Cathedral of St. John the Divine: Vertical Tour

I have been to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine many times—on tours before I lived here, to see the Xu Bing exhibit and I often stop in while I'm on a walk around my neighborhood since I live so close. I am very much not a religious person, but I've always loved grandiose churches and St. John the Divine is one of the grandest. It's tied with the Liverpool Church for largest Anglican cathedral, and it is the fourth largest Christian church in the world. Its construction was halted by the start of World War II and has remained unfinished ever since.

You can tour the interior at your leisure, but to go up inside of the cathedral you have to take what they call a "vertical tour." Francesca, Trent and I took the 12pm tour on Saturday and I highly recommend it. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and interesting, giving us a history of the architecture and construction, as well as explaining some of the intricate stained glass themes.

We climbed to a few different levels of the church via a very tight spiral stone staircase and the views were incredible. There were a few stops on balconies outside of the church, and the view of snowy rooftops in Morningside Heights and the Upper West side was perfect.

We even got to see the attic of the cathedral, which protects the vaulting from the elements and offered a behind-the-scenes look at the back of the famous Guastavino tiling on the ceiling of the church. When you're standing on the main floor of the cathedral it's hard to get a good feeling of just how soaring everything is, and it was nice to get to experience it all from a different perspective. We also got to see some of the amazing stained glass up close, pieces that you can barely see at all from the floor. Like I said, I'm not much for religion, but I'm grateful that if I ever did suddenly decide that I needed a place to worship, a place as beautiful as St. John the Divine is just a few blocks away.