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.All Trips / Arkansas / Central USA / North America
A Visit to Thorncrown Chapel, Arkansas
One of the loveliest modern chapels I’ve ever visited is Thorncrown Chapel, located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Thorncrown Chapel was designed by E. Fay Jones, who had apprenticed with the great Frank Lloyd Wright, and was built in 1980. The chapel was commissioned by Jim Reed, a retired schoolteacher, who wanted to create a non-denominational pilgrimage chapel for meditation. The chapel is elegant yet blends in with the local landscape, seeming an airy part of it.
Thorncrown Chapel is constructed mostly of local wood (e.g. Southern pine) and was built with the general rule of thumb that no materials bigger than what two people could carry should be used (e.g. 2x6s instead of massive beams). The floor is constructed with slabs of …
Tagged chapel, Eureka Springs, Thorncrown Chapel
.All Trips / Europe / Italy
Milan’s San Bernardino alle Ossa
The most unusual chapel I’ve ever visited is this one in Milan. It’s located not far from the great Duomo — about a 10 minute walk — and probably would be interesting to most travelers. Some might argue it’s a morbid sight and I suppose that’s true, but many might regard being buried in a church a great honor. There are several other bone-filled churches in Europe, although I’ve never visited any before this one.
The main sanctuary of San Bernadino is nice but similar to thousands of other churches in Europe. Attractive but not very remarkable, in direct contrast to its unusual ossuary. To find San Bernardino’s famous chapel of bones you need to divert down a corridor to …
.All Trips / California / North America / Southwestern USA
“Pic of the Week”, August 1, 2014″: Serra’s Church, Mission San Juan Capistrano
While exploring the grounds of Mission San Juan Capistrano — known as the “Jewel” of the California Missions — you’ll come upon a small chapel. It’s Serra Church, the oldest church in California, named after Father Junipero Serra who founded this mission (and eight other California missions). Our highlighted photo includes the “Golden Altar”, an early Baroque-style retablo, which is a relatively recent addition to the church. The altar is from Barcelona, handcrafted almost 400 years ago of cherry wood and overlaid in gold leaf. It was installed in the Serra Church sometime between 1922-1924.
Serra Church was built in 1782, six years after Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded (on All Saint’s day, November 1, 1776). It was one of the first …
Tagged chapel, church, Father Serra, mission, Mission San Juan Capistrano
.All Trips / Europe / Ireland
A Visit to Ireland: Part 2) the Rock of Cashel
There are few places in Ireland with a richer history than the Rock of Cashel. Situated at the edge of the town of Cashel, the rock is a huge outcropping on top of which rests a complex of old buildings situated some 60m (200ft) above the rich green farmland of County Tipperary.
A brief history of the Rock of Cashel:
It was from this rocky prominence that the Irish Kings of Munster ruled for more than 700 years (370 to 1101 A.D.). St. Patrick visited the Rock of Cashel and baptized King Aengus around 450 A.D. Legend has it the saint accidentally impaled the King’s foot with the base of his crosier staff. The …
Tagged Cathedral, Celtic Cross, cemetery, chapel, Rock of Cashel, round tower, Tipperary
