This is My Father's House - The Basilica of St Lawrence

While still in the afterglow of having visited both Los Angeles and Tokyo last month, I still cannot seem to get Asheville, North Carolina off my mind. I don't think I ever will completely.

    I love traveling with my kids but when I travel without them, I seem to accomplish more as I have more freedom to do things that may not be so kid-friendly.

    Recently, I have been compelled to visit cathedrals when I travel to a different city. Whenever I arrive to my destination and see one of these iconic storehouses as I pass through town, it is as though it is a pilgrimage and the visit has to happen sometime before I leave. I already feel as though I have missed out having not done this already at cities I have visited in the past.

   As if there isn't enough to see already in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina, a monarch of all structures within the city stands just on the edge of downtown since 1909.

   For 110 years, inscence has permeated the air, hymns have resounded and babies have cried while being baptized while loved ones surrounded them. I now will bask in the wonder of this place.


   Not all who wander are lost. Though we may admire the beauty of these places, if we are people of faith, they are very much places where we feel we are at home. In most cases, the doors of the Catholic church are always open for anyone who needs a time of solitude for meditation and for those who seek the comfort of being in God's presence. I have only been to one cathedral overseas and I'm not even sure I have ever been to a basilica. However based on photos I have seen and research I have done, the artistry and fine detail inside the Basilica of St. Lawrence appeared to resemble those which are in Europe. There are many reminders in these cathedrals that are tied to the foundations of our faith. Here I have found a few favorites.

  

   The nice thing about a cathedral is that it is difficult to take a bad picture as long as the camera is in focus. Everything is so colorful with great detail and diversity all that have their own stories.

  The adoration chapel was the first place I felt compelled towards. For Catholics, adoration is a time to be in the presence of God the father in a consecrated host which is visible in a Monstrance. Though there are conflicting views across many religions regarding this, the presence of God here is very powerful. Candles are lit without ever being distinguished.

  

I continued to admire more of the beauty behind this magnificent place. On the opposite end of the sanctuary, was the Chapel of Our Lady. The marble statue of Mary was  molded after a Baroque painting by  Bartolme Murillo titled "Our Lady of the Assumption." The base of the alter honors eight well known women of history who were canonized as saints.

I was greatly inspired when I discovered that there actually were many elements here that reflected works of European art. Beneath the adorned domed ceiling, there was a painting in the Chapel of Our Lady by a Baroque Italian artist named Massimo Stanzione titled "The Visitation." It's image presents Mary who is visibly with-child and in the company of her guest.

          
                                         "The Visitation" 
                                       Massimo Stanzione
  


Rafael Guastavino

   The achitect of the St Lawrence Basillica is from Spain! I may not be in a European cathedral but in a sense, I kind of am. Rafael Guastavino settled in Black Mountain, North Carolina in 1890 after he was commissioned to work for George W. Vanderbilt. Rafael's architecture is unique and very effective as it of tile and morder structure. The layout of the structure is of horizontal fashion making it highly durable and fireproof and contains no wood of any kind. Before his death in 1905, his work will have included tiles for the Grand Central Station Terminal and Carnegie Hall in New York City as well as the Boston Public Library and the Supreme Court building in Washington DC.

The tile placement in the workmanship of Rafael Guastavino is evident in the dome structure of the Basilica. The free standing elliptical dome measures at 82' X 58' making it the largest in North America.