CATHEDRAL MAUSOLEUM

Journey Journal... Los Angeles, California

ELYGIAN GLITZ and GLAMOUR 

“Look beneath the surface; 

let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.” 

                                                                                                         ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

In the heart of the bustling Los Angeles metropolis there’s a brick and mortar necropolis.  Unlike mausoleum edifices that rise heavenward as structures above the earth’s surface, this version of a graveyard is sequestered in lower level territory that diverts magnificently from the usual subterranean sphere of burial spaces.  Rather, its arena of bygone earthly inhabitants lies within the basement bowels of an extraordinary cathedral.  

The massive and elaborate Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels that made its debut in 2002 is a testament to human collaboration and achievement.  Its building is uniquely configured with acute and obtuse angles, rather than right angles.  

Photo Source:  www.Panache.Voyage... Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

A team of construction and design experts spent a year researching strategies to ensure integrity and durability, addressing concrete formulas, configurations, placements, and curing processes.  Mock-up testing with attention to potential environmental stressors was a part of their investigations.  

The fact that the site for this monumental undertaking was atop the Elysian Park Fault posed an immediate challenge.  In the event of an earthquake, the threat of severe ground motion, predicted to be up to 7.0 magnitude, had to be countered.  Because of the application of technically advanced methodology rendering exceptional durability, the entire building can move about twenty-seven inches in either direction during earthquakes, thereby conferring potential to serve as an emergency shelter.  A freestanding bell tower that’s one hundred and sixty feet high also is seismically secured.   

Such meticulous preventative diligence was motivated by historical trauma.  The building project was undertaken to replace the smaller Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, which had been compromised by a series of earthquakes through the years and then severely damaged as a result of the 1994 Northridge quake.  

The 195,000 square-foot showpiece of more recent origin is the third largest cathedral in the world and the first Catholic cathedral built in the United States in over thirty years.  It is the flagship church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, encompassing two hundred and seventy-five parishes, and is the seat of its archbishop.  Imbued with diversity of its constituents, Sunday Mass purportedly is conducted in forty-two languages.  

Alabaster surfaces and effusive rays from a large window above the altar contrast ethereally with the dark appointments characteristic of older churches.  Pendant lighting bespeaks modern design.  Yet many of the relics from the original Saint Vibiana Cathedral were melded into interior spaces, including a refurbished organ.  

Photo Source:  Wikipedia - Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

Beneath the altar of the luminous sanctuary that seats three thousand parishioners are the gleaming quarters for those who are no longer active congregants.  Stairs lead down to the resplendent mausoleum – one of the largest cathedral burial vaults in the world, with close to thirteen hundred crypts and nearly five thousand niches.  Ordinarily, one would not blink an eye upon encountering a church crypt, so common through the ages, but this one commands rapt attention.  It is a showpiece of palpable beauty.  

Besides being dazzled by the shiny essence of the limestone crypt and niche facades, visitors are apt to be enraptured by the colors and designs of stained glass windows, etchings, sculptures, and their inscriptions.  

Photo Source:  Catholic Cemeteries... Our Lady of Angels Mausoleum

Photo Source:  Wikipedia Commons... LA Cathedral Mausoleum Annunciation.jpg

Exquisite works of sacred art are on display as adornments.

Photo Source:  Catholic Cemeteries... Our Lady of Angels Mausoleum

The remains of former bourgeois Catholic devotees aren’t necessarily resting in peace here in this prestigious milieu.  These “Elysian fields” of concrete and stone were made available, at least initially, primarily to individuals who had been financial benefactors or relevantly connected in positions of significance. The remains of five California bishops, originally interred elsewhere, were moved here and have been accompanied by those of other bishops and archbishops of Los Angeles. Anyone who made a substantial donation to the building fund could be considered as a candidate.  Celebrity status undoubtedly enhances prospects as well.

A decision to honor requests for entombment or inurnment in these elegant quarters is dictated by the archbishop.  A decedent need not have been a practicing Catholic follower; being married to a Catholic individual or coming from a Catholic family is acceptable. However, the price for “residency” is high.  The most exorbitantly priced spots are within one of six semi-private chapels, in four crypts in a sarcophagus directly under the altar, or near the twenty-six stained glass windows and lunettes relocated there from the original cathedral.  Revenue from all sales is appropriated for an endowment fund to maintain the cathedral property.  

