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Going to the Chapel Pt 6 of 6: The Precious Moments Chapel

We’ve seen a good vari­ety of chapels in this series (if you missed any of the other ones, they are all right here).  But just in case we haven’t found one for you yet, this one should cover it.

As soon as the first Pre­cious Moments fig­urines went on the mar­ket in 1978, they became instant favorites with col­lec­tors.  Their sim­ple lessons of love and faith and their aptly described pre­cious­ness have become known the world over.  Cre­ator Sam Butcher was fol­low­ing a dream, but he had another; inspired by a visit to the Sis­tine Chapel, Butcher felt led to build one of his own to help share his faith.  His search for a loca­tion even­tu­ally led him to Carthage, Mis­souri.  In 1989, the Pre­cious Moments Chapel opened to a first year atten­dance of 400,000 people.

The chapel fea­tures 84 murals and 30 stained glass win­dows fea­tur­ing the famous Butcher art­work would be impres­sive in and of itself.  But that’s just the beginning.

Well man­i­cured grounds fea­tur­ing mul­ti­ple gar­dens and bronze stat­ues cre­ate a pic­turesque set­ting.  A visitor’s cen­ter rem­i­nis­cent of an old Eng­lish vil­lage houses the Pre­cious Moments Gift Shop, a year round Christ­mas Shop, and the Royal Delights Snack Shop.  The Samuel J. Butcher Museum tells the story behind the art.

Even bet­ter:  the park and chapel are free to visitors.

Carthage is located out­side of Joplin, Mis­souri, which is less than two hours north­west of Bran­son.  Dur­ing peak sea­son (March-December) the park and chapel is open seven days a week, 9am to 5pm.  Days and times are reduced in Jan­u­ary and February.

Pre­vi­ous:  Going to the Chapel, Pt 5

Going to the Chapel Pt 5 of 6: Chapel of the Holy Cross

Head­ing back out west today, we go out to Sedona, Ari­zona and visit a chapel which is part of the very land­scape; the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  (We’ve writ­ten about this chapel in an ear­lier series of com­bin­ing beau­ti­ful fall dri­ves with U.S. Chris­t­ian tourist attractions).

Accord­ing to the web­site, the chapel was first con­ceived of by Mar­guerite Bruswig Staude back in 1932 after view­ing the then newly con­structed Empire State Build­ing.  When seen at a cer­tain angle she believed she could see the image of a cross in the struc­ture.  This inspired her to build the chapel, even­tu­ally select­ing Sedona as the loca­tion.  Con­struc­tion of the chapel took 18 months at a cost of $300,000, finally being com­pleted in 1956.

Built on 250 ft. tall twin peaks top­ping a 1,000 ft. red rock wall, the chapel offers a view beyond the cross to the val­ley below.

The chapel is open Mon­day through Sat­ur­day from 9am to 5pm, and on Sun­days from 10am to 5pm.

Pre­vi­ous:  Going to the Chapel, pt 4

Next:  Going to the Chapel, pt 6

Going to the Chapel Pt 4 of 6: Chapel of All Saints

In Colorado’s old­est town, with a pop­u­la­tion well under 1,000, is where to find today’s chapel of note.  On the top of a hill in San Luis you will find La Capilla de Todos Los San­tos; trans­lated the Chapel of All Saints.  In this case, the chapel itself is not the iden­ti­fy­ing fea­ture of this attrac­tion, but rather its capstone.

The fea­ture that draws thou­sands of believ­ers each year is what is on the hill lead­ing to the chapel; a Sta­tions of the Cross Shrine sculpted by Huberto Maes­tas.  These nearly life-size fig­ures are spaced along a dirt path nearly a mile long that traipses to the top of the mesa where the chapel resides.  When you reach the top, along with the chapel, there is a grotto and a visitor’s cen­ter that pro­vides an excep­tional view of the town below and the sur­round­ing mountains.

While there, you may wish to visit the stu­dio of Huberto Maes­tas, which is in the town of San Luis.

Pre­vi­ous:  Going to the Chapel, pt 3

Next:  Going to the Chapel, pt 5

Going to the Chapel Pt 3 of 6: St. Joan of Arc Chapel

Of all the chapels talked about in this series, the St. Joan of Arc Chapel is spe­cial for a few rea­sons.  First, it is the only one that is located on a col­lege cam­pus - Mar­quette Uni­ver­sity.  Sec­ond, it is the only one in this series that was orig­i­nally built on another continent.

What is now called the St. Joan of Arc Chapel was located in France just south of Lyon as the Chapelle de St. Mar­tin de Sayssuel, and is esti­mated to have been built some­time in the early 15th Cen­tury A.D.  Falling into ruin after the French Rev­o­lu­tion, it wasn’t until the early 20th cen­tury that it was redis­cov­ered, by Jacques Couelle.  At the time a young archi­tect, Couelle went on to become one of France’s top archi­tects of the mod­ern period.

The chapel was dis­man­tled and moved to the U.S. in 1927 to become part of the pri­vate estate of Gertrude Hill Gavin, daugh­ter of rail­road mag­nate James L. Hill.  It was one of the last such struc­tures allowed to leave France before laws took affect to bar the expor­ta­tion of his­toric French monuments.

