“It’s designed, engineered and constructed as a thing of beauty,
a joy forever to last literally for centuries.”
Reverend Robert H. Schuller, founder, Crystal Cathedral
Robert Schuller
Robert Schuller (1926-2015), a preacher, was author of six best-selling motivational and inspirational non-fiction books, published in the last third of the twentieth century. His books include The Be Happy Attitudes, Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do, and If It’s Going to Be Me, It’s Up to Me.
The church he founded was then known as “The Crystal Cathedral,” and considered to be an eighth wonder of the world for its creative architecture. It was also featured in the weekly television show, The Hour of Power.
Born in Alton, Iowa, in 1926, Schuller won the American Institute of Architects’s first lifetime achievement award, was the first to preach on television in the Soviet Union, and was described by the Los Angeles Times as “…one of the greatest success stories of postwar American Christianity” (04/02/15). He died of cancer at the age of 88.
The Crystal Cathedral/Christ Cathedral
A world-recognized landmark on 34 acres and winner of five prestigious design awards, the campus features 10,000 mirrored glass panes, a 52-bell carillon, a cultural center designed by Richard Meier (designer of the Getty Center in Los Angeles), a newly renovated light-filled arboretum, the fifth largest pipe organ in the world, and sculptures of Biblical scenes throughout.
Its nearly 60-year history includes having more than 250,000 visitors per year. Now “Christ Cathedral,” it serves a large parish worship community of the Catholic Church (aligned with the Diocese of Orange). Docent-led tours are available for groups of 15 or more, Monday-Saturday.
When it was known as the Crystal Cathedral, tens of thousands of visitors, enjoyed its spectacular Christmas and Easter shows, with its aerial “angels” sailing overhead from one corner of the glass sanctuary to the other, its graceful ballerinas, its standout vocalists, and an array of Nativity animals that paraded cast up and down the aisles.
Its website, that informed this page, is https://christcathedralcalifornia.org/about/heritage-and-history/a-look-back.
Christ Cathedral is the third stop on our Southern California Author Adventures Trail.
Patricia Smart
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