I could see folds in the marble roof and thin panels of stained glass stretching from the bottom to the top of the seventeen story structure even while standing four blocks away.  Unfortunately, I could also see the near vertical street that lay between me and St. Mary’s of the Assumption in San Francisco.  After fighting the hill with each step and flipping back and forth in my mind about whether or not I should abandon my climb, I eventually conquered the small mountain and ended up standing beneath the first of many sculptures that I would see during my visit.  Looming over the front entrance of the cathedral was a bronze depiction of Jesus floating between two angels and guiding several other figures toward salvation.  The unusual shape of the roof and the elaborate design of the sculpture piqued my curiosity, and I entered the church excited to see what else St. Mary’s had to offer.

After passing beneath the sculpture, I was greeted by a woman standing next to a marble baptismal fountain.  Though I had not arranged for a tour before I arrived, she was very excited to tell me all about the church and offered to take me around.  As we looked at the bronze sculptures on the walls, she began to describe the history of the building, informing me that the church we were in was actually the third St. Mary’s of the Assumption to be built in San Francisco.  The first had been abandoned when the surrounding neighborhood became a hotbed of prostitution known as the “Barbary Coast” and the second church, which was used until the 1960s, mysteriously burned down.  In the late 1965, however, design of the new St. Mary’s began, and after a construction ended in 1972, a stunning example of modern church architecture was unveiled.

The architect, Pietro Belluschi designed St. Mary’s with the ambitious aim of combining traditional styles, modern architectural technology, and the Second Vatican Council’s new goals for worship into the design.  Not only did Belluschi’s design for the church link together the Gothic cross pattern and the square base of a Byzantine church, but instead of constructing the building through traditional means, Belluschi built a wooden mold and filled it with poured concrete to create an external skeleton that was eventually covered in marble.  The resulting structure has no pillars and rests on four gigantic pylons that support between nine and ten million pounds of weight each.  In addition to being impressive for their sheer size, through the pylon-based support system, Belluschi was also able to accomplish the Second Vatican Council’s goal of having congregants feel as though they are a part of one undivided sanctuary.

The open space and high ceilings of Belluschi’s design also allow for incredible adornments within the church itself.  The 4,842 pipe church organ, designed by Fratelli Ruffatti, rests on a concrete pedestal that rises above the seating in the church, and, because there are no pillars, it remains visible to congregants no matter where they sit.  In addition, the church features a humongous altar located at the center of the church.  The nine ton altar is so large; in fact, that the section of flooring it rests on had to be reinforced just to support its weight.  Perhaps most impressive of all, however, is the incredible aluminum sculpture hovering over the altar.  Comprised of four thousand aluminum rods, the sculpted baldanchin glitters in the air and creates the illusion that sunlight is constantly beaming down into the church.

Though I could have spent hours walking around St. Mary’s, I was on my first trip to San Francisco and I had many other sites to visit, like Stanford’s Memorial Church and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  However, if you are interested in learning more about religious architecture in California, or if you know of other sacred sites in California that you think might merit looking into, please leave a comment below.  Sacred Space International is currently in the process of preparing for a tour of west-coast sacred architecture, and it would be great to hear from you.

8/23/09
Hyde Park Union Church
Service time:  10am – 11:15am
Christian denomination

Another church in Hyde Park that I’ve always walked by, but never been inside, is Hyde Park Union Church (HPUC).  Located at the 56^th / Woodlawn intersection, HPUC is a Hyde Park landmark around the University of Chicago campus, a simple but austere structure anchoring the neighborhood roots.

The red-stone-wall exterior gives off a warm friendly feeling, contrasted by white-gray framed backs of stained-glass windows.  Surrounding trees and sunshine also help to create the welcoming environment.  There are two main entrances on the corner of the street, leading into an antechamber before the main worship area.  Attendees enter from the back corner of the sanctuary, allowing visitors to enter discreetly and without disturbing the service if late (I was indeed a little late, having walked about 15 blocks to get there).

Interior:

The interior of HPUC was much nicer than I had initially expected- high vaulted ceiling, a variety of stained-glass windows adorning the east, south, and north walls, with an exceptional circular stained-glass window above the east wall.  An organ (presumably an organ) and its flute pipes (flute pipes?) decorate the front of the sanctuary on the west wall, along with a slightly elevated platform for the lectern (is it a lectern?), seats for elders (elder seats?), and other worship symbols.  The seating appears to be able to hold a good few hundred people; during my visit, more than a hundred were present.

