St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, the seat of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, has anchored the city’s Catholic life since a church first stood on the site in 1718. A larger church completed in 1727 was destroyed in the 1788 fire, and its successor, built during the Spanish period, was completed in 1794 after being raised to cathedral status in 1793. Much of the present structure, however, comes from a difficult rebuilding in the 1850s that left little of the earlier church intact. Despite damage from a 1909 bombing, early-20th-century repairs, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it remains a defining landmark around Jackson Square.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

New Orleans, Louisiana · USA