GuelphToday received the following letter to the editor from reader Michael Douglas about the spires on top of the Basilica of the Church of Our Lady
Approaching our fine City from highway 124 in the past, I habitually looked for and truly appreciated the aesthetic spectacle of the century old iconic spires atop the Basilica of the Church of Our Lady coming into view and towering majestically above the city.
Recently I noticed something was horribly amiss. The iconic landmark spires that were akin to a dependable lighthouse guiding me home were gone and the visual vacuum left in their absence was palpably gut-wrenching.
That next evening I read journalist Mark Pare's excellent article in GuelphToday Mark explained that the spires were removed in December due to serious safety concerns arising from their age related deterioration. A before and after photo was appended to the article and it offered a demonstratively sad optic. He went on to elaborate that the replacement of the spires rests in the hands of the Diocese of Hamilton who will ultimately examine the physical and financial viability of replacing the spires.
The inability to restore the iconic spires in one form or another would leave us with an architectural blight on our City skyline and a nostalgic historical disfigurement that we could possibly never recover from. We may need the city, the Province and the Federal Governments to step up and assist the Hamilton Diocese in finding a remedy to this cultural and heritage dilemma.
In William Wordsworth's poem Splendour in the Grass he laments that "Nothing can bring back the splendour in the grass, or the glory in the flower, that we should grieve not, and rather find strength in what remains behind."
I love the wisdom and literary beauty of Wordsworth. His words above are a fitting reflection on matters related to the heart and the losses we endure in life. I find it almost impossible to contemplate anyone finding an ounce of tangible strength in the visual remnants of the Church of our Lady in an embarrassing state of undress.
Michael Douglas. Guelph