The massive mausoleum is but one feature of this multi-purpose hub.  On the grounds of the core building there is a public plaza covering two and a half acres that's used for liturgical, cultural, and civic events.  It is embellished with captivating attractions, including works of art and water features.   

A landscape of children's attractions invites play.

There is also a conference center, clerical residence, and three-level underground parking garage for six hundred cars.  A gift shop and cafeteria render the site all the more welcoming.  

 

This showpiece that’s conspicuously located adjacent to a nearby freeway has been designed and constructed as a permanent fixture for hundreds of years to come.  Here, centrally posed amid the commotion in the second-largest city of the United States, known as the "City of Angels," opportunities beckon both the living and the dead. 

REFERENCES and RESOURCES

Wikipedia: "Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels"

LA Times: "Crypts That Keep On Giving"

PCA - America's Cement Manufacturers: 

"Concrete Architecture to Service More Than 4 Million Catholics"

Panache.Voyage: "Cathedral Of Our Lady Of Angeles

Landmark of postmodern architecture

Catholic Cemeteries: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Mausoleum

Variety of Wikipedia Commons Photos: Mausoleum's Stained Glass Windows

Quotation
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CHURCH COLUMBARIUM

JOURNEY JOURNAL... Poway, California

HEIGHTENED ACCESSIBILITY

For hundreds of years, columbaria have been located inside churches, on their properties, or on the grounds of cemeteries they own.  Nowadays, they have become all the more prolific as cremation rates have increased and people seek meaningful places for final disposition of cremated remains.  

Though contemporary styles abound, the notion of columbaria connected to religious sites is far from new.  Since ancient eras of Buddhism, for instance, cremated remains have been placed in urns sheltered within columbaria – sometimes as part of Buddhist temples.  During more recent times, the Catholic Church has joined the legion of religions where they have materialized.  Since 1963, the Vatican has permitted cremation as a practical alternative to bodily burial... as long as reverence and respect for the physical substance of a deceased individual is maintained according to mandates.  Scattering cremated remains or retaining them at home are not allowed, but columbarium niches are acceptable.  

These days, parishioners from the gamut of sects see the value of having columbaria within their immediate church environments.  Years ago, churchgoers were routinely buried in plots adjacent to church edifices, so the current trend toward columbarium construction somewhat mirrors that historical practice.  Accessibility, affordability, and relevance in accord with religious dogmas are factors that support desirability.  This type of station can be incorporated into existing dimensions or built as separate entities on small parcels of land.  

Diversity of modern architectural designs makes it possible to embed niches in walls, around statues, and against windows, or configure as separate units within established buildings.  Outdoors, exterior walls or garden settings may be utilized for such projects, with all kinds of options for design elements and supplemental appointments.      

California’s oft-undulating terrain can afford diversionary settings for this manner of final resting in peace.  Since 1993, an elevated section on the property of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church has served that purpose.  

Everyone is familiar with the metaphorical concept of a climb to heaven after death.  Reference is made to an upward trajectory, often via a stairway to heaven that accommodates the process of ascension.  

In this case, though, anyone who wants to commune with spirits of deceased life companions in close proximity to their physical residuals must, likewise, do a bit of ascending.  Actually, as one courses upward by way of a long ramp with incremental turns at acute angles, there is a tantalizing tendency to note the metaphorical significance of the layout.  It’s not often that a cement trail of this nature sends one’s mind into orbit, endowing a pathway with figurative meaning that incites denotation.  Access to this church’s columbarium is different than the norm, rendering an added ethereal element of interest to the complex at the top of the hill.  

The Susan S. Cashmore Memorial Columbarium, made possible through the donation of a former church member's family, is described as a Christian burial site for urns.  Five hundred wall niches within several structures can accommodate cremated remains of either one or two individuals.  

Garden plots for burial of urns are available as well.  

Protruding platforms at the base of the structures entreat placement of memorial flowers and potted plants.

Clergy are available to conduct committal services or commemorative proceedings here.  

The enveloping configuration of successive identical formations and the opposite wall of niches comprise a space suggestive of seclusion.  Benches inviting repose under the shade of a tree defy intrusion of sights and sounds from the life going on at street level below.  It is a place of quietude… a place of peaceful rest.  

Exploration on premises of religious organizations around the country is apt to reveal a surprising number of columbaria on their respective properties.  Though, typically, a niche is a niche is a niche, the settings in which these cookie-cutter compartments are integrated can leave lasting impressions of novel distinctions.  A stroll to the heights of a heavenly haven may be all that it takes to come to that conclusion.  

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MAUSOLEUM MOSAIC and LABYRINTH

Journey Journal... Gotha, Florida


JOURNEYS TOWARD RESURRECTION… ONE STEP AT A TIME

Capacious mausoleums designed with nakedly exposed walls can be like blank slates that invite ingenuity.  When there is a barren expanse of significant magnitude, why ignore the possibilities?  The white, sun-drenched side of such a structure at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California is transformed into a silver screen on evenings when movies are projected on it.  People bearing picnic paraphernalia and blankets repose on a spread of unadulterated turf as they watch the action under starry skies, overlooking the graves of celebrity stars buried nearby.

Bob Neel, a former funeral director and previous owner of the Woodlawn Cemetery in Gotha, Florida fostered an alternative brainstorm for capitalizing on the real estate.  In 1993 when his visionary idea came to fruition he noted, “'I wanted to make Woodlawn different from other cemeteries, as darkness is unlike light, as eternal life is different from death… 
I got this inspiration to make it different by having this magnificent piece of art where people can study the life of Christ.''

The artwork to which he referred is the Life of Christ Mosaic that festoons the side of the Mausoleum of Christian Heritage.  The colorfully bold façade with its bigger-than-life intricacies readily captures the attention of visitors as they progress toward it over a long entrance road. 

The 1,560-foot mosaic, which measures seventy-eight by twenty feet, depicts pivotal stages of Christ’s life, with twenty-three chronological scenes that begin on the left – starting with his birth and advancing to his resurrection and ascension on the right.  A central panel showcases a figure of the risen Christ.  

It is one of the largest such creations in the country, though a bigger Life of Christ version is on the wall of a mausoleum at the Covina Hills Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California.  That one is one hundred and seventy by thirty feet and has twenty-six scenes.   

For many years, before commissioning two California sisters to create the drawings for this masterpiece, Neel, a Presbyterian Church congregant, laid the conceptual foundation by reading the New Testament and identifying significant verses he considered desirable to depict. Trips to Italy, where he observed other mosaic works, contributed to his visualization.  As part of the images portraying Jesus calling the children to him within a milieu of feeding the multitudes and entering Jerusalem, the artists incorporated likenesses of his four children.  Except for replication of Leonardo da Vinci’s portrayal of the Last Supper, the scenes that materialized were original configurations.  The colored rendering of the mural required three years for the artists to complete. 

In 1989, once the artwork had been completed, mosaic specialists from Italy began the laborious crafting process, employing eleven million pieces of Venetian glass.   Preliminaries within their Italian studio included photographing the mural before making a reverse copy and enlarging it to actual size.   The amplified copy, known within the trade as a cartoon, was segmented into four hundred and three manageable pieces, simulating a giant jigsaw puzzle, and numbered for convenience of assemblage. 

Each piece of glass was then methodically glued to the cartoon prior to transporting it – along with the mosaic crafters – to Orlando for installation.  Over the course of more than a month, with the paper side out, they affixed each section to the wall using a mixture of sand, cement, and glue before peeling off the paper to expose the glass. 

The finished product, which had cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, was covered with a white veil in anticipation of a 1993 dedication ceremony that took place relevantly on 
Good Friday.  Members of seven hundred churches and burial plot owners were invited along with civic and business leaders.  To reveal it, the two thousand people in attendance pulled more than one hundred cords that brought down the veil.    

Though Robert Neel, an influential prime mover in the community, died in December, 2014, his legacy lives on through this enduring hallmark of his undertaking. Every year, an Easter sunrise service is held meaningfully in front of his massive work of art. 

There is more to this mausoleum’s attraction than the garnished wall.  Another eye-catcher, also inspired by Neel, was added to the ground in front of it.  In keeping with the spiritual theme, a labyrinth is in place as a means for bereaved individuals to confront their sorrow and find spiritual renewal. 

This round, circumscribed plane is a replica of one in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres, France.  There is another at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.  Such patterned circuits are of ancient origin, thousands of years old, and found all around the world. 
   

