Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Cathedral Our Lady of the Angels 555 West Temple Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic Church
District	Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Province	Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Cathedral
Leadership	Archbishop of Los Angeles
Location
Location	Los Angeles, California United States
Architecture
Architect(s)	Rafael Moneo
Style	Postmodern architecture
Completed	2002
Specifications
Capacity	3,000 people
Length	333 ft (100 m)
Website
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, also called the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral church of the United States in Los Angeles, California. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and seat of its archbishop, currently Roger Cardinal Mahony.

Consecrated and dedicated on September 2, 2002, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels replaced the smaller Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, irreparably damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. It is mother church to over four million professed Catholics in the archdiocese.

Our Lady of the Angels is home to the relics of Saint Vibiana, brought from Rome by Thaddeus Amat y Brusi, the first bishop of Los Angeles.

Design

File:The Virgin Mary by Robert Graham.jpg

Robert Graham's postmodern The Virgin Mary adorns the cathedral entrance.

The cathedral was designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. Using elements of postmodern architecture, the church and the Cathedral Center feature a series of acute and obtuse angles. There is an absence of right angles. Contemporary statuaries and appointments decorate the complex. Prominent of these appointments are the bronze doors and the statue called The Virgin Mary, all adorning the entrance and designed by Robert Graham.

Like the Oakland Cathedral of Christ the Light which replaced the earthquake damaged Saint Francis de Sales Cathedral, Our Lady of the Angels is designed with protections from future earthquake structural damage. Every detail of construction was specified to last approximately five hundred years.

The site of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is 5.6 acres (23,000 m²) bound by Temple Street, Grand Avenue, Hill Street and the Hollywood Freeway.

File:Los Angeles Cathedral Tapestry.jpg

A detail from Robert Nava's tapestry of the communion of saints.

The 12-story high building can accommodate 3,000+ worshippers. The site includes the cathedral proper, a 2.5 acre (10,000 m²) plaza, several gardens and waterfalls, the Cathedral Center (with the gift shop, the Galero Grill, conference center, and cathedral parish offices), and the cathedral rectory, the residence of Roger Mahony. The entire complex is 58,000 square feet (5,000 m²). The main sanctuary is 333 feet (100 m) long (purposely one foot longer than  St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York). The internal height varies from 80' over the baptistery at the rear (west) end to about 100' near the lantern window (east end).

Among the artworks commissioned for the cathedral are the tapestries of the communion of saints by painter John Nava, and the plaza fountain by Lita Albuquerque. The cathedral is noted for having the largest use of alabaster in the country. They replaced the more traditional stained glass windows, providing the interior with soft, warm, subtly multi-hued illumination. The world-class organ, built by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Lake City, Iowa, has 104 ranks of pipes, some of which were retained from the 1980 Austin organ from St. Vibiana's Cathedral. The case of the organ is approximately 60 feet (18 m) high, and is placed about 20 feet (6.1 m) above the floor.  The top of the organ's case is about 85 feet (26 m) above the cathedral's floor.

History

The inside of the cathedral

Estimates for the restoration of the earthquake damaged Cathedral of Saint Vibiana ranged around $180 million. The structure was eventually restored by developers Tom Gilmore and Richard Weintraub, transforming it into an events center and performance venue.

Because the old cathedral was known to be of rather inferior construction (something noted soon after its completion in 1876) and had been far too small for diocesan celebrations for decades, the archdiocese chose to build a new cathedral (ultimately on a new site). The decision to change venues was influenced in part by certain conservationists, who argued that the outmoded cathedral ought to be restored and preserved as an historic landmark, and the needs of the new cathedral itself — it was to have a capacity of approximately 3,000 worshipers, the same number as cathedral design from the 1940s that was never built, yet provided the Holy See-approved name for the new cathedral. Initially, the proposed budget was $150 million, but as the charities and donations kept coming, the architects and builders were able to implement everything desired. Thus, the final cost of the new cathedral was $189.7 million.

Cardinal Mahony's decision to rebuild the Los Angeles cathedral in such elaborate and post-modern architecture drew criticism from a number of critics both within and outside the Catholic Church, who argued that a church of that size and expense was unnecessary and overly-elaborate. Many felt that either St. Vincent Church on West Adams Boulevard or St. Basil Church on South Kingsley Drive could easily perform the functions required of a cathedral with minimal additional cost. Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral was also criticized for its departure from traditional California Mission-style architecture and aesthetics.

The price for some cathedral furnishings have also caused great consternation. $5M was budgeted for the altar or "table" -- essentially a giant slab of Rosso Laguna marble. The main bronze doors cost $3M. $2M was budgeted for the wooden ambo (lectern.) $1M for a very controversial-looking tabernacle. $1M for the cathedra (bishop's chair.) $250K for the presider's chair. $250K for each deacon's chair. Visiting bishops' chairs cost $150K each, while pews cost an average of $50K each. The cantor's stand cost $100K while each bronze chandelier/speaker cost $150K.

Mausoleum

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

The Cathedral features a mausoleum in its lower levels. There are 6,000 mausoleum crypts and columbarium niches for burials.

The final resting place of actor Gregory Peck in the Cathedral's Crypt Mausoleum.

 A number of prior Bishops and Archbishops of the Los Angeles Archdiocese are buried in the crypt mausoleum. The laity are also permitted to purchase burial crypts or niches for their own use or use of their family members. The proceeds from the sale of spaces are placed in an endowment fund for financial stability of the Cathedral.

The crypt mausoleum features a number of stained glass windows that were originally installed in Saint Vibiana's Cathedral.  Two new windows featuring guardian angels were placed at the entrance to the crypt mausoleum.  Both the new windows and the restoration of the old Cathedral's windows were done by The Judson Studios.

People buried at the Cathedral

Religious

File:CathederalDowntown.jpg

• Saint Vibiana, patron saint of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
• Thaddeus Amat y Brusi, first Bishop of Los Angeles
• James Cardinal McIntyre, first Cardinal Priest Archbishop of Los Angeles

Politicians

• Kenneth Hahn, Los Angeles County Supervisor

Entertainers

• Gregory Peck, actor
• June Marlowe, actress

Other laity

• Bernardine Murphy Donohue, philanthropist and papal countess
• Loretta Baron Mahony, mother of the current Archbishop of Los Angeles
• Victor Mahony, father of the current Archbishop of Los Angeles

External links

• Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Official Website
• Cathedrals of California
• Photo gallery on Figure Ground

34°3′30″N 118°14′45″W

Further reading

• Bühren, Ralf van: Kunst und Kirche im 20. Jahrhundert. Die Rezeption des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils, Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh 2008, p. 609-610, ill. 85-87 (ISBN 978-3-506-76388-4)