Rockets, Astronauts, and Shrines: Representations of Spaceflight in Sacred Visual Art and Architecture

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between space exploration and sacred visual art, demonstrating that religious iconography and church architecture evolved by assimilating humankind's entry into the physical heavens as a living parable. This is proven by the presence of space exploration imagery within places of worship—from a church building inspired by a payload fairing to inclusion of space exploration milestones as historical landmarks, from astronauts being chosen as depictions of Christian virtues to lunar material being included in church windows, and from a space shuttle being painted on a Christian Orthodox church wall to a space hotel being represented on a Buddhist temple. The incidences of space themes in religious visual arts, as well as the fervor of reception, vary nonetheless among denominations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to acknowledge the support of the Scientific Preparatory Academy for Cosmic Explorers (see http://www.spaceacad.org) for support regarding this article.

A draft of this work was presented by Virgiliu Pop, Space Exploration and Sacred Art, 1st IAA Conference on the Impact of Space on Society, 8th Leonardo/Olats Space and the Arts Workshop, Budapest, Hungary, 16–19 March 1995.

Notes

Virgiliu Pop, “Space Exploration and Folk Beliefs on Climate Change,” Astropolitics 9 (2011): 50–62.

Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (New York: Random House, 1970), 4.

William F. Ogburn, Social Change With Respect to Culture and Original Nature (New York: B. W. Huebsch, Inc., 1922).

Virgiliu Pop, “Space and Religion in Russia: Cosmonaut Worship to Orthodox Revival,” Astropolitics 7 (2009): 150–163.

Associated Press, “Inspect Cocoon for Tiny US Test Satellite,” The Miami News, 29 November 1957, 6A.

Fr. Orivaldo Robles, A Igreja que Brotou da Mata - Os 50 Anos da Diocese de Maringá (Maringá: Dental Press, 2007), 161, http://bit.ly/Riv655 (accessed December 2012).

Dom Jaime Luiz Coelho, “Dedicacao da Catedral,” in Genivaldo Ubinge, Marcos Roberto Almeida dos Santos, eds., Queridos Diocesanos: 50 Textos Selecionados de Dom Jaime Luiz Coelho (Maringa: Clichetec, 2007), 92, quoted by Jonas Jorge da Silva, “Para Além das Paredes: A Construção da Catedral de Maringá,” Acta Scientiarum: Human and Social Sciences 32:2 (2010): 175.

Robles (note 6), 161.

For a picture of the church, see flickr.com, 14 February 2008, http://bit.ly/Wa23fG (accessed December 2012).

Anthony M. Coniaris, Introducere in Credinta si Viata Bisericii Ortodoxe (Bucharest: Editura Sofia, 2001), 107.

Richard H. Battin, Some Funny Things Happened on the Way to the Moon, 27th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, 9–12 January 1989, Reno, NV, paper AIAA-89-0861, 3.

Christopher Morgan, Joseph O'Connor, and David Hoag, Draper at 25: Innovation for the 21st Century (Cambridge, MA: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., 1998), http://bit.ly/VhPi80 (accessed November 2012).

Norman Mailer, Of a Fire on the Moon (London: Pan Books, 1971), 381.

Ibid., 359.

David F. Noble, The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), 142.

See flickr.com, 27 June 2011, http://bit.ly/Urv6y9 (accessed June 2012); http://bit.ly/ZHzwG3 (accessed October 2010); and http://bit.ly/UrvjRU (accessed December 2012).

Jane Simmonds, Insight Guide Iceland (London: Langenscheidt Publishing Group, 1999), 164.

Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church, “Architecture,” spaceshipchurch.org, