The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis is a Catholic Church, which is also called Saint Louis Cathedral and it is famous for the mosaic collections that could date back to a hundred year ago.
Outside the cathedral, a sculpture caught my eyes because of the Africa-American features of the angel who were surrounded by three children with different racial features. The name of the sculpture is The Angel of Harmony which I believe is what the artist wants to express, that is, the harmony and peace of racial justice. This reminded me of being an Asian in the US that sometimes brings extra attentions and benefits as well as some recent racist news. I truly hope that human are treated equally all over the world no matter where they come from and what color is their skin.
When I step into the basilica, the significant and amazing artworks of mosaics took my breath away. Countless colorful glass tesserae pieces were installed into so many marvelous pictures such as the ceiling of the entrance, the famous saying from 2 Timothy 4:7 can be seen which is I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith. What’s more, angels with huge wings on the pendentives also were something extraordinary. The basilica is decorated with incredible paintings and mosaics telling the renowned stories from the Bible. In addition, there were two special symbols being displayed in the cathedral the umbrella and the bell, they known as ombrellino and tintinnabulum. These two things can only be seen in cathedrals that are Basilica, a place of worship of special distinction.
The religious subject I like the most in the Saint Louis Cathedral is the Pieta Replica. It is a bronze describing the renowned story which is the Virgin Mary holding her son Jesus Christ’s dead body. The bronze is actually a replica of Michelangelo’s Pietá which means pity in Italian. The first thing I noticed was the young and peaceful face of the Virgin Mary. According to the Bible, Virgin Mary should be in her 40s when Jesus died. And instead of desperation and grief-stricken expression of her son’s death, her face looked so peaceful. However, there is not only peace but also a complicated feeling can be seen on her face. It made me feel her deep sadness of Jesus’s death, her acceptance of this great sorrow and her hope and belief in her son.
As for the reason of Virgin Mary’s young face, I think it is the true role and nature of the Virgin Mary in this story, which is a mother. Therefore, when Michelangelo were creating the sculpture, he thought about his own mother undoubtedly. Michelangelo’s mother died in a young age when he was only five year old, this only left him the young face of his mother. Additionally, the Michelangelo explained the reason why he made Virgin Mary look so young is that ‘women who are pure in soul and body never grow old’. The different sizes of their bodies also got my attention, Jesus’s body was small to a man on Virgin Mary’s lap, his hand was handing down and his head was leaning back, which gave me an impression of weakness and lifelessness. On the other hand, different from the naked body of Jesus, Virgin Mary is wearing habit and cape which emphasized the death of her son.
There are many more artworks and inspirations in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, I hope I can more opportunities to explore there in the future.