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| 2131 Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City - The West front and great bronze doors |
Located in Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood, on Amsterdam Avenue, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Designed in 1888 and begun in 1892, the cathedral has undergone radical stylistic changes, from a Byzantine Revival-Romanesque Revival style to a Gothic Revival style. It remains unfinished, so it is often nicknamed St. John the Unfinished. There is a dispute about whether this cathedral or Liverpool Cathedral is the world's largest Anglican cathedral and church.
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| 2132 Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City - The West front |
In 1887 Bishop Henry Codman Potter of the Episcopal Diocese of New York called for a cathedral to rival the Catholic St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. After an open competition, a design by the New York firm of George Lewis Heins and Christopher Grant LaFarge in a Byzantine-Romanesque style was accepted. The walls were built around eight massive 130-ton, 15-m granite columns, the largest in the world. After the large central dome made of Guastavino tile was completed in 1909, the original Byzantine-Romanesque design was changed to a Gothic design.
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| 2133 Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City: 1. Completed Cathedral in the vision of architects George Lewis Heins & Cristopher Grant La Farge 2. Completed Cathedral in the vision of architect Ralph Adams Cram |
Increasing friction after the premature death of Heins in 1907, fueled by a preference among some trustees for a less Romanesque and more Gothic style for the cathedral, ultimately led the trustees to dismiss the surviving architect, C. Grant LaFarge, and hire the noted Gothic Revival architect Ralph Adams Cram. The result is that the Cathedral reflects a mixture of architectural styles. The Cathedral was opened end-to-end for the first time on November 30, 1941, a week before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
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| 2134 Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City - The West front 1 |
Without copying any one historical model, and without compromising its authentic stone-on-stone construction by using modern steel girders, Saint John the Divine is an example of the 13th century High Gothic style of northern France. It has 186m in length, and the nave ceiling reaches 37.7m high. It is the longest Gothic nave in the U.S., at 70m. At the west end of the nave, installed by stained glass artist Charles Connick and constructed out of 10,000 pieces of glass, is the largest rose window in the U.S.
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| 2135 Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City - The West front 2 |
Seven chapels radiating from the ambulatory behind the choir are each in a distinctive nationalistic style. These chapels are known as the "Chapels of the Tongues", and they are devoted to St. Ansgar (venerated as an apostle to the Scandinavian countries), St. Boniface (apostle of the Germans), St. Columba (patron of Ireland and Scotland); St. Savior (Holy Savior - devoted to immigrants from the east, especially Africa and Asia), St. Martin of Tours (patron of the French), St. Ambrose (patron of Milan), and St. James (patron of Spain).
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| 2136 Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City - The Great Choir and Sanctuary |
In the center is the large, raised high altar, behind which is a wrought iron enclosure containing the Gothic style tomb of the Right Reverend Horatio Potter. Later Episcopal bishops of New York, and other notables of the church, are entombed in side chapels. On the grounds, toward the south, are several buildings (including a synod hall and the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine), and a Biblical garden, as well as a large bronze work of public art by Greg Wyatt, known as the Peace Fountain, which has been both strongly praised and strongly criticized.
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| 2137 Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City - The Peace Fountain |
The great west bronze doors, designed between 1927 and 1931 by Henry Wilson, were made in Paris by Barbedienne, who also cast the Statue of Liberty, and were installed in 1936. The sequence of 48 relief panels presents scenes from the Old and New Testaments and the Apocalypse. The doors, the last of the only four produced in his lifetime by Henry Wilson, are on a monumental scale, measuring each 5.5m × 3.7m, and weighing 3 tons. Wilson died in France, in 1934, shortly after finishing the design but before the doors were installed.
About the stamps
On the postcard 2131
The second stamp, dedicated to Elvis Presley (1935-1977), is part of the series Music Icons, about which I wrote here. The third stamp, dedicated to Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), is part of the series Legends of Hollywood, about which I wrote here. The last is part of the series Classic American Aircraft, about which I wrote here.