The path within it twists and turns back upon itself in an elaborate circular pattern.  A journey begins by starting at the entrance and putting one foot in front of the other to follow the winding route until reaching the six-petal rosette at the center.  There, one pauses for meditation or prayer.  Then the process is reversed as steps are retraced.   

The mind is quieted when engaged in this “body prayer” or potentially transformative walking meditation.  One’s complexity of consciousness is addressed through the simple act of walking – by retreating from the chaos of life and focusing only on the discovery of self.  Described as “prayer in motion,” it offers an avenue for introspection and healing. Relaxed contemplation is inspired, possibly augmented by focusing on breathing sensations. Slowly walking along its singular path can potentially invoke calm for individuals confronting life transitions such as death. Perspectives change, as one’s body and vision are never facing in the same direction for long.  The objective is to remain open to whatever feelings may emerge. Sometimes tears are summoned, especially when the walker is feeling burdened by grief. Metaphorically meaningful, such instruments for meditative self-exploration and restitution can help individuals take steps toward moving forward in their lives, particularly if it becomes a repetitive practice.   

Woodlawn History

Orlando Sentinel Article About Life of Christ Mosaic

Labyrinth for Healing

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MUMMIFICATION

JOURNEY JOURNAL... Salt Lake City, Utah

WONDER WHAT THE NEIGHBORS THINK!

Pretend you are standing in a residential neighborhood at the corner of Genesee Ave and S 700 W/S 7^th West, on a road alongside a major elevated highway.  What do you see? But, of course, a pyramid!  

Yes, contained on groomed property enclosed by a foliage-enhanced fence with colorful floral highlights, this imposing, triangular-sided structure dominates the landscape. 

Indeed, this is an unusual replica of stone versions from ancient times, but you may not want to forgo a trip to Egypt to observe the original pyramids that typically served as tombs for mummified bodily remains.  However, if a modern approach to mummification appeals to you, this is the place where you can send your body… right here in your own country.  

Operated by followers of the Summa religion and philosophy, the Summum organization's facility can be utilized for a unique preservation technique combined with rites of transference to the next plane of a soul’s existence. 

                                      

So far, pets have been the primary subjects, but the process is available for humans as well.  

Expect to leave your body here for a period of several months for physical and spiritual ministrations.  During this time it will be bathed and smothered in lanolin creams between soaking phases.  Submersion in a tank filled with a chemical preservative solution continues for extended time periods to achieve saturation.   Also, in accordance with vestigial practices, organs are removed for cleansing before being readmitted to the abdominal cavity.   Many layers of gauze are wrapped around the body before polyurethane, fiberglass, and resin are used to effect an enclosed membrane that toughens and provides a permanent seal. 

After the preparatory steps, a body may be placed in a molded shell (an art form casket) cast in bronze or stainless steel and made according to someone’s specifications, including options for creative embellishment.  Otherwise, a streamlined capsule can be used in conjunction with a commercially available stainless steel or bronze casket that conforms to certain requisites.    

The end result is a supple and lifelike body with retained pigments of skin, hair, and eyes, as opposed to the dried specimens of antiquity.  DNA purportedly remains intact.  The final resting place might be within a cemetery vault under controlled conditions or in an underground protective mausoleum.   

So if you do, indeed, travel to Egypt and upon being amazed by the wondrous pyramids you develop a case of mummy envy, let your thoughts get bound up in the possibilities back home!

RELIGIOUS SYMBOL

JOURNEY JOURNAL, Effingham, Illinois

AT THE CROSSROADS

Sometimes constructs suggestive of funerary applications can be found in odd places.  Palliative bereavement consolation might be realized in a big way by passing through Effingham, where an exceedingly large steel cross rises 198 feet high above common ground.  

Though referred to as “The Cross at the Crossroads” because of its location at the intersection of two major highways, this labeled designation might be symbolically befitting for someone experiencing a loss and needing to reconfigure one’s direction in life.  A “Meditation Walk” leads to the giant white configuration. Besides having access to a small gift shop and a short video about the structure’s construction process, visitors can activate rock-shaped speakers next to ten stone tablets that represent the biblical Ten Commandments; the press of a button produces a morsel of wisdom relative to the corresponding commandment. Although not designed as a mourning tool, bereaved individuals who come across it during their travels could potentially be awed and infused with comforting ethereal contemplations. 
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