HOLY HILL PILGRIMAGE

This week I made what has become a more or less annual fall photo pilgrimage to Holy Hill.  The Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, is a Roman Catholic church located in the Town of Erin, about 40 miles northwest of Milwaukee.  It has been designated a minor basilica by the Catholic church.  Built in the 1860s, it is a lovely church constructed on a spectacular site.  My sense is that the designation is baed more on its setting than on its architecture.  Located on one of the highest points in southeastern Wisconsin, the site is surrounded by woods-covered rolling countryside, making for spectacular fall colors.  Here is a ho-hum shot of some of that color foliage.

First, the basilica's exterior.

There is a smallish pavilion outside the building.  However, at the back of the pavilion is a wall and beyond the wall is a sharp drop-off.  As a result, this is as much of the building as I could capture, even with my wide-angle lens, which cut off the tops of the basilica's twin steeples.

The exterior includes some very nice features.  Here is detail surrounding the main entrance.

And the prominent statues on either side of the rose window above the main entrance.

Now to the interior, beginning with a wide-angle shot of the sanctuary from the real of the nave.

As with most Catholic churches, one of the major highlights is the sanctuary and apse.  Here is a sequence of shots ending with a closeup of the mural in the apse.

Very nice, I think.

I took the following shot from the front of the nave, looking back toward the main entrance.

Here is the shot I got of the rose window above the balcony.

I tried a photo of the nave ceiling.

Unfortunately, the ceiling is not particularly interesting.  I did manage to include some of the side stained glass windows.  Still, the shot came out pretty awkward looking.

The side windows are nice, but not stunning, at least in my humble opinion.  Maybe I'm jaded.

What were interesting, in my view were the ornate side pillars, which included interesting faces carved into the pillars' tops.

Anyone, particularly those who have a strong Catholic faith, who is visiting the Milwaukee area would enjoy a visit to Holy Hill, but she or he should be prepared to do some climbing of stairs up the hill to get to the basilica.

© 2018 John M. Phillips