Service:

Having been to a few different Christian-denomination services now, I was able to comfortably follow the service offered at HPUC.  Hymns, scripture reading, sermon, prayer, meditation, announcements, benediction… all were a good mix of ecumenical services encompassing different Christian denominations.  The congregation members were an eclectic variety ranging from young children to older members of the neighborhood; all were very friendly.  One of the sermons was given by a young pastor full of passion who called us to go out and ‘heal’ our community.  Christian or non-Christian, those listening can all take something away from the moral lesson.

Overall, my visit to Hyde Park Union Church was a great experience that finally allowed me to see what went on behind-the-scenes of the hunkering building so near campus.  Am I more familiar with the Hyde Park neighborhood and its buildings now?  Most definitely.  Has my attitude toward the neighborhood changed?  Quite possibly.

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Each morning I take the bus downtown and walk past countless office buildings on my way to work.  Before I get my coffee, most of the glass windows and brick facades seem to blend together.  The exterior of Saint Peter’s Church in the Loop, however, which features Latvian sculptor Arvid Strauss’ three-story, 26-ton crucifix sculpted from Georgia pink marble, always catches my eye.  In fact, stopping to stare at Strauss’ “Christ of the Loop” has become a fixture of my daily routine.

Since I have spent so much time looking at the exterior of St. Peter’s, I decided to spend some time exploring the interior of the church.  After work, I left my office, fought my way through the busy streets, and entered the golden doors of St. Peter’s.  Although I had only walked a few steps into the building, in the serene marble sanctuary I felt far removed from the rest of the city.  Indeed, as I passed by the bubbling baptismal fountain, took my seat in front of the huge white marble altar, and listened to the congregants sing their hymns, I began to completely forget about the speeding cars and crowded sidewalks outside.

When the service ended, I walked to the front office to meet Friar Joe, a member of the church’s Franciscan order.  I explained who I was and he kindly agreed to pause his game of free cell and show me around the building.  As we walked around the sanctuary, Friar Joe began to explain the history of St. Peter’s.  Although St. Peter’s is now a hallmark of Madison Street, it has not always been located there.  Instead, German immigrants built the original St. Peter’s Church on Clark Street in 1863.  After the original St. Peter’s fell into disrepair, however, the brothers of the Franciscan order purchased the LaSalle Theater and in 1953 used the site to build St. Peter’s Church in the Loop.

Since construction ended, the church has stayed a very busy place, operating many floors, each with its own purpose.  In addition to the sanctuary, where several masses are held each day, the church also has a basement filled with offices for counseling and adult education programs, a third floor balcony for the choir, and a fourth floor with living spaces for the Franciscan brothers.  However, while I enjoyed the view from the third floor and found the integration of offices and living spaces into the church very interesting, without a doubt, the highlight of my trip was my visit to the second floor.

When Friar Joe and I arrived on the second level, I was initially skeptical of his choice to save that floor until the end of the tour.  Although the second floor featured several panes of stained glass, there was little else worthy of note.  However, after a few moments, Friar Joe opened one of the panels and asked me to walk to the patio outside.  There I found myself standing on a platform just a few feet away from the towering crucifix statue that had drawn me to the church in the first place.  Although I had looked at St. Peter’s from Madison Street every day of the summer, from my vantage point directly behind the sculpture, the towering figure took on a much more intimate persona and I could see the finer details of the arms and torso.  I could even make out a tinge of sadness in the figure’s facial expression.

After taking several pictures, I reentered the church through the stained glass window and walked back to the main sanctuary.  I thanked Friar Joe for his wonderful tour, and after I let him get back to his game of free cell, I walked back through the golden doors and back into the busy city, very happy that I stopped to take a look inside St. Peter’s in the Loop.

Homepage: www.stpetersloop.org

Address:

 St. Peter’s in the Loop

110 West Madison St.

Chicago, IL 60602

Tel: (312)-372-5111

E-mail: stpeterloop@aol.com

Nearby Attractions: Millennium Park

Nearby Food: Ruby of Siam

St. Thomas the Apostle

On my way to campus or the dining hall, or on grocery trips down Kimbark, Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church has always been one of my favorite landmarks on my daily journeys in Hyde Park. A short wall of that distinctive sand-colored brick and creamy decorative tiling enclose the Church’s property.  Further west down 55^th Street, the hustle and bustle of recess from the adjoining school greets the eyes and ears of passersby. The combined school and church span a block of 55^th street, and its hard not to wonder what lies behind the walled property line. After hearing SSI’s founder, Suzanne Morgan, mention that the church was rather groundbreaking for its time, I was determined to investigate on my next summer trip to Hyde Park.