Added to the chapel with the move were two pieces of par­tic­u­lar inter­est; the Gothic alter and the famous Joan of Arc stone, upon which she once prayed.  As the story goes, at the end of her prayer she kissed the stone, and the stone has for­ever since been colder than the stones sur­round­ing it.  Also added at this time were four stained glass win­dows installed by the noted Charles J. Con­nick, known for much of the stained glass work in the Cathe­dral of St. John the Divine in New York.

After chang­ing hands, the chapel was donated to Mar­quette Uni­ver­sity in 1964, once again being dis­as­sem­bled for the jour­ney and reassem­bled on cam­pus.  With the move came new accou­trements from approx­i­mately the same period and even older.

Tours of St. Joan of Arc chapel are free and last about a half-hour, although dona­tions are accepted.  Hours are 10am-4pm Mon-Sat, and noon-4pm on Sun­day.  Mass is also cel­e­brated at noon Mon-Fri and 10pm Mon-Thur.  The chapel hosts no wed­dings or bap­tisms.  Tours may be sched­uled by call­ing 414–288-6873.

Pre­vi­ous:  Going to the Chapel, pt 2

Next:  Going to the Chapel, pt 4

Going to the Chapel Pt 2 of 6: Chapel in the Hills

Con­tin­u­ing in our series we go from the hills of Arkansas to the hills of South Dakota.  Just a short drive from Mt. Rush­more is the Chapel in the Hills (We’ve writ­ten about this chapel in an ear­lier series of com­bin­ing beau­ti­ful fall dri­ves with U.S. Chris­t­ian tourist attractions).

The Chapel is an exact replica of the Borgund Stavkirke in Nor­way.  Built some­time around 1200 A.D., the Borgund is the most well-preserved of the “Stave Churches” remain­ing in Nor­way, which are less than 30 in num­ber today.  The term “stave” refers to the par­tic­u­lar archi­tec­ture used in construction.

Dr. Harry Gregerson, host of the Lutheran Ves­pers Hour, built the chapel as a new home for his radio facil­i­ties as well as a place for the show’s lis­ten­ers to visit.  He was inspired to con­sider a replica of a stave church due to the heavy Nor­we­gian Lutheran pop­u­la­tion that orig­i­nally set­tled the area.  Arndt E. Dahl, him­self a Lutheran pas­tor and from the area, funded the construction.

The chapel was ded­i­cated in 1969.  Although the radio pro­gram moved its head­quar­ters to Min­neapo­lis just a few years later, the chapel remained behind as a pop­u­lar vis­i­tors des­ti­na­tion.  On site is the Borgund repro­duc­tion, a gift shop, and visitor’s cen­ter.  Also located on the serene prop­erty is a log cabin museum, with infor­ma­tion about the set­tle­ment of the region.

There is no admis­sion to the Chapel in the Hills.  It is open 7am to dusk daily from May to Sep­tem­ber, with lim­ited hours in April and Octo­ber, weather permitting.

Pre­vi­ous:  Going to the Chapel, Pt 1

Next:  Going to the Chapel, Pt 3

Going to the Chapel Pt 1 of 6: Thorncrown Chapel

Today, we’re start­ing a new series at the Chris­t­ian Travel Guy.  I was inspired by Valentine’s Day to talk about a few of the many inter­est­ing chapels that can be found in the U.S.  Chapels are known for wed­dings, but that doesn’t mean all of them are focused on that.  Just as there is a great vari­ety in U.S. Chris­t­ian tourist attrac­tions, there is a great vari­ety in the types of chapels worth visiting.

First on our list is a majes­tic build­ing tucked away in the Ozark hills of Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  It started out as one man’s idea to take advan­tage of the beau­ti­ful view from his retire­ment prop­erty.  It became an Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Archi­tects choice as one of their top build­ings of the 20th Cen­tury.  Fea­tur­ing over 6,000 square feet of glass, Thorn­crown Chapel has seen over 5 mil­lion peo­ple make the trek up a wooden trail to enjoy it’s inspiration.

In 1971, Jim Reed pur­chased land just out­side of Eureka Springs in hopes to build a retire­ment home.  Soon after­ward he became moved to build the chapel as a place of inspi­ra­tion for vis­i­tors to his prop­erty seek­ing to enjoy the view.

E. Fay Jones designed the chapel.  A pro­tege of Frank Lloyd Wright, Jones was con­sid­ered one of the top archi­tects of the 2oth Cen­tury.  His inspi­ra­tion for Thorncrown’s design was Sainte Chapelle in Paris.  The unique struc­tural design of the chapel com­bined with its ample amount of win­dow space and sur­round­ing woods cre­ates a con­stantly chang­ing cas­cade of light and shadow to add to the chapel’s over­all beauty.

Thorn­crown Chapel is open daily from 9am to 5pm April to Novem­ber, with shorter hours March and Decem­ber, 11am to 4pm.  Except for spe­cial events and wed­dings, it is closed Jan­u­ary and Feb­ru­ary.  Admis­sion is free, although dona­tions are accepted.  Tour groups are treated to a pre­sen­ta­tion of the chapel’s story.  When it is open, there are Sun­day ser­vices avail­able.  And as a bonus, you’re just a few min­utes away from the Great Pas­sion Play.

Next: Going to the Chapel pt 2