Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica in Lafayette Square in Savannah, Georgia
General Information
8an to 5pm daily
How to Get There
Take Wheaton St and Skidaway Rd to Bonaventure Rd. Continue on Bonaventure Rd. Drive to Walz Way.
Overview
The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist is a Neo-Gothic landmark on Lafayette Square and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah. It rises 214 feet, is decorated with 81 stained glass windows and 16 gargoyles, and was the first brick building in Georgia. Its twin spires were added in 1896, and after a fire in 1898 it was rebuilt within a year, with interior decoration finished over the next 13 years. Pope Francis elevated it to a minor basilica in 2020.
The story behind the church is part of its appeal: Savannah's colonial charter barred Catholics from settling, and the first church was founded in 1799 by French Catholic émigrés who had fled the Haitian slave rebellions. It became the main church for free Black Catholics from Haiti in the early 19th century.
What to See
- Stained glass: 81 windows, many installed around 1904
- Exterior: soaring spires, gargoyles, and the sheer scale of the building, built with over 90,000 copper nails and 45,000 slates
- Restored interior: the original color palette and decoration, renewed in a 1998-2000 restoration
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist (Savannah, Georgia)", released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
