The goal of my second day in San Francisco was to visit Grace Cathedral
and The Haas-Lilienthal House. If you haven't already guessed I took every hill and step on foot. I suspect there was a faster and easier path to walk, but not really knowing my way around and having only the map the concierge handed me, I just zigged and zagged and climbed around until I happened upon The Cathedral.
Grace Church, ancestor of The Cathedral, built in 1849 during the Gold Rush on the corner of California and Stockton (just at the edge of Chinatown) was destroyed by the earthquake and fire of 1906.
The Nob Hill property, also destroyed by the fire, on the corner of California and Taylor was donated by the prominent Crocker family for a new cathedral.
"Designed in the French Gothic style by Lewis Hobart," construction began in 1928 and was completed in 1964. Upon completion it was to be the nation's third largest Episcopal Cathedral.
Walking up the front steps the first thing you see is Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise.
The original doors, designed by the Florence sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), were made for the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral. Each panel is a story taken from the Old and New Testaments.
These panels were made using the same molds as for the originals. The molds were later destroyed. "The Doors of Paradise are considered by many to be the first and greatest masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance."
The original doors were ordered removed from the church in Florence by the World War II Nazi government. It is not known if it was so ordered to protect them from bombing or to give to Hermann Goring for his collection. They were hidden in an abandoned railway tunnel. The originals no longer hang, but are now kept in a dry and temperature controlled space. The doors hanging at the Baptistery are also duplicates from the original molds.
The Chapel of Grace, the oldest part or the cathedral, features a 14th century Flemish altarpiece. The actual chapel is closed by an iron gate.
Murals depicting various images through the history of the church and the nation line the aisles on either side of the nave. These were painted between 1949 and 1950. Among the artist known to have painted the murals are John De Rosen and Antonio Sotomayor.
Within the walls of the cathedral are 7,290 square feet of stained glass windows. In the designs are over 1100 figures, including Adam and Eve, Einstein, Thurgood Marshall, Jane Addams, Robert Frost and John Glenn.
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| Mary Magdalene Icon |
I have only touched on the contents, the beauty and the history of this magnificent place. There is so much more. In respect of the worshipers and mindful of the consecrated ground I was selective in the path I walked; there were things I chose not to photograph because of where they were located.
The mission of the Church reads:
"A place of Religious Immunity
A Place of Anonymity
A Place of Unity"
When I walked through the doors I was met with a sense of quiet refreshment. My legs no longer tired and heavy, I was where I was meant to be on that morning.
I hope you enjoyed my walk through Grace Cathedral.
Information gathered from
Visitor's Guide and various other sources.
Pictures are mine.
