Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
The tallest habitable building in D.C. is a church — with mosaic domes that out-scale those of St. Mark's in Venice.
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The largest Catholic church in North America, built from 1920 in Neo-Byzantine and Romanesque Revival styles. Pope Francis canonized Junípero Serra here in 2015. Inside, 82 Marian chapels line the Great Upper Church and Crypt Church, each designed to reflect the origins of a different Catholic American community.
What to look for
- The 82 Marian chapels — including the Our Mother of Africa Chapel — running along both sides of the nave and crypt
- The Greek-styled interior domes covered in mosaics showing American renditions of traditional Catholic imagery, modeled on St. Mark's in Venice but larger
- The scale itself: this is the tallest habitable building in Washington D.C.
Take the Red Line to Brookland-CUA station, roughly 550 yards from the entrance.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Washington, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Washington pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Washington
- White HouseBritish forces torched it in 1814. It has been the U.S. president's home and office ever since.
- The PentagonDesigned and built in 16 months during World War II — 17.5 miles of corridors, a five-acre central courtyard, and a 9/11 memorial at the exact point of impact.
- United States CapitolEvery street address in Washington DC radiates outward from this building — it is literally the zero point of the city.
- Washington MonumentThe faint color seam partway up the shaft marks where construction stopped for 23 years.
- Smithsonian InstitutionBritish scientist James Smithson left a bequest that became 157 million objects, 21 museums, and a zoo — almost all free to walk into.
- Arlington National CemeteryThe ground holding 400,000 graves was seized from Robert E. Lee's own family over an unpaid tax bill in 1864.