Polish Cathedral style
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The Polish Cathedral style is a type of church architecture found throughout the Great Lakes and New England regions of the United States. Contrary to what their name suggests, they are not actually 'Cathedrals' since this term is defined as a Church that is the seat of a Bishop. The term is actually a misnomer arising out of the fact that it seems innately wrong to the casual observer to label these grand monumental edifices as simply ‘churches’. These grand temples were amazingly enough built by the the working poor in these regions in the era spanning the period from the end of the Civil War until the end of World War II. The influence of nationalism and identity is evident in the unique architecture of ‘The Polish Cathedral Style’, which is associated often with the religious order of the Congregation of the Resurrection and the architectural stylings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Both in scale and scope these edifices are seen as attempts to contradict the marginal status that the Polish people found themselves in, both as a stateless people whose culture was systematically attacked in its homeland as well as their lowly position on the economic ladder as industrial immigrants in turn of the century industrial centers. The location of these churches greatly influenced the development of these rapidly growing industrial cities as we know them; the mentality/world view that these immigrants brought with them from the Old World and its adaptation into the New and its evolution shaped the geography of these rapidly growing industrial dynamos. The following is a list of churches in Chicago in the 'Polish Cathedral' style:
