Look to the right of the Crucifix with Corpus where you see the man in black standing, right in front of the altar. It has a narrow base and wide top.
There are kneelers in the pews.
One holds 3,000+, has a large plaza to handle very large crowds,room for more than 300 clerics in its sanctuary, sufficient parking and in the center of LA’s civic center.
There are kneelers. That floor is amazing – the tiles radiate out from the center of the altar. Expensive though I’m sure.
That should happen. People in Santa Maria, CA have little in common with people in say Pasadena, CA over 200 miles away in a completely “different world.”
That overall altar is truly amazing in person. The mensa is a 6 ton slab of laguna rosso marble from Turkey. I believe it’s 15’x15’. It’s at its best when it’s surrounded by clergy at the Chrism Mass.
I looked at several pictures, not just those here, and to me it seems it is a large grey space. In almost all the photos the alter is difficult to spot in all the grey. Most of the Cathedrals I saw in Italy had amazing stone floors, done in patterns that had significance to the Catholic faith. From the outside there is no doubt it is a Catholic church building.
Thinking of my own Cathedral (which isn’t Catholic, yet which is very often mistaken as such) we should play a game. Spot the Catholic Cathedral… If I get time I’ll start a thread on it in Non-Catholic Religions.
I would certainly participate!
Done. The “game” is open over here:
There’s no grey. The floor is a cream color. The altar mensa is red. The furnishings are cherry wood. The altar is HUGE and can be very clearly seen from the back of the HUGE structure.
You ask for other’s thoughts about something and when given, you tell them how wrong they are. I stand by my original statements. I do not feel it is a beautiful building, inside or out, it’s all just a lot of grey, and the alter isn’t instantly recognizable. Bigger isn’t better. From your many posts on this cathedral it appears you love it. That is ok, but you don’t have the right to tell anyone else to love it.
I like what they did to #3. St. Peter the Apostle, Lake Charles, LA and #6. St. Mary’s: Fennimore, WI. Having lived with the altar rail for years now, and having seen old Catholic churches with them, a sanctuary just looks incomplete without one.
No, no. I was just pointing out that the altar can be CLEARLY see even from the back of the cathedral near the baptistery and that there’s next to no grey. That’s all.
Most of the Gothic-style churches I have visited are located in areas where the surrounding buildings are much taller and have overshadowed the church, thus providing little sunlight to the stain glass windows.
Ah, yes, tall buildings can be a problem (though this has nothing to do with Gothic architecture in and of itself).