This Friday, I finally crossed the dividing line between street and sanctuary. First I wandered in its serene gardens, noting the sculptures of saints and the holy family opening their arms in welcome, and a garden shrine to the Virgin Mary, where candles flickered in the noontime sun. For the first time since beginning at SSI, and after visits to Buddhist & Hindu sanctuaries, a synagogue, and even protestant churches, it was a noteworthy contrast to see an abundance of statues at St. Thomas, not just behind the altar but abundantly dispersed around the interior and exterior of the church. As a practicing Catholic, I was quite at home, however I wonder how this immediate presence of images might strike a non-Catholic visitor.   

The Church was officially closed at the time of my arrival, but a kind secretary from the church office, enthusiastically opened the sanctuary for my unannounced visit. She turned on all the lights and gave me an informal private tour before allowing me full run of the space. Her tour was a perfect balance between personal memories and church history, full of charming anecdotes of her years as a grade school student, of the stained glass bishop whose eyes were said to follow you about the church, and the “electric razor” light fixtures.

She also explained St. Thomas’s groundbreaking architectural singularity, its self-supporting ceiling. Built in 1924 by the Prairie school architect Barry Byrne, St. Thomas was the first Catholic Church in which a wide nave could be supported without the use of side pillars. I couldn’t help thinking how proud medieval architects would have been to tour this space! The structure was at first detested by the diocese as a breach of tradition. Byrne himself was fired after contesting the installment of the baldacchino. “No pillars!” he declared, but he was finally overruled.

The baldacchino still stands behind the main altar. It is crowned with an open-armed figure (I confess, I am not sure if it is Christ or St. Thomas), which creates 3 silhouettes across the ceiling. Facing this altar, one cannot help recalling Bernini’s colossal baldacchino, the centerpiece of Saint Peter’s in Rome. In fact, the Italian Renaissance echoes once again in St. Thomas’s deco interior through the painted Crucifix suspended from the ceiling just in front of the altar.  Like Giotto’s static wood Crucifix at Santa Maria Novella in Florence and other early Renaissance crucifixes, Christ stands out against a geometric background, but at St. Thomas he is richly dressed and crowned with the halo of the Resurrection.

Saint Thomas the Apostle is a site where Catholic art history converges with American modernism in a humble, approachable way. I like to say that Chicago architecture often arrives at this sort of accessibility.  And through the stories I heard and in the feeling one gets as a visitor, it is evident that Saint Thomas has been well loved over the generations for this very reason.

Homepage: www.stapostlechurch.com

St. Thomas the Apostle, 5472 S. Kimbark Avenue, Chicago, IL 60615

Tel: 773-324-2626

E-mail: staparish@aol.com

Upon arriving at the Kedzie Green Line stop, I began to suspect that I had made a mistake.  When I left the train, I expected to see an Italian Renaissance Style Basilica.  Instead, my view consisted of broken bottles, empty lots, and stores with barred windows.  Despite the seeming impossibility of finding a basilica only a few blocks away, sure enough, after a short walk, I arrived at the entrance of Our Lady of Sorrows.

While the exterior of the building was impressive, it was the interior of the building that stunned me.  Upon entering the church, I fixed my attention on the ceiling, which stands eighty feet high and features an enormous barrel vault clad with hundreds of blue panels and silver florets.  I found the ceiling so captivating that only the ‘excuse me’ of a parishioner broke my stare.  After picking up a hymnal and a newsletter, I walked to a pew near the front of the church and took my seat.

Although only about a hundred and fifty people came to the mass, when the music of the choir and parishioners filled the basilica, the number of people in attendance hardly mattered.  I enjoyed the sound of the hymns and allowed my eyes to wander across the seemingly endless adornments of the church.  From my seat I saw a huge marble altar with a golden tabernacle, a series of enormous paintings depicting biblical scenes, and numerous side altars complete with statues of various saints.  I couldn’t wait to tour the rest of the basilica.

Once the service ended and most of the parishioners left, Father Robert began his tour.  With the choir practicing in the background, Father Robert gave a brief history of the basilica.  Construction on Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica began in 1890 with the intention of providing Italian immigrants both a place to worship and a way to remember the churches of their Italian homeland.  Twelve years later, construction of the church finished and for the next thirty years, the congregation grew rapidly in size and influence.  At Our Lady of Sorrows’ peak in 1930, Friday masses served about seventy thousand people and almost 1,000,000 copies of the church’s “Sorrowful Mother Novena Notes” circulated throughout the country every week.  In 1956, Our Lady of Sorrows became the first church in Illinois to receive the papal designation of basilica for its great contributions to the Catholic faith.

