The Phoenix in The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Oh boy you take one picture of a dragon and you're known as the 'dragon guy'. While i was in New York and having a hard time thinking of things to do, a friend of mine said "hey i heard you like dragons, you should go to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine." He was teasing me about the pictures i took of the serpent in Anza Borrego. I had never heard of St. John the Divine Cathedral but when i looked it up it was only two miles up the street from where i was staying. So i went one day when i was walking through the area. Inside there were two huge "phoenix" hanging out, and they were impressive, as was the church. A phone wasn't going to cut it. I returned the next day for some proper pictures.

If you look closely at the birds you'll find they are not only covered in lights but they are constructed out of all kinds of random objects and materials.

Ironically, when i told my hosts Sandor and Yalli about the cool sculptures just two miles up the street in the LARGEST CATHEDRAL ON EARTH they dismissively replied "oh yeah, that's were the kids go to school."

?!?. C'mon now, throw me a bone. Anyone? Anyone?

Anyway, the phoenix were created by artist Xu Bing and will be on display through the end of 2014. The birds are huge, at 100 feet long and 6 tons each. The only thing i didn't like was what i consider and ugly concert style rigging holding them up, but they are so heavy that may have been the only economical solution. The Phoenix function as symbol of rebirth for the cathedral, which was seriously damaged in a 6 alarm fire in 2001 that destroyed the North Transept and caused major smoke damage in the rest of the building.

It looks like the phoenix is flying out of it's lair. The dark area near the top leads up to the dome of the "crossing". The crossing is 162 feet high and connects the Romanesque-Byzantine stylings of the Cathedral to the long Neo-Gothic Nave.

Above the Phoenix and in several other images you can see "The Great Rose Window". It is the third largest "rose window" in the world and is made of over ten thousand pieces of glass. The circumference is 124 feet, the same distance as the height of the nave. Adding those digits gives you the number seven.

The baptistry, as viewed by Stanley Kubrik. Are there any screenwriters and musicians in the audience that can think of what's going to happen here? (baptisms, obviously)

Looking up is fun.

Although the Phoenix are very neat, a visit to the cathedral towering around them is it's own worthwhile destination. Going on 120 years and still unfinished, it already claims to be the largest in the world, and has a rich history. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandella and the Dalai Lama have all given speeches in it's nave. It housed the funerals of many, including Duke Ellington and Jim Henson. Sting even performed in the cathedral to launch one of his albums.

Now, when i showed up i didn't know anything about this place (I can tell you it takes a long time to walk around it looking for the front door). I learned everything i know afterwards, and if i had looked into it i might have made additional trips for a more complete photo journal, or taken a tour to see normally off limits areas, like the crypt. There is a ton of underground stuff and much more planned to be built in the future.

Sacred geometry and symbolism abound. Saint John the Divine is known for writing the Book of Revelation. That book is chock full of the number seven,and the architects took that as a cue to have fun with numbers.

Like a curtain between the High Altar and The Choir, seven lamps hang, echoing St. John’s symbol, the seven stars or candles.

The seating in the choir is beautifully crafted woodwork, and a lot of it.

"The apse is ringed with seven chapels, each one in a distinct national style and each is named for saints of corresponding origins. The chapels were a nod to the turning tides of American immigration at the turn of the century. The chapels are also arranged geographically, with the Spanish-inflected Chapel of Saint James on the south side, proceeding through Italian, French, Eastern Mediterranean, British, and German chapels to the Scandinavian style Chapel of Saint Ansgar on the north side."

One of the designers, Ralph Adams Cram, "insisted on adhering closely to the tradition of Gothic buildings. For this reason, the Cathedral has no steel or iron skeleton, and the stained glass windows are “true” stained glass, or pot-glass, made of sand and metal ash, which has been shaped and assembled according to medieval techniques. The window imagery is deliberately medieval in style and composition, but the figures are the contemporaries of art deco, modern, and even postmodern art. (Most of the windows were designed in the 1920s, but fabrication and installation lasted into the 1950s.)"

I believe this one was the Chapel of St. Savior, which i guess is in Eastern Mediterranean style. I liked it.

The Choir

The eight massive granite columns to support the Cathedral’s East End are transported from a quarry in Maine and hoisted into place in 1903.

The Cathedral is 601 feet (6+1=7) long, and this is maybe as close as you could get during communion (for catholic services). So if you are back in the seats you are going to need some good binoculars to see the priest.