapel of 1904 still stands on the lower terrace as a reminder of the building's beginnings.
The Oratory is open to visitors year-round, with no admission charge to enter the basilica, the crypt church and the original chapel. A grand stairway of 283 steps climbs from Queen Mary Road to the basilica entrance; pilgrims have traditionally ascended the central wooden flight on their knees. Brother André was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, the first Canadian-born male saint of the Catholic Church, and his shrine continues to draw roughly two million visitors a year.