Monday, July 9, 2007

Cadet Chapel


Soaring 150 feet toward the Colorado sky, and located at the Air Force Academy this chapel is an all-faith house of worship designed to meet the spiritual needs of cadets. It contains a separate chapel for each of the three major religious faiths represented in the Air Force ‑ Protestant, Catholic and Jewish ‑ plus two all-faiths worship rooms. There are two main levels, with the Protestant nave on the upper level. The Catholic and Jewish chapels and one all-faiths room are located beneath it. Beneath this level is located the larger all-faiths room and two meeting rooms. Each chapel has its own entrance, and services may be held simultaneously without interfering with one another.
The aluminum, glass and steel structure features 17 spires. There is no significance to this number. Original designs were judged to be too expensive, so changes were made, among them a reduction in the number of spires. The changes did not alter the basic design or the interior square footage of the chapel, however.
The shell of the chapel and surrounding grounds cost $3.5 million to build. Furnishings, pipe organs, liturgical fittings and adornments of the chapel were presented as gifts from individuals and various organizations. A designated Easter offering was also taken at Air Force bases around the world in 1959 to help complete the interior.

Tomorrow I will show you the beautiful inside of this chapel. A great game of color and light!

2 comments:

Janet said...

Beautiful. The exterior looks like a row of jets!

Anonymous said...

I really like this building. I think it is one of the best in the US.

Abraham Lincoln
Brookville Daily Photo

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