A whole that is more than the sum of its parts.
As a child I spent countless hours gazing in wonder at the stained glass depictions of Jesus and the saints in the church my family attended. A bit of that wonder faded when, as an adult, I discovered that most of those windows were standard mass produced designs found in churches all over the United States, but the apse windows remained special: custom made in Austria, they cost well over $100,000 when the church was built in the 1870s.
The point of this little ramble? I’m not easily impressed by stained glass. Well, I was impressed yesterday. A lunchtime stroll along Delaware Avenue led me to Trinity Episcopal, and the open front doors promised a cool diversion I was unable to resist. The building itself is fairly simple as Buffalo churches of that era go, but the stained glass windows are spectacular, both individually and as a collection. Unlike many churches, Trinity boasts windows from a wide variety of sources all over the world, with masters such as Louis Comfort Tiffany and John LaFarge especially well represented.
As the eye moves from window to window, the changing symbolism, technique, artistic styles and influences (Art Nouveau, Renaissance, even Japanese) somehow work together to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.
My photos don’t do justice to these exhilarating works of religious art… you need to see them for yourself. Trinity Episcopal Church is located at 371 Delaware Avenue, across from the Buffalo Club. An informative brochure describing the subject, history and technique of each window is available at the church for a $1 donation (money well spent) and organized window tours are offered as well. For more information contact 716-852-8314.
Click here to learn about the Trinity Church Rose Window project...
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buffcitybeliever
An article long overdue here. They're spectacular aren't they? I think a series of periodical articles is in order here. There are just too many people who don't go to church as often as they used to, myself included, and I personally think it'd do me some good to spend some time reflecting, appreciating, and contributing to the local churches in the area. I should close on my house soon (yeah 4 months later) and one promise I've made myself is to become actively involved with my church so it isn't targeted for closing or merger. It's soo sad to see these great old churches close up. When I do go to church, I can see there is a terribly urgent need for young people to take over where the old will soon leave off. It's so sad and scary. These people you see in church are from the WWII generation. Just as they say we are losing 1200 veterans a day, these churches-what should be your church possibly around the corner, down the street, are losing their parishoners at the same rate. I'm no spring chicken as they said, but as a last of the babyboomers, I can say, I remember, believe it or not, Civil War Veterans in the parades a a child. I know I didn't think in terms of me being 'carrier of the torch', but now that I'm getting up there, it weighs heavy on me that maybe I didn't do enough to encourage or value the extradinary contribution attending church provides to our everyday lives. I'm playing 'catch up' and I know I'm not alone in that...obviously, by the state of this world...Thanks for the article and the reminder to get my ass in gear and go to church.
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sbrof
These windows are fantastic. The detail of painting on glass is something you just cannot find in many places. Gorgeous doesn't even describe the feeling inside walking as the sun shifts luminosity from a passing cloud. I heard a rumor and maybe it is just that, but it didn't the Louvre in Paris offer to buy one of these windows for their collection at some point? I don't know if it is true but I heard it somewhere.
Another interesting story is about their organ in that church... On another trip with a friend to show him the stained glass the organ player broke out into the art of fugue by Bach... (I think)... I don't know if he did it on purpose or just one of those amazing moments in life but talk about spine tingling excitement. Since the pipes are all around the sanctuary the sounds just pulse from all around you. It is one of those memories that will last for a lifetime for both myself and my friend. A strange blending of beauty and eeriness.
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zenfur
I've had the opportunity to travel to Europe a few times and always pop into the beautiful churches. ANyone that wants to experience the beauty of grand stained glass doesn't have to go overseas, Buffalo has church glass that easily rivals old european churches... Is there a church glass tour available- either guided or a self tour? I would love to take out of town visitors on such a tour.
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TheWhyNotGuy
sbrof - according to the brochure mentioned in the story, one of the windows was displayed at an international exposition in Paris. The French government wanted to purchase the window but since it had been commissioned for Trinity Church it was shipped off to Buffalo instead.
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lauras
John Carocci - Let's hear more from you soon.
You have a gift for writing a compelling story.
P.S. Church of the Good Shepherd, on Jewett Ave. in Parkside, has three sets of Tiffany windows. It's a smaller church. Had a fascinating history lesson compliments of the pastor during the Parkside Tour of Homes a few years ago.
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Prodigal-Son
Zenfur - there are a number of such tours.
The Buffalo Religious Arts Center (www.buffaloreligiousarts.org) is having tours of Saint Francis Xavier at East and Amherst Streets in Black Rock this Saturday, as aprt of Buffalo Homecoming. They also sponsor monthly bus tours - 23 Jul is the next one - that hit 4 churches at a time.
The Landmark Society, Buffalo Tours, and other hold regular tours as well. I'm not as familiar with their exact schedule.
Trinity Episcopal is one of the gretat examples of Buffalo's religious art and stained glass. I was just in there recently for the first time and was blown away. For another, try Saint Ann's on Broadway (STEEL did a post a couple months ago) - those are Zettler windows from Munich, and also stunning.
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SBUBfloBoy
I visited Trinity during the Allentown Art Festival and was very impressed with the stained glass. So many of our local churches have amazing stained glass. St. Joseph's RC Cathedral and St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral are 2 great examples. One of the smaller churches that I also visited during Allentown was Church of the Ascension Episcopal on the corner of North and Linwood and they had some really wonderful stained glass windows. Members of the church were giving tours of the windows along with their priest, Fr. Armand, and the organist was entertaining those who stopped in to visit.
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