St. Louis Cathedral

Three tiered steeples rise above the surrounding flat rooftops of the French Quarter, topped by iron crosses. This is the Saint Louis Cathedral, the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States. In seventeen eighty-eight, a fire swept through the city and destroyed the previous church on this site. Don Andres Almonaster y Roxas, a wealthy Spanish nobleman, funded the reconstruction. He insisted his remains be buried under the flagstones near the altar, where they stay to this day.