Crystal Cathedral
The Crystal Cathedral is the church building of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a megachurch in Garden Grove, California. The community was founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller on behalf of the Reformed Church in America. It has 10,000 members. In November 2011, the Crystal Cathedral was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, the community will be granted a right of use of three years. After the construction of the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese to be surveyed.
Architecture
The " Crystal Cathedral ", built in 1977-1980 after a design by Philip Johnson, added an existing complex with several buildings by Richard Neutra, one of the next to a smaller church building, inter alia, the " Tower of Hope ", a zwölfgeschossiger tower with administrative offices, a chapel, a 24 -hour pastoral care and a 30 -meter-high cross on the roof. Johnson had been inspired by a sketch by Mies van der Rohe from 1921 for a glass " tower house at Friedrichstraße ".
The church on the plan of a star consists of a 142 meter long and 40 meter high steel structure that carries 10,000 glass window. They are not fixed, but held by elastic silicone compounds to withstand earthquakes up to 8.0 strength. The glass is transparent from the inside, mirrored from the outside. A 30 -meter-high wall can be opened, whatever happens at the beginning of worship. Inside there are 3,000 seats and room for 1,000 singers and musicians.
In addition to the glass building a 73 -meter high bell tower from highly polished steel prisms stands with 52 bells. Below, in the foot of the tower, there is a small devotional chapel, formed by a circle of twelve different marble pillars ( symbolizing the tribes of Israel ).
The future of the building and its eventual collapse after a fictitious disappearance of mankind is treated in one episode of the second season of the docu-fiction series Life After People ( " The Wrath of God", USA 2010).
Organ
The Hazel Wright Organ is named after Hazel Wright of Chicago, which the " Crystal Cathedral " donated two million U.S. dollars for it. It was built by the Italian organ manufacturer Fratelli Ruffatti.
Financing
The cost of building the " Crystal Cathedral " of 17 million dollars were paid for by private donations, including through the sale of name engravings for all windows ( about 500 U.S. dollars). At length Dr. Robert H. Schuller describes the architectural history and finance in his memoir " My Journey " (2002). The biography is in 2004 under the title " My life's journey " also published in German. The annual maintenance cost for the whole plant are nearly 5 million dollars.
Television service
From the " Crystal Cathedral " Hour of Power television service was from 1971 to 2013 weekly sent, saw the world's estimated 10 to 30 million people in 200 countries. More than a third of the annual income of the community (donations, sales proceeds, estates ) in the amount of 39 million dollars (2007) were used for the purchase of broadcasting time.
Insolvency proceedings
On 18 October 2010 the new leadership of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy protection under U.S. Chapter 11. This is the response to a sustainable donations decline of about 30 percent in the United States. The repayment of liabilities of approximately $ 44 million was therefore no longer possible.
As a result of the insolvency proceedings, the Crystal Cathedral was sold on 17 November 2011, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in California, which plans to use the building after a renovation in 2014 as a diocesan church. Bishop David Brown declared death on 9 June 2012 that the cathedral in the future will bear the name Christian Cathedral.