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National Cathedral to Start Charging for Admission

The cathedral needs to raise money to fix the damage it sustained in the August 2011 earthquake.
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The National Cathedral will soon be free for worshippers, but not for tourists. Photograph by Flickr user Chris_118.

It’s not quite pay-to-pray, but the Washington National Cathedral needs to shore up its coffers, and to do that, it’s going to start charging its tourists, the historic church announced today.

Starting next year, the cathedral will begin charging $10 for adults and $6 for children, seniors, and members of the military who aren’t visiting for religious reasons. The new admission fees are being implemented in part to cover the $26 million cost of repairing the damage it sustained in the August 2011 earthquake that rattled the Washington area.

The cathedral suffered extensive damage to its central tower in the 5.8-magnitude earthquake, and still needs to raise $19 million to fix it, NBC4 reports.

Entry to the cathedral will remain free on Sunday, and on weekdays for anyone coming for the cathedral to pray or worship.

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Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.