Fire Damages USA's Largest Cathedral

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Fire Damages USA's Largest Cathedral

World's Largest Gothic cathedral Caught Fire

A fierce fire damaged the century-old Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Tuesday, filling one of the largest churches in the world with smoke and threatening its rare 17th century tapestries just a week before Christmas.

The flames that broke out at the massive Gothic stone structure were confined to a gift shop, which was destroyed. But as much as 3 inches of water covered the floor of the nave.

The cathedral is the principal church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. As many as 200 firefighters battled the blaze. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but Sisk said two of six Barberini tapestries that hung inside the nave were severely damaged. The textiles, part of a set of 12 made on the official papal looms, depict the life of Jesus Christ.

The fire was reported about 7 a.m., an hour before the first Mass of the day, and was believed to have started in the gift shop, which lost its two-story-high wooden roof. Flames climbed high into the sky, and black smoke billowed from the cathedral.

The blaze was brought under control after about 2.50 hours, but the upper reaches of the cathedral's nave were full of heavy smoke.

None of the more than 150 stained-glass windows appeared to be damaged.

The building is in the Morningside Heights neighborhood on the edge of Harlem, a few blocks from Columbia University. The Encyclopedia of New York City describes it as the nation's largest cathedral. It is big enough to hold two football fields.

The first stone was laid in 1892, but construction has never been completed. When construction resumed in 1982 after a 41-year break, jobless local youths were trained in old-fashioned stonecutting methods to help finish the cathedral's towers.

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