Every year millions of pilgrims around the world and the country come to visit the basilica each year. The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center is located quite nearby to the basilica and is also a tourist attraction in the District of Columbia. The basilica began to be built in the year 1920 and got completed under the Philadelphia contractor John McShain and opened in the year 1959. The basilica is designated as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. This is United States Patronal Catholic Church that honors Mary, Mother of God, under the title of Immaculate Conception. This basilica is not the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Washington. The church is often wrongly is said to be the official church of the United States, which it is not in reality. As there is no official religion in the U.S., so there can be no official church also.
There is as such no parish community of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, but it serves the adjacent University, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and several other Masses for organizations of the Church from across the U.S. To know more about the tourist attractions in the District of Columbia, click to the links provided in our site www.districtofcolumbiaxl.com
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