The Gateway Arch in St Louis, Missouri. The Arch, 630 feet wide at its base and 630 feet from ground to apex, was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1947 and completed in 1963 as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. There is a viewing deck inside the arch, which visitors reach by taking a capsule-tram system which travels up the inside of the arch.

geotagged

View over downtown St Louis from the viewing deck of the Gateway Arch. The domed building is the Old Courthouse.

geotagged

View from the Gateway Arch, looking east across the Mississippi River into Illinois. The urban area in the photo is the town of East St Louis.

City ViewsPanoramaPhotostitch PanoramaCity

Looking up at the Gateway Arch from the ground.

geotaggedArchCityGateway Arch St Louis

The outside of the Old Basilica in St Louis.

CathedralChurchgeotaggedCity

Dated 25th July 1973, this decree of the Abbot of Ampleforth, Basil Hume, established the priory of St Mary and St Louis as a priory independent of Ampleforth Abbey. St Louis’ Priory had its status elevated to that of an Abbey in 1989.

CatholicSchoolSign

Monks practising at the organ inside the Priory church of St Mary and St Louis.

ReligionCatholicSchoolChurch

The Lady chapel in the Priory church of St Mary and St Louis.

CatholicgeotaggedReligionSchoolStatueChurch

These stained-glass windows are just inside the main entrance to St Louis’ Priory School. They depict the ancestry of the foundation, ending with the voyage of monks from Ampleforth to Missouri to establish the Priory, and stretching back, via stories of St Benect, to Mary, Mater Monachorum.
(Close-ups of the two windows follow.)

geotaggedStainedglass windowCatholicWindowSchool

The left window of the two stained-glass windows inside the main entrance of St Louis’ Priory School.

geotagged

The right window of the two stained-glass windows inside the main entrance of St Louis’ Priory School.

CatholicSchoolgeotaggedStainedglass windowWindow

The exterior of St Louis’ Abbey.

CatholicChurchgeotaggedSchoolTreesBuilding

St Louis’ Abbey.

BuildingChurchSchoolCatholicgeotagged

This curiously ugly statue of St Benedict was given to the community of St Louis’ Priory by the monks of Ampleforth on the occasion of its becoming an Abbey in 1989.

CatholicgeotaggedSchoolStatue

The Grant of Arms from the College of Arms to the Priory of St Mary and St Louis. The St Louis coat of arms is obviously intended to mimic that of Ampleforth. Where Ampleforth’s arms have the Thames, St Louis’ arms have the Mississippi. The crossed keys of Peter have been replaced with a Yorkshire rose, and the cross and marlets of St Edward the Confessor have been replaced with Fleur de Lys of royal France (because of the patronage of St Louis).

CatholicgeotaggedSignSchool

Seven-photo stitch of the view up into the first dome of the magnificent basilica at St Louis.

St Louis BasilicaPhotostitch PanoramaPanoramaChurch

Detail of some of the intricate mosaic in the St Louis Basilica.

ChurchSt Louis Basilica

Tourists gathered in the central aisle of the basilica at St Louis. (Five-photo stitch.)

PeopleChurchPhotostitch PanoramaSt Louis BasilicaPanorama

Looking up at the inside of the main dome (over the crossing) in the basilica at St Louis.

St Louis BasilicaChurch

Inside St Louis Basilica: looking towards the sanctuary with a nearly-180º field of view, down the transepts.

St Louis BasilicaPhotostitch PanoramaChurchPanorama

The ceiling of the All Saints’ Chapel in St Louis Basilica.

St Louis BasilicaPanoramaChurchPhotostitch Panorama

The All Saints’ Chapel in St Louis Basilica.

ChurchgeotaggedSt Louis Basilica

Detail of the ceiling at one end of the narthex of St Louis Basilica.

St Louis BasilicaChurchgeotagged

Detail of the ceiling of the narthex of St Louis Basilica.

geotaggedSt Louis BasilicaChurch