A tribute to Notre-Dame Basilica, a true Montreal monument

Rick Andreoli is a Montreal native and history buff who has written a series of blogs on the city's history. He shares this with readers everywhere to help inform them about this great Canadian city.

For today's blog, Rick Andreoli writes about the Notre-Dame Basilica, one of Montreal's most well-known and revered historical monuments.

From the onset, what people will notice about the Notre-Dame Basilica or the Basilica of Our Lady is the ecclesiastic architecture of 19th-century Gothic design. Categorized as a revivalist structure, the church has very few rivals in this regard. Its conceptualization dates back to 1824.

While James O'Donnell, an Irish American architect, came up with the original design, Victor Bourgeau was officially credited for the Notre-Dame Basilica's magnificent interior. Rick Andreoli mentions that Bourgeau designed everything from the decorative elements to the wood carvings to the large rose windows.

It took Bourgeau and his team seven years to bring about the design and construction of the church's main altar that was carved from linden wood. It was later replaced by a 32-panel altar cast in bronze and designed by renowned Montreal architect Charles Daudelin.

With all Notre-Dame Basilica's outstanding features, Rick Andreoli notes that his favorite is the stained-glass windows that symbolize Montreal's history, which dates back from its earlier days when it was known as Ville-Marie.