Father Robert continued his tour, stopping occasionally to point out architectural and artistic highlights.  Flanking the high altar, for example, are two gilded balconies patterned after the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.  There are also a number of enormous paintings around the basilica each depicting a different biblical scene.  While these paintings are on canvas and not frescos like in a true Italian Renaissance church, the scale and detail of the paintings are still very impressive.  Perhaps the most impressive element of the church, however, is the full scale replica of Michelangelo’s La Pieta.

Handmade in Italy by Spartaco Palla, the replica is such an accurate and impressive portrayal of the original that, after shipping the sculpture to Chicago in the 1930s, the church displayed the replica in the Loop for several months before moving it to the basilica.  When I entered the chapel containing the replica of La Pieta, it was easy to see why the sculpture’s arrival caused such a stir.  Though I initially hesitated to approach it, at the urging of Father Robert, I walked up and touched the forearm of Jesus, feeling the coolness of the marble and the almost human detail of the carving.  As Father Robert later explained, because the original is behind a wall of bulletproof glass in Rome, the replica found in Our Lady of Sorrows provides an opportunity to experience a great piece of artwork in a way that would otherwise be impossible.

After leaving the statue, Father Robert told me about dozens of other sculptures, paintings, and architectural intricacies in the church.  While I could try to describe everything on the tour, I do not have the space, nor do I want to spoil the experience for those of you who will soon take a trip out to East Garfield Park.  However, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday morning excursion and when my tour was over, I said goodbye to Father Robert with every intention of returning to visit Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica again.

Homepage: http://www.ols-chicago.org/

Tel: (773) 638-0159, ext. 102

E-mail: olsparish@ols-chicago.org

Direct photo pages: http://www.ols-chicago.org/photo_album.html

Address:

 Our Lady of Sorrows National Shrine

3121 West Jackson Boulevard

Chicago, IL 60612

Nearby Attractions: Garfield Park Conservatory

Nearby Food: Edna’s Soul Food

As my first weekend excursion for Sacred Space International, my family and I ventured from our home in Wheaton to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, located in the nearby Western suburb of Bartlett. Like many suburban residents, we have often wondered about the white domes and carved facade of the Mandir, which are just visible from Route 59 behind its iron gates and tree-lined property. In turning off the busy road for the first time, my parents and I exclaimed in excitement as our car winded through the grounds, the past sculptures, gardens, and fountains. The Mandir truly is an oasis in the farthest reaches of Chicagoland.

Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, BAPS for short, is a Hindu organization established in India in 1907 after the teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. The BAPS Mandir in Chicago extends to its visitors the BAPS message of peace, equality, and tradition, themes which are abundantly visible both in the architecture of the space and in the community members who worship here daily.

To escape the rain, we followed other promenading community members and visitors into the Haveli, a modern community center decorated in elaborate, traditionally carved teak wood. It is important to note that visitors are welcomed and even anticipated at the Mandir. We were certainly not the only curious family, and congregation members and staff were more than willing to answer our questions and point us in the right direction.

A tour guide was stationed in the Haveli, and from a window onto the Mandir he described with pride its architectural focal points.  The Mandir’s distinctive stone façade is composed of Turkish limestone and Italian marble, materials that were hand carved in India and assembled on site in Bartlett. The complexity of its architecture and the level of skilled craftsmanship are immediately clear, demonstrating the centrality of the worship space in the BAPS community. As the BAPS Chicago website explains, “It is the mandir that fuels our faith in God, strengthens our society, teaches us to trust one another, and to become trustworthy. … A mandir is a center for learning about man, nature, and God.”

The Haveli is connected to the Mandir by an underground tunnel and exhibition space. Here, framed panels explain the geography and history of India, the central tenants of Hinduism and the specificities of BAPS, and the organization’s global outreach programs. Additionally, the Haveli contains a store with an extensive collection of books, music, DVDs, and household items for those interested in further learning and devotion at home. Both the exhibition and the store are fitting introductions to BAPS for both Hindu and non-Hindu visitors, and the perfect preparation for entering the Mandir.

