American History Week: The U.S. Supreme Court appears in a stained glass window in the nave. In mid-June, historic rulings by the court protected DACA recipients and LGBTQ employees.

American History Week: The Cathedral is the highest point in Washington, D.C., which gives it a good view of fireworks on the fourth of July!

American History Week: This carving of Eleanor Roosevelt honors the former First Lady’s service as a diplomat at the United Nations.

American History Week: A bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln kneeling sits by the Parclose Stairs, which lead from the nave to the crypt.

American History Week: This bronze statue of George Washington riding a horse stands outside the Cathedral walls to the south, at the base of the Pilgrim Way stairs.

Peter and Paul Week: Keys are a symbol of St. Peter, one of the saints for whom the Cathedral is named.

Peter and Paul Week: The coat of arms uses imagery to represent the Cathedral’s official name — the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Peter and Paul Week: The Cathedral coat of arms uses images to represent the Cathedral. What images would you use to represent yourself?

Peter and Paul Week: Statues of St. Peter, holding a fishing net, and St. Paul, struck blind by God’s power, stand by the Cathedral entrance.

Voices of Change Week: “We might actually have an opportunity to change some things in our country and our world … what if the time is now?”
— Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Washington National Cathedral, June 7, 2020

Voices of Change Week: Known as “General Moses,” she escaped slavery and returned to lead hundreds of enslaved people to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Voices of Change Week: Recognized as the first African American woman to publicly speak out against slavery, notably in her speech Ain’t I a Woman. She also served as a nurse at Freedman’s Hospital/Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Voices of Change Week: Educator, stateswoman, philanthropist, humanitarian and civil rights activist. She founded Bethune-Cookman College. A kneeler honoring her is in St. John’s Chapel.

Music Week: The great organ has 10,647 pipes and is often played during Cathedral services.

Music Week: There are 53 bells in the carillon. Each bell is a different note, and the set is played from a keyboard. 

Music Week: David, the shepherd, soothes his sheep with his harp. 

Music Week: Five choir boys with sheet music reflect the donor’s appreciation of the College and Dr. Paul Calloway, with whom he studied.

Music Week: This angel carving is part of the gilded linden wood reredos at the east end of St. Mary’s Chapel honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Memorial Day Week: This small carving of a cannon decorates a column outside the Slype, where Cathedral Canons (clergy) get ready for services.

Memorial Day Week: During WWII, American troops parachuted into battle in Europe.

Memorial Day Week: This detail from a window celebrating Freedom commemorates paratroopers.

Memorial Day Week: A detail from a window celebrating freedom and the U.S. military in World War II.

Memorial Day Week: This detail illustrates a biblical foretelling, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4).

Animals Week: Animal faces peer from the windows aboard Noah’s ark as the flood waters rise. 

Animals Week: Canadian geese feature in this window dedicated in memory of James Wilford Crudgington.

Animals Week: Will they be friends? A cat in an aide’s cap watches a mouse in this gargoyle carving.

Animals Week: What’s your favorite snack? Pandas munch on bamboo shoots on this seat cushion in Children’s Chapel.

Animals Week: Who will win? Two birds fight a squirrel in this stone carving atop a column in the northeast cloister.

Hidden Details Week: limestone carving celebrating Sam and Ham the Monkeys (they were actually chimpanzees), the first pioneers in America’s space program.

Hidden Details Week: Great Choir wood carving of hippocampus, a mythical creature with the body and head of a horse and the tail of a fish.

Hidden Details Week: Great Choir wood carving of a giant asp-turtle and sailors from a medieval book of fables.

Hidden Details Week: A pterodactyl soars in this stained glass window above St. John’s Chapel.

Hidden Details Week: A unicorn prances on this needlepoint kneeler from Bethlehem Chapel.

Flowers & Gardens Week: Stained glass featuring jonquils and carnations, in honor of the 50th wedding anniversary of the donors’ parents.

Flowers & Gardens Week: Daisy-like flowers and morning glories surround the steeple and tower of a church in this window.

Flowers & Gardens Week: Since 1900, the Altar Guild and Flower Guild have overseen the altar and floral arrangements.

Flowers & Gardens Week: Sunflowers bloom in the Bishop’s Garden.

Flowers & Gardens Week: Colorful tulips are some of the many flowers that grow in the Bishop’s Garden.

Gargoyles & Grotesques Week: A feline dragon with a saw-toothed ridge and a baggy-eyed dragon lurk on the Cathedral’s south side.

Gargoyles & Grotesques: 321 angels playing instruments and singing adorn the highest pinnacles of the West Towers.

Gargoyles & Grotesques Week: A Percheron is a breed of draft horse. The raccoon design won second in a design-a-carving competition in 1985.

Gargoyles & Grotesques Week: This angel plays a French horn from high on the West Towers.

Gargoyles & Grotesques Week: Darth Vader was a winning design for a design-a-carving competition sponsored by a children’s magazine in 1985

Gothic Architecture Week: This stone pictures the six days of creation and a sleeping human figure for the Sabbath.

Gothic Architecture Week: The western façade honors Gothic tradition with grand towers, a prominent rose window and pointed arches.

Gothic Architecture Week: This boss stone celebrates the moon landing, showing an astronaut floating in space.

Gothic Architecture Week: The towers, rose window, and pointed arches are part of the Gothic style of architecture.

Holy Week: One of seven mosaics in Resurrection Chapel depicting Jesus’ appearances to his followers after his resurrection.

Holy Week: The kneelers in Resurrection Chapel are stitched with imagery representing resurrection.

Holy Week: The kneelers in Resurrection Chapel are stitched with imagery representing resurrection.

Stained Glass Week: The Space Window celebrates America’s exploration of the cosmos, containing a piece of moon rock brought back on Apollo 11.

Stained Glass Week: The Japanese iris blooms are a memorial for Hide Motada Suzuki. The lyre celebrates Anna S. Eisenmenger’s love for music.

Stained Glass Week: Water flows through strands of kelp in one window. A shell sits in the corner of the second.

Stained Glass Week: This rose window represents Creation in the West front of the Cathedral.

Stained Glass Week: The Space Window contains a piece of moon rock brought back on Apollo 11.