Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral was founded as a church in 1904 to serve the Greek Orthodox residents of the District of Columbia. In 1962, the church was elevated to a cathedral. The building is in the Neo-Byzantine style with a central dome that reaches 24m in height.
The congregation met in temporary quarters for several years, prior to the construction of its own church near 8th and L Streets NW which was dedicated in 1924. This site is currently occupied by the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Construction on the current edifice at 2815 36th Street NW, near Massachusetts Avenue and a short distance from the Washington National Cathedral, began in 1951. The congregation began worshipping there in 1955 shortly after major construction was completed. Although the building has been in use for over fifty years, the interior decoration is incomplete. Work began on the interior in 1965 and continues to the present.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.