About

The Marquis de Lafayette was honored with a special service at Monumental Church marking his triumphant return to Virginia on October 31, 1824. Lafayette sat with Chief Justice John Marshall in the Marshall family pew.

Located in downtown Richmond, Monumental Church is a National Historic Landmark designed by Robert Mills in the aftermath of the Richmond Theatre Fire (1811) to honor the lives lost in one of the worst urban tragedies in American history. An active congregation for over 150 years, the church was deconsecrated in 1965 and is currently open for public tours in response to renewed interest resulting from recent popular books (Rachel Beanland’s “The House is on Fire” and Meredith Henne Baker’s non-fiction “The Richmond Theater Fire: Early America’s First Great Disaster”). Lafayette felt it was important enough to visit-- do you?

Come visit this architecturally, historically, and culturally significant site that connects us to our past and defines who we are as Americans, as Virginians, and as Richmonders.