Houses of Worship

Church steeples dot Buffalo’s skyline, reminiscent of a time when houses of worship were the central gathering places for the Italian, Irish, German and Polish immigrants that settled its neighborhoods. Buffalo’s treasure trove of houses of worship are worthy of exploration; they reflect the soaring ambitions and devoutness of earlier generations and have yielded international acclaim.

Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica is said to rival the great churches of Europe with its breathtaking paintings and statuary, while Blessed Trinity Church, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of the finest examples of 12th-century Lombard-Romanesque architecture in the United States. Visitors marvel at the medina sandstone in Trinity Episcopal Church and Richard Upjohn’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral as well as the Tiffany designed stained glass in First Presbyterian Church and the Church of the Good Shepherd.  No such tour would be complete without visiting the modernist Temple Beth Zion, featuring scalloped walls, 60 foot ceilings and a pair of 30 foot tall commandment tablets and stained glass windows designed by artist Ben Shahn.