Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

How to Get There

Drive via E 1st Street, turn right onto N Broadway, then left onto W Temple Street; destination is on the left.

Overview

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Spanish: Catedral de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles), informally known as the COLA or the Los Angeles Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral de Los Ángeles), is the metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California. It opened in 2002 and serves as the mother church for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The structure replaced the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, which was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The cathedral is named in honor of the Virgin Mary under the patronal title of "Our Lady of the Angels", echoing the full name of the original settlement of Los Angeles (Spanish: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, or "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels"). The cathedral is widely known for enshrining the relics of Saint Vibiana and tilma piece of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Design

The architect was Pritzker Prize-winning Spaniard Rafael Moneo.Using elements of postmodern architecture, the church and the Cathedral Center feature a series of acute and obtuse angles while avoiding right angles. Contemporary statuary and appointments decorate the complex. Prominent of these appointments are the bronze doors and the statue called The Virgin Mary, all adorning the entrance and designed by Robert Graham. Other features include three fountains and a bronze sculpture by Johnny Bear Contreras dedicated as a Native American memorial.

In addition to the church, the cathedral grounds also include a mausoleum, gift shop, cafe, children's garden, conference center, and clergy residences. The relics of Saint Vibiana are interred in the mausoleum, as are the remains of several past bishops, archbishops, and auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles. The size of the cathedral is 6,038 square metres (64,990 sq ft).

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0