Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Knock

We quickly finished our lunch to rush back to catch our appointment. Turns out our friends weren’t ready either and were still having their lunch. I don’t understand why they didn’t have lunch in the bus since they weren’t driving anyway. Whew we were invited to visit the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, I was given the impression that it was a massive church. Having seen a lot of big churches in my life, I was prepared to see something extraordinary. Instead, I was a bit disappointed with the size of the church. The church has a more modern design compared to the baroque churches which I had grown accustomed to. Maybe the church is really big but the design doesn’t help project the size. This is actually a relatively young church having been built only in the 1970s. This is a testament to the drawing power of the events at Knock more than a hundred years ago. Imagine having to attend open air masses here without any shelter.

Anyway, the basilica’s main feature is the very tall and thin spire topped by a small crucifix. The building itself is white and designed quite minimalistically. The entrances are lined with the flags of the members of the European Union some of whose members have what could be the more well known Marian apparitions. I wasn’t terribly pleased with the design of the church itself, although I am not an expert in these kinds of things. I guess, I prefer churches to be more traditional in architecture. We actually parked outside the church grounds when we discovered that there were tons of parking available in the church grounds. Anyway, I don’t think it matters much since it was just a short walk to the car.

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