Parkway Community Schools had a "Stained Glass and Steeple Tour" specializing in windows from the Emil Frei Stained Glass Studio. Emil Frei was brought to St. Louis in the 1800's to share his stained glass skills. His technique is known as the "Munich-style stained glass" which is different from the medieval style because the details are painted on rather than smaller pieces of colored glass held in a leaded framework seen in medieval or Tiffany-style pieces.
The first church we saw was St. John Nepomuk Church in the Soulard neighborhood.
It not only had beautiful windows, but carved statues like the one above of St. Louis.
This is the pulpit with some of the windows in the background. Before sound systems, the priests needed to give the homily from a raised platform with a canopy which helped amplify the sound.
The windows in this church told stories from the Bible.
The church seemed very European with the statues, carving and the stained glass.
The second church also in South City was St. Francis de Sales which is a traditional Roman Catholic Church with the masses in Latin.
It was very majestic resembling a European cathedral.
The stained glass panes, also done by Emil Frei, were of the disciples.
Although the church has a French name, it was built by Germans. This window says, "In the memory of the parents Peter and Elisabeth Weiterman." All of the details and shading on these windows were painted on.
The pulpit was beautifully carved.
Double-click to see the details on the lower portion of the pulpit.
Our third church of the morning was "The College Church" or St. Francis Xavier Church. Emil Frei was originally brought to St. Louis to work on this church, but the windows were actually done by his son Emil Frei, Jr.
Although this church has been remodeled on the inside, the narthex has been left with the walls and floors as they originally were with red granite in the floor and below the "chair rail".
The Baptismal font was moved to the entrance of the sanctuary with a baptismal pool created from the old communion rails.
Although the pews had been replaced, they kept the end pieces from the old pews. Notice how the seats were made deeper to accommodate modern bodies.
We are blessed to have so many beautiful churches in St. Louis with these magnificent Emil Frei windows.
When the pipe organ was removed, this beautiful window was easier to see. Despite the gray, rainy day, it shined like jewels.
Below these windows are a confessional also with small stained glass windows. I have never seen so many confessionals in a church---there were at least 10---although only four are used today. Well, it is "The College Church" for St. Louis University. . . .
Parkway Community Schools had a "Stained Glass and Steeple Tour" specializing in windows from the Emil Frei Stained Glass Studio. Emil Frei was brought to St. Louis in the 1800's to share his stained glass skills. His technique is known as the "Munich-style stained glass" which is different from the medieval style because the details are painted on rather than smaller pieces of colored glass held in a leaded framework seen in medieval or Tiffany-style pieces.
The first church we saw was St. John Nepomuk Church in the Soulard neighborhood.
It not only had beautiful windows, but carved statues like the one above of St. Louis.
This is the pulpit with some of the windows in the background. Before sound systems, the priests needed to give the homily from a raised platform with a canopy which helped amplify the sound.
The windows in this church told stories from the Bible.
The church seemed very European with the statues, carving and the stained glass.
The second church also in South City was St. Francis de Sales which is a traditional Roman Catholic Church with the masses in Latin.
It was very majestic resembling a European cathedral.
The stained glass panes, also done by Emil Frei, were of the disciples.
Although the church has a French name, it was built by Germans. This window says, "In the memory of the parents Peter and Elisabeth Weiterman." All of the details and shading on these windows were painted on.
The pulpit was beautifully carved.
Double-click to see the details on the lower portion of the pulpit.
Our third church of the morning was "The College Church" or St. Francis Xavier Church. Emil Frei was originally brought to St. Louis to work on this church, but the windows were actually done by his son Emil Frei, Jr.
Although this church has been remodeled on the inside, the narthex has been left with the walls and floors as they originally were with red granite in the floor and below the "chair rail".
The Baptismal font was moved to the entrance of the sanctuary with a baptismal pool created from the old communion rails.
Although the pews had been replaced, they kept the end pieces from the old pews. Notice how the seats were made deeper to accommodate modern bodies.
We are blessed to have so many beautiful churches in St. Louis with these magnificent Emil Frei windows.
When the pipe organ was removed, this beautiful window was easier to see. Despite the gray, rainy day, it shined like jewels.
Below these windows are a confessional also with small stained glass windows. I have never seen so many confessionals in a church---there were at least 10---although only four are used today. Well, it is "The College Church" for St. Louis University. . . .
1 comment:
beautiful! sounds like an interesting tour! so neat getting to see the insides of so many beautiful old churches!
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