Madonna Queen National Shrine

When in the East Boston area we love to travel up to the Madonna Queen National Shrine. This beautiful monument and parish dedicated to Mother Mary is a great place to come reflect as well as see East Boston and Logan Airport.
The monument is beautiful but recently there have been a lot of people disrespecting the area. This is a bit frustrating but if you look past that this is a great place.
The gift shop here is also nice and their chapels are welcoming. We will continue to come here to pay our respect to Our Lady.

A little hard to get to, I ended up parking at the bottom of a hill and hiking up alot of stairs, but an amazing place.
If you are into this sort of thing it doesn’t get any better. If you are not, it is still well worth a visit. Pictures do not do it justice.

Even if you are not religious this is still beautiful. It is very impressive at night. You can see a beautiful view of the city too.

These things are so eery to me, this one with its back to the water and behind a much smaller Christ*. It’s an extremely random-​seeming spot but an impressive piece that puts things in perspective even for us secular types.
*insert behind every man is a great woman line here

I don’t know if I can echo the same sentiments that these are some of the «best views of Boston» since visiting both here and the Mt. Auburn cemetery for the first time within a few weeks of one another. The tower in MAC certainly rivals the statue site and mmaaayyybbeeee the Madonna gets a leg up only because you can see the ocean while at MAC, you only see land for miles. But I digress.
35′ of Christianity splendor overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the location is perfect and the main statue of Madonna is awe inspiring, regardless if you are religious or not. Maybe a ¼ star deduction for being fairly difficult to find, I even made two wrong turns attempting to find it with the GPS, lots of small turns here and there. It does seem to be very near a T stop and maybe a 10 minute walk from the nearest blue line station I could see from on top of the mount. Plenty of free parking once you are there though in your own vehicle and there isn’t a walk to the statue itself.
Go for the picturesque beauty of it all, go because your Catholic roots call you, go because it’s an amazing place to capture some great photography, go for your love of massive statues like the one in Rio, Brazil. As I said before, religious or not… you’ll be amazed at some of the lesser known parts of Boston you never knew about or were always afraid to visit because they are bordering on impossible to find.

This shrine is beautiful and a must see. The statue of the Mary, Queen of the Universe is breathtaking.

Some friends of mine were joking about the «Madonna on the hill» and I was expecting a small chapel dedicated to the Blessed Mother. However, the road on the north side of the hill takes one past a rustic cross, then on to a surprisingly ornate shrine that was erected in 1950’s by an artist who believed Mary protected his family from the Nazis. This is not your typical roadside attraction, by any means. Once you wander around the shrine, you can see the labor that must have gone into the mosaic and the 35 foot sculpture. One of the highlights of the trip is an actual votive candle altar located across from the statue in the front of the nursing home named for the Don Orione religious order. Don’t miss this. It is only a few minutes from Logan International Airport and, like others have mentioned, the shrine has one of the best views of the harbor surrounding the airport – like it’s floating on water!

Not to be missed, the walk up the hill is great, the views from the shrine are very good. It is not the usual perspective of Boston (unless one is from East Boston). Ask to see the Christorama Museum, which contains a beautiful diorama of Jerusalem.

[EDIT]
I have updated Gift Shop hours as of 4÷13÷15:
Monday-​Friday — 10:00 — 3:00
Saturday & Sunday — 10:00 — 12:00
— — — — — –
I have some info on the Gift Shop. As of 1÷24÷11, here are it’s hours:
Monday closed
Tue-​Sat 11 – 5:30
Sun 10 – 3
Phone: 617 569 3236
Also, random fact about the statue. Did you know it was originally planned to be placed on the opposite side, overlooking all of East Boston? Apparently the people who lived directly down hill were worried it would some day fall and take out a 35 foot swath of Orient Heights, all the way to the beach! Oh well.

This shrine is the Black Madonna of Massachusetts, the view is so amazing, but pales in the wonderful shadow of Mary.

If I had to use one word to describe the 35 Ft. Madonna Statue in East Boston it would be RANDOM!
The Madonna is a stunningly beautiful copper and bronze statue located on a hilltop in Eastie. It has beautiful views of the waterfront, Logan Airport and the city of Boston which makes it an ideal place for pictures. The mosaics, sculptures and history surrounding the Madonna are also very beautiful and interesting.
This has to be one of the most random yet coolest things I have ever seen in Boston and for that it gets 5 stars! Religious or not this is definitely a site worth seeing in Boston!

I’m not Catholic, but this is one of the few decent things in East Boston. It’s pretty cool and definately worth stopping by to see.

One of the best spots to view the city of Boston. Amazing view from this and a great place to take pictures of the city, the waterfront, and runways at Logan.

Impressive shrine with awesome city views…
I am always on the look out for spiritual places. I did a little research on line about the shrine before making my pilgrimage.

The Madonna Queen National Shrine is on top a large lookout in East Boston by Logan Airport. You can almost feel the planes as the approach for landing. The statue is stunning find in the middle of a residential neighborhood. You also get a great view of the city and airport from the shrine too. Catholic Services are held on Saturday and Sunday and there is a gift shop as well. If you are on your way on 1A from the Logan. You should stop by and sneak a peek.

There is something very reassuring about having a 35 foot statue of the Madonna overlooking your neighborhood. This place is a wonderful shrine with great mosaics and a strong community feel to it.
The attached church has masses in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and I cannot wait to see it all lit up.

I don’t exactly know the history, but I went to this for the first time and it was huge. Plus the views from the top of the hill are awesome. Oh wait here is what its about take from
:
«Across from the Don Orione Home in East Boston stands a statue of the Madonna 35 feet high made of copper and bronze. It was erected in May of 1954, the Marian Year, and was greeted by thousands of worshippers. Its story dates back to World War II when the famous Jewish sculptor Arrigo Minerbi was welcomed to refuge in the Don Orione’s Institution in Rome during the Nazi persecution against Jews. After the liberation, Minerbi created a statue of the Madonna as a gift to the Don Orione Fathers and personal thanksgiving for surviving the war. It was placed on the hill of Montemario overlooking the city of Rome. Soon after, a replica of the six-​ton masterpiece was made and shipped to the Don Orione Fathers in East Boston in three pieces. It was reconstructed and dedicated as „The Madonna Queen of the Universe“ by Archbishop Cushing. The shrine and serene statue greet visitors year-​round. Mass is said Saturdays at 5:00 pm, Sundays at 11:00 am and 5:00 pm, and weekdays at 7:30 pm. The gift shop is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. Located at 150 Orient Avenue, take Route 1-​A, turn at the cross on the hill and follow the signs. 617−569−2100»
Its a really neat site to see so i recommend taking the trek to see the Madonna.

Best view in all of Boston. Very famous Catholic site where Pope John Paul visited. Tourists should visit this place. Take the Blue line subway to Orient Heights, get off and walk up the hill towards it. bring a camera.