Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham, AL, Guide du visiteur et quoi faire à proximité

The Cathedral Church of the Advent is an English Gothic church on Sixth Avenue North at 20th Street in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Its parish dates to 1872, only a year after the city was founded, and since 1982 it has been the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. The present building went up in the early 1890s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The story behind it

The Advent parish began in 1872, when Birmingham was a brand new railroad town, and its first church on this site was finished the following year. That building did not last. It was destroyed by fire in November 1892, but a replacement was already being built next to it, so the congregation did not wait long.

The new church was designed by the firm of Wheelock, Joy and Wheelock in an English Gothic style, and the congregation moved in during the autumn of 1893. Work on the tower and portico continued until 1895. The church became a cathedral in 1982 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places the next year. Later, a preservation project in the years around 2000 brought a carillon of fifteen bells, cast in France by the Paccard foundry, into the tower.

What to look for

• The tower rises above the corner of Sixth Avenue North and 20th Street, and it is worth looking up at it, since it was still being finished after the congregation had moved in.
• The pointed arches and stonework show the English Gothic style the architects chose, which was a deliberate nod to older European churches.
• The portico at the entrance was completed along with the tower in 1895, so tower and entrance belong together as one design.
• Listen for the carillon, because the bells in the tower were cast in France and installed in the early 2000s.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 15 to 20 minutes for the exterior and a little longer if you want to photograph the tower from different corners.
• Late afternoon light is flattering on the stonework, and the tower looks especially good as the light fades.
• Services and events happen here, so check current opening hours and visitor access before planning to go inside.
• The cathedral sits in the downtown core, so it combines easily with a walk through the surrounding streets and nearby Linn Park.

See it on a quest

Ghost Hunt in Birmingham, AL brings you to the cathedral on foot as one stop of a longer route through downtown. The app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot, which suits a church with this much history behind its walls. One ticket covers the whole group.

Birmingham, AL Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society. is a detective-style walk that also passes the cathedral. You reach it as part of a route through the area, hear the story of the place when you get there and work out a puzzle from what is in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group.