FAST FACTS ABOUT CHRIST CATHEDRAL
- Most. Rev. Kevin W. Vann, Bishop of Orange, traveled to Verona, Italy, to personally select the stone and marble for the altar, cathedra, ambo, and baptismal font.
- Once work on the cathedral began, about 110 construction crew members were on site daily.
- 11 million parts of scaffolding, like an erector set, were required to paint the nine-story space frame that supports the glass panes of the cathedral, hoist frames, support ladders, trusses, planks and plywood.
- The 11,000-steel powder-coated plastic-and-fabric “quatrefoils” are window shades specially designed by the Johnson Fain architects and installed on the ceilings and walls.
ARCHITECTS AND ARCHITECTURE
- The Christ Cathedral (formerly the Crystal Cathedral) Campus includes several structures designed by three of the most noted architects of the late 20th Century: Richard Neutra, Philip Johnson and Richard Meier.
- The glass cathedral building was completed in 1980 at a cost of $18 million, with the 236-foot steel spire and its 52-bell carillon complexed in 1990.
- The cathedral is designed to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake.
- 11 million parts of scaffolding, like an erector set, were required to paint the nine-story space frame that supports the glass panes of the cathedral, hoist frames, support ladders, trusses, planks and plywood.
CRUX GEMMATA AND STONE ALTAR
- Crafted in Omaha, Nebraska, from blackened steel and transported to Orange County in four separate pieces, the Crux Gemmata (cross with Jesus’s body) weighs 1,000 pounds, rises 18 feet above the cathedral’s altar and hangs from the baldachin. The Crux Gemmata is a cross typical of early medieval art, affixed with gems and the corpus of Christ.
- Bishop Vann traveled to Verona, Italy, where he visited the stone and marble factory where the altar, cathedra, ambo, and baptismal font were crafted for Christ Cathedral. Bishop Vann also toured Grassi family stone/marble works, which is supplying the stone for the flooring of Christ Cathedral.
THE CATHEDRAL MEMORIAL GARDENS EXPANSION
- Cathedral Memorial Gardens cemetery is the fourth active cemetery within the Diocese of Orange. It is the only ecumenical burial ground in the Diocese, and is a rare operating cemetery adjacent to a church. The cemetery is available to both Catholics and non-Catholics in an effort to honor the multi-denominational roots of the space.