I had never before visited a Hindu place of worship, and I certainly never envisioned a space as striking as this Mandir. On the interior, the same carved white stone articulates every surface, creating a calming atmosphere in which one can explore the intricacy of its design and the skill of its craftsmanship. Carved pillars support concave honeycombed domes, each decorated in unique geometric patterns. The combined effect is at once formal and homey. The entire space is unified by texture and color, and emits a sort of cool, luminous glow. Carved wood doors and offering boxes pepper the monochrome and point us in the direction of the deities, who, though brightly colored and smiling, sleep behind doors after prayer and worship times. Visitors can still imagine their presence with the help of LCD screens that alternate between images and descriptions.

What impressed me most about the Mandir is the casual familiarity in which community members inhabited the space after prayers. Families lounged together against the stone pillars and young parents strolled about barefoot to sooth fussy babies. A group of school-aged girls took turns spinning under the central dome with their heads tilted back, experiencing the space in their own creative way yet clearly still participating in the sense of awe and comfort we all shared.  In turn, my family and I felt like guests invited to explore and make ourselves at home as well.

Through the awe I felt for this architecture and the serenity it inspired, I felt free to contemplate the space in the context of the spiritual traditions that gave it form. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Chicago is clearly a space in which architecture and design work in harmony with the beliefs of its community.  It was a pleasure to visit, and I look forward to maintaining a friendship with BAPS Chicago in the future.

Homepage:                         http://chicago.baps.org/index.htm

Official Photo Gallery:            http://chicago.baps.org/PhotoGallery/PhotoGallery.htm

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, 4N739 IL Route 59,
Bartlett , IL 60103 USA 
                   Tel: (630) 213-2277                        E-mail: info.chicago@usa.baps.org

• Commissioned by John D. Rockefeller, founder of the University of Chicago
• Constructed in 1928, by architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue
• Built in style of Byzantine / Romanesque / Gothic
• Stands 207 ft. high, capacity seats 1700

I initially did some research on the RMC website (rockefeller.uchicago.edu); the worship services offered are described as “University Ecumenical Services” every Sunday at 11am. After a quick scan on the web, I realized the ‘ecumenical’ description, meaning “of worldwide scope or applicability” or more specifically “of or relating to the worldwide Christian church” (American Heritage Dictionary), fitted extremely well with Sacred Space International’s goal of interfaith understanding. The space: Not being a student of architecture, RMC’s exterior still impressed me with its presentation, adhering to the University of Chicago’s neo-Gothic theme. Wide swathes of fresh-cut green lawns surround the space, with finely cut stone walkways and even parking nearby. The building is definitely a defining landmark of the UChicago campus. The interior is no less impressive: High arched ceilings, center stained-glass window, organ wall expanse, surrounding seating areas, intricate wooden decorations. The environment grants a wonderfully serene feeling of peace. The service: Summer ecumenical service at RMC is significantly smaller than in the rest of the year, from what I gathered. The people present fit comfortably in the front chancel section, which is the section that contains the altar, choir section, and organ. Participants in the service were each given a pamphlet with step-by-step outline of the service, very useful for those unfamiliar with the general proceedings. The atmosphere is relaxed and the people are all very friendly, shaking your hand warmly during a ‘wish-peace-upon-your-neighbor’ segment. The actual service is of Christian denomination, mixing conservative Catholic traditions (according to my formerly Catholic friend) with some more modern practices, such as the sermon message about breaking down barriers between cultures. A large part of the service was the singing of Latin songs by a choir and melodic organ pieces, giving a nice audio ambience to the beautiful visual environment. The extras: Refreshments and socializing were offered after the service. Apple cider + cookies = delicious! In addition, we were given the opportunity to ascend to the top of the RMC tower. Not only did we get to see a live playing of a carillon (allegedly the second largest in the world), which is an instrument with a console controlling numerous bells, we saw a magnificent view of Hyde Park and Chicago from the top of the University of Chicago’s tallest building. *Not for the acrophobic

]]> http://www.sacredspaceinternational.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=55 0 http://www.sacredspaceinternational.org/blog/?p=47 http://www.sacredspaceinternational.org/blog/?p=47#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:46:25 +0000 npulichene http://www.sacredspaceinternational.org/blog/?p=47 The launch date has now been set for official blog content: August 12, 2009
Read and join in on the initial field experiences of our correspondents.
See you then!

Here you will find the musings of the Sacred Space International field correspondents, as well as general thoughts from the organization. Join Nicole, Andrew, Tony, and others (perhaps even yourself) as they check out various sacred spaces in the greater Chicago area.
Feel free to comment and join in the interfaith dialogue!