A sweeping restoration is underway at Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica in Lackawanna. Buffalo News columnist Sean Kirst and Chief Photographer Derek Gee visited to document the changes as OLV Director of Facilities Yordan Kovatchki scaled ladders, climbed scaffolding and balanced on thin wooden beams to show off the restoration work, including the in-progress installation of a new copper roof.

In his column, Kirst also reflects on the legacy of Father Nelson Baker, at whose orphanage Kirst's father was raised. Read the column and see photos and video shot by Gee below!

"I climbed it. I was thinking of 1920s orphans, in faded uniforms, staring up as fearless workers shaped this place out of the sky," writes Sean Kirst.

As Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica in Lackawanna celebrates its centennial, an ambitious project of repairing and replacing t…

Yordan Kovatchki, director of facilities and plant engineering at OLV, talks about the steel structure that holds up the massive dome at Our L…

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