December 01, 2009

Saint Mary's Cathedral


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This is part of an incredible hanging piece of sculpture in the front of the church.

Now, you've got to understand, I didn't intentionally set out to explore the inside of the Saint Mary's Cathedral -- it just happened that I found an available parking spot and was so thrilled with the concept that I had to pull over and park -- and it just happened that the parking spot was directly in front of the church.   I'll swear on a stack of bibles that it was a complete accident that this is where I ended up.   I'm going to let Ripley's know that I actually went inside -- they won't believe it!



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I didn't notice this stained glass until I was on my way out -- there's a whole bunch of stuff-going-on attached to it on the outside.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Curves that are easy on the eyes...   Just a little bit too religious for me, but I guess after all -- it is a church...

So who designs these types of buildings?   I copied the following from Wikipedia:   The cathedral was designed by local architects John Michael Lee, Paul A. Ryan and Angus McSweeney, collaborating with internationally known architects Pier Luigi Nervi and Pietro Belluschi — at the time, the Dean of the School of Architecture of the MIT. Due to its resemblance to a large washing machine agitator, the Cathedral has been nicknamed "Our Lady of Maytag" or "McGucken's Maytag". The building was selected in 2007 by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects for a list of San Francisco's top 25 buildings.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This tapestry was in a prominent place off to one side of Saint Mary's Cathedral, and it's pretty easy to "get the message" of what's going on here.


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2 comments:

Tomate Farcie said...

They let you take pictures? Cool! I tried a couple of years ago, but they said no (although in all fairness, they were about ready to start mass or something).

The only church I enjoy going to is Glide Memorial in the TL.

AphotoAday said...

Hi T.F.,

Yeah, there wasn't much going on in the church and I tried not to be too obtrusive...

 
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