St Aloysius' Church

After a lunchtime meeting today in town I popped into St Aloysius' Church to take an interior shot.

The church was built between 1908-10 in the Renaissance style of the seventeenth century, after the Cathedral of Namur, Belgium. The architect Charles Menart, was responsible for many fine buildings but St Aloysius Church is viewed as his finest. The slender, golden-domed campanile rises above the church’s heavily carved Baroque façade and Byzantine dome, creating a prominent landmark on Garnethill. The interior marble cladding was the work of the Austrian architect Ernest Schaufelberg, and was not completed until 1927, some time after the consecration of the church.

I love the beautiful fresco depicting the Last Supper, which is over the alter. In 2004 restoration work was carried out at St Aloysius', which has been described as one of the most beautiful Catholic churches in Glasgow. The Last Supper was cleaned and layers of paint and wallpaper were removed to reveal two original frescos. Local artist Nichol Wheatley recreated four paintings of the evangelists on the dome, working from the only surviving picture of the original design.

Definitely worth looking large.