Toronto Masonic Temple

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Original purpose: Temple
Current purpose: TV studio
Affiliation: Masonic
Open to public: No

Toronto Masonic Temple at 888 Yonge St. is one of the most mysterious buildings in Toronto and one of the few surviving examples of Masonic architecture. It is now occupied by MTV Canada, but until very recently it was home to many prominent Masonic lodges. Unfortunately, due to decline in membership and financial difficulties that many lodges experienced at the end of the past century, the building changed hands a couple of time until purchased by CTV, which decided to let MTV completely take over the building in 2005, when it also was re-dedicated with the help of Grand Lodge of Canada. Since then, the temple was completely renovated and brought up to modern building codes. But the mysteries still remain, such as whether MTV’s logo on the front is coincidentally articulates the letter “M”…

Here is a very detailed article about the history of the building…

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St. Joseph's Oratory, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Original/Current purpose: church
Affiliation: Roman Catholic
Open to public: Yes

On the 17th of October 2010 brother Andre Bessette of Montreal has officially become the first modern day Canadian Catholic saint. His contribution was working miracles, most of which he conducted in a little church he started back 1904.

Perched on the slope of Mount Royal overlooking the city with the same name (Montreal), sits one of the most intriguing places of worship in Canada – St. Joseph Oratory. The stream of pilgrims is comparable with any ancient miracle spots. The stories of cures are overwhelming.

The complex consists of two distinct spaces - the crypt and the oratory itself.

But it's the passage connecting the two that is most unusual. It is filled with canes of believers who no longer needed them and candles from those who still do.
If the sight of pilgrims scaling the mountainous staircase on their knees was not enough to demonstrate the sight's popularity, large escalators leading to the oratory would be.
Oratory itself is a very imposing more modern structure, with very little of crypt's intimacy or passage's spirituality.

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Yaroslavl, Russia

Location: Russia
Original/Current purpose: city, churches, monasteries, museum
Affiliation: Russian Orthodox
Open to public: Yes

Yaroslavl is a small industrial city about 4 hour train ride north east from Moscow. There is a lot of history there - this year the place celebrates its 1,000 anniversary. At one point the town was de-facto capital of the country for the whole six days. This chapel commemorates this event (along with national uprising against Polish invaders).

Today it represents an interesting mix of industry and tourism. Its river cruise terminal is always full of ships. The main attraction here is the immense number of churches. With a fairly low skyline, one can see green and gold onions all over the place. Sometimes, even regularly looking old houses turn out to be a church of some kind at close examination. For example, right across the street from Premier Ring hotel, there is a complex of churches left over from an ancient monastery, which until five years ago served as a tram yard with no indication of its spiritual heritage.

The main attractions include: Saviour Transformation (Spasso-Preobrazhensky) monastery in the very centre of the town. It is often confused for the town’s Kremlin. The real Kremlin was destroyed during Bolshevik Revolution.

The church of Epiphany (Bogoyavleniya) is located right next to the monastery in the square of the same name. Although it is not as well restored as the others, and only one chamber is currently open to the public, one easily finds commonalities with its famous cousin in Moscow of St. Basil. Epiphany was actually used as a prototype. No tourist ever misses its falling bell-tower (closed to public).

In 2010 the city has re-build its most important Assumption (Uspensky) cathedral, which is now the focal point of the 1000th anniversary.

The church of Elijah the Prophet is located in the Soviet square surrounded by local parliament buildings. It houses one of the oldest fresco collections and is considered to be the true treasure of the city.

Right around the corner from Elijah, on the opposite side of the former regional headquarters of the Communist Party, we find a tiny, but splendidly decorated chapel dedicated to Alexander Nevsky, ancient tsar and protector of Russian people.

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