See the world in Boston
It’s the Founding Fathers — Jefferson, Madison, Franklin and the like — who are most celebrated by travellers to Boston. But a “founding mother” also gets her share of visitors.
I’m speaking of Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Boston is home to the mother church for the sect she founded, an institution that today has 1,700 established houses of worship in 76 countries. Even nonbelievers (and I would count myself in those ranks) will find the Christian Science sites of Boston quite fascinating.
Start at the Church of Christ, Scientist, a massive building that takes its design from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
The original Constantinople church was the largest building in the world when it was built, a masterwork of Byzantine architecture. And its Beantown twin is almost as magnificent, with three domes, fine stained-glass windows and thousands of pews.
At the altar is the longest pipe organ on the planet, a wondrous instrument with pipes that vary in size from 13 feet to the length of an average pinky finger. Visitors are led on daily architecture tours of both this structure and of the more humble original sanctuary. Thankfully, there’s no proselytizing on the tours, though guides are quick to point out that they have no connection whatsoever with Scientology, and they are open to discussing Baker Eddy’s legacy and beliefs.
Next door are the offices of the Christian Science Monitor (not visitable) and the Mary Baker Eddy Library with its famed Mapparium.
What’s that? A brilliantly colourful, several-storey-high globe of the world. Three times an hour, visitors are led on a 20-minute tour into the centre of the globe (one enters it via a glass bridge) with a sound-and-light show of sorts, which includes a bit of video, too.
That might sound hokey, but the globe, completed in 1935, is a true work of art. And standing in its centre, one is able to see, far more clearly than one can when looking at a globe from the outside, the actual scope of every continent. It’s also a hoot to look back at the world as it was in 1935, before the planet’s boundaries were reshaped by the Second World War and its aftermath.
The talented guide walks guests through how the globe was constructed, some of the reactions of famous visitors to it (including Nelson Mandela), and the wacky acoustical tricks one can play by standing in different positions within the orb.
Outside of the globe room are permanent exhibitions on the church and the life of Mary Baker Eddy. They’re also of interest, but the star of the show is the Mapparium.
Note to the reader: Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip. The information in this column was accurate when it was released, but prices are competitive, sometimes limited and can always change without notice.
Pauline Frommer is the Editorial Director for the Frommer Travel Guides and Frommers.com. She co-hosts the radio program The Travel Show with her father, Arthur Frommer and is the author of the best-selling Frommer’s EasyGuide to New York City.