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| FRONT VIEW, ST. MARY'S CHURCH, CORK. -We give in this sketch a view of St. Mary's Dominican Church, from the river front. Built after the Grecian model, with a graceful portico of six Ionic columns, it presents but little of the aspect of the average Catholic or Protestant church in Ireland. The apex of the pediment is surmounted by a statue of the Virgin, heroic in proportions, and the head coronated by an aureole of exquisite design and finish. Behind St. Mary's rise the towers of other edifices, devoted to religious purposes, and the summit of the famous steeple of St. Anne's of Shandon is seen in the background. Cork City justly boasts of some of the most beautiful, as well as historic, churches in Ireland, among them St. Finn-Barr's Cathedral, with which we have dealt in another sketch. St. Mary's is comparatively modern, but always attracts a great amount of attention from travellers and visitors because of the unique character of its architecture. The Dominican clergy, to whose use it is assigned, are noted for their fervid eloquence and, in consequence, the masses at this beautiful temple of worship are always largely attended. Interiorly the church is finished in a manner that perfectly harmonizes with the elegance of its exterior. The criticism is frequent, however, that were it not for the statue of the Virgin above the pediment, St. Mary's might easily be mistaken for a structure devoted to secular purposes. |
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