10 Secrets of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC

The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue is not only one of the oldest buildings in Morningside Heights but also one of the most fascinating. The historic cathedral has many secrets, from a gold triptych by Keith Haring to a very unusual sculpture featuring the Archangel Michael, the decapitated head of Satan, and nine giraffes. Here are ten secrets of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine!

1. The Keith Haring Triptych

“The Life of Christ” was Keith Haring’s last work before his death. He passed away just weeks after this work was complete. There are nine versions of this triptych, cast in bronze and covered in white gold, one of which is located at St. John the Divine. Another version can be seen in Paris at Saint Eustache, which we covered in our NYC vs Paris series, and another is located in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The three panels represent the life of Jesus Christ, his resurrection, and a fallen angel.

2. The Cathedral was never finished

A Guide to the Cathedral from 1921 posited that it might take 700 years for the Cathedral to be completed since it was built by employing true Gothic building methods. However, as of now, it appears that the Cathedral will never be completed. A “temporary” ceiling consisting of tiles is still in place a century after it was supposed to be demolished so that the Cathedral’s spire could rise.

Additionally, the crossing was never completed, resulting in an extremely truncated cruciform layout. For photos of what the Cathedral was supposed to look like upon completion check out our previous coverage in The NYC that Never Was: The Half-Finished St. John the Divine.

3. Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and More Are Honored in Stone

In 1922, at a cost of $16,000, the Cathedral installed a stone parapet. The parapet contained “one sculpture for each of the Christian centuries, each figure being that of the personage who in that 100 years did the most, in the opinion of the Cathedral authorities, for the uplift of the world.” The twentieth-century niche was left empty with instructions that it was to remain empty for seventy-eight years in order to determine who would be worthy of filling the void for the century. According to the New York Times, the front runners in 1922 were Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd George, and Charles Evans Hughes. The niche was eventually filled with a statue of Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Einstein, and Gandhi carved by Chris Pellettieri.

4. Resting Place of Madeleine L’Engle

Madeleine L’Engle is most famously known for writing the Newberry prize winning young adult novel, A Wrinkle in Time. However, in addition to being an author, L’Engle was a devout Episcopalian. She served as a volunteer librarian and writer in residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. When she passed away in 2007, she was inurned in the Cathedral.

5. Largest Rose Window in the United States

St.John the Divine claims to be the largest cathedral in the world, defined as a church that is also the seat of a bishop. (St. Peter’s, for example, is not a cathedral). Measured by length or internal volume, it is one of the five largest church buildings in the world. Additionally, it possesses the largest rose window in the United States. The window, which is the fifth largest in the world, was constructed out of 10,000 pieces of stained glass.