On the postcard 2132
The first two stamps, depicting the lighthouses located in New London Harbor (New London, CT) and Portsmouth Harbor (New Castle, NH), are part of the Forever series New England Coastal Lighthouses, about which I wrote here. About the last stamp, issued in 1995 to honor POWs and MIAs, I wrote here.
On the postcard 2133
Three of the stamps are part of a series dedicated to Martín Ramírez and issued on March 26, 2015. Although confined to psychiatric hospitals for more than 30 years, artist Martín Ramírez (1895-1963) produced more than 450 dynamic drawings and collages imbued with hypnotic power. Born near Guadalajara, Ramírez left Mexico for the U.S. in 1925. Like other migrant workers during this period, he worked in mines and on the railroad but was hit hard by the Great Depression. Emotionally upset and in poor physical condition, he was detained by police in 1931 and, unable or unwilling to communicate, was soon committed to a psychiatric hospital. He remained institutionalized for the rest of his life. Some of his drawings were exhibited anonymously during his lifetime, but it wasn’t until a decade after his death that his work began to receive widespread attention. Antonio Alcalá served as art director and designer for the stamp sheet.
• A floral detail from Untitled (Horse and Rider with Trees) (1954) - It's on the postcard 2133
• The central image of Untitled (Man Riding Donkey) (cca. 1960-1963) - It's on the postcard 2133
• A detail from Untitled (Trains on Inclined Tracks) (cca. 1960-1963) - It's on the postcard 2134
• The central image of Untitled (Deer) (cca. 1960-1963) - It's on the postcard 2133
• A detail from Untitled (Tunnel with Cars and Buses) (1954) - It's on the postcard 2135
The fourth stamp is part of the series Classic American Aircraft, about which I wrote here.
On the postcard 2134
The first stamp is part of the series Classic American Aircraft, about which I wrote here. The second is part of a series dedicated to Martín Ramírez, about which I wrote above. The fourth stamp, depicting Ebony Jewelwing, is part of the series Insects and Spiders, about which I wrote here. The last stamp, dedicated to Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), is part of the series Legends of Hollywood, about which I wrote here.
On the postcard 2135
The first stamp is part of a series dedicated to Martín Ramírez, about which I wrote above. The second stamp, depicting Robert Robinson Taylor (1868-1942), is part of the series Black Heritage Series, about which I wrote here. The last stamp is part of the series Classic American Aircraft, about which I wrote here.
On the postcard 2136
Three of the stamps are part of a joint set issued on April 10, 2015 by United States and Japan, named Gifts of Friendship, a pane of stamps featuring beautiful images of flowering dogwood and flowering cherry trees. This issuance celebrates the enduring bond between two nations on the centennial of the gift of dogwood trees from the United States to Japan in 1915. Stamp artist Paul Rogers worked with art director and designer William J. Gicker to create the stamps. Gicker and Greg Breeding designed the stamp pane. Junko Kaifuchi illustrated the stamps from Japan Post.
• Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. with flowering cherry trees - It's on the postcard 2136
• Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. surrounded by white and pink dogwood trees - It's on the postcard 2137
• National Diet Building in Tokyo framed by cherry blossoms - It's on the postcard 2136
• Clock tower outside the Diet Building in Tokyo rising behind a foreground of white dogwood flowers - It's on the postcard 2136
About the last stamp, which pays tribute to the majestic emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), I wrote here.
On the postcard 2137
The first stamp is part of the series Gifts of Friendship, about which I wrote above. Other two stamps are part of the series Classic American Aircraft, about which I wrote here.The last one, depicting Ernest E. Just (1883-1941), is part of the series Black Heritage Series, about which I wrote here.
References
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine - Wikipedia
Sender 2131-2137: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 10.11.2015
Photo 2131: Helena Kubicka de Braganca
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