The story of St Patrick's RC Cathedral
After the Reformation the medieval cathedral on Armagh's ancient hill passed to the Church of Ireland, and for centuries no Catholic archbishop resided in what was Ireland's primatial seat. Building a new Catholic cathedral here carried huge symbolic weight. The foundation stone was laid on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1840.
Work was slow and was halted for years by the Great Famine. The architect Thomas Duff began the building in a Perpendicular Gothic style; after his death J.J. McCarthy continued it in a Decorated Gothic manner, which gave the cathedral its distinctive twin spires. The building was dedicated for worship in 1873.
The richest chapter came under Cardinal Michael Logue around the turn of the century. He commissioned the mosaic scheme that covers the interior walls in coloured Italian pottery and gilded glass cubes, and had the painter Oreste Amici decorate McCarthy's hammer-beam roof in Italianate style.
With that decoration complete, the cathedral was solemnly consecrated on 24 July 1904. It still serves as the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, and the mosaics, painted roof and twin spires survive as its defining features today.