Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, Galway
The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, commonly known as Galway Cathedral, is a Roman Catholiccathedral in Galway, Ireland, and one of the largest and most impressive buildings in the city. Construction began in 1958 on the site of the old city prison. It was completed in 1965, making it the last great stone cathedral to be built in Europe. It was dedicated, jointly, to Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and to St. Nicholas.
The architect of the cathedral was John J. Robinson who had previously designed many churches in Dublin and around the country. The architecture of the cathedral draws on many influences. The dome and pillars reflect a Renaissance style. Other features, including the rose windows and mosaics, echo the broad tradition of Christian art. The cathedral dome, at a height of 44.2 metres, is a prominent landmark on the city skyline. During a controversial interview on Telefís Éireann's The Late Late Show in 1966, Trinity College Dublin student Brian Trevaskis referred to the building as a "ghastly monstrosity". He also accused the then Bishop of Galway Michael Browne of "extortion" over the manner in which funds for the new cathedral were raised and implied that the Bishop was a "moron". More recently, it was described in an Irish Times article concerning "ugly" Irish buildings as a "squatting Frankenstein’s monster" and "a monument to the hubris of its soft-handed sponsors".
Liturgy
Mass is celebrated every day in the cathedral. There is a Saturday evening Vigil mass at 6 p.m., and Sunday masses at 9:00am, 10:00am, 11:00am, 12:30pm and 6:00pm. On weekdays and holy days, mass is celebrated at 9:00am, 11:00am and 6:00pm.
Music
Choir
The cathedral has been home to an adult choir since the building was dedicated, the role of which is to provide the music at all major ceremonies and services as well as at the regular Sunday 11:00am mass. The choir's repertoire covers music from the 16th to the 21st centuries, as well as Gregorian chant and Irish traditional music.
Organs
The cathedral pipe organ was originally built by the Liverpool firm of Rushworth & Dreaper in 1966; it was renovated and greatly expanded by Irish organ-builder Trevor Crowe between 2006 and 2007. It has three manuals and 59 speaking stops, and is used regularly during services as well as in the annual series of summer concerts. The cathedral also has a smaller portable instrument, with one manual and four stops. It is used in smaller-scale liturgy in the cathedral's side chapels, as well as in a continuo role in concerts.
Manual compass: 61 notes Pedal compass: 32 notes Key-action: electro-pneumatic Stop-action: electric 16 general combinations, with 96 levels of memory 8 combinations to each division, with 16 levels of memory Sequencer with 999 memory slots
The Choir Organ stoplist since 2006
Manual compass: 56 notes Key- and stop-action: mechanical
