16th Street Baptist Church, Civil rights church in downtown Birmingham, United States.
The 16th Street Baptist Church is a brick church building in downtown Birmingham, United States, that combines Byzantine architectural elements with Romanesque influences. The front displays two tall bell towers and arched windows across three stories, giving the structure a clear profile in the surrounding area.
The congregation dates back to the 1870s, and the current building was constructed in the early 20th century to accommodate a growing membership. In September 1963, a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members killed four girls and injured more than twenty others during Sunday school.
The building takes its name from the original location on 16th Street, and the congregation still gathers here for regular worship services and meetings. Visitors can see the Wales Window inside, a stained glass piece from Cardiff donated after the attack as a gesture of solidarity.
Tours run from Tuesday through Saturday between 10 AM and 3 PM, with admission priced at 5 dollars for students and 10 dollars for adults. Visitors interested in civil rights history should plan enough time to explore the exhibit spaces and the memorial in the lower level at a comfortable pace.
The building received National Historic Landmark status in 2006 and became part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in 2017. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke here on several occasions in the years before the attack, and the site remained a gathering point for civil rights activists.
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