Pierre L'Enfant, the city's designer, set aside land for a "great church for national purposes" in 1792. However, the land he set aside for a national cathedral is now home to National Portrait Gallery. When Congress granted the charter it was so that a cathedral could be built in order to promote religion, learning and charity.
During World War II, construction of the Neo-Gothic cathedral was put on hold, but the Bethlehem Chapel continued to hold services in the unfinished cathedral. When the war ended, the original architects had died and money was needed to continue construction. Congress has called the Washington National Cathedral 'The National House of Prayer" because during WWII it held services for a united people. Today it continues to host religious as well as secular events, and state funerals for three American Presidents have been held at the National Cathedral.
Stained glass commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Iwo Jima flag raising and the moon landing, with a fragment of lunar rock at its center. One grotesque (something like a gargoyle) is carved to look like Star Wars' Darth Vader.
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