Franciscan Monastery and Memorial Church of the Holy Land

Text

The Franciscan Monastery Complex is located on a hill named Mount Saint Sepulcher in Brookland. The Byzantine-style buff colored brick church, designed by Italian architect Aristides Leonori and built in 1899, is the centerpiece of the complex, a cloistered area of ground which also contains small chapels, outdoor shrines, statuary, a cemetery, and landscaped gardens.

The Monastery is the headquarters of the Commissariat of the Holy Land for the United States. As such, it reflects an essential part of the history of the Order of Friars Minor: its responsibility for the actual preservation of the Shrines of the Holy Land (by their recreation, in facsimile, on the Monastery grounds) and for the education of Americans for the work of the Holy Land. The Monastery is also an important example of ecclesiastical design and is evidence of the skill and craftsmanship of its architects.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: January 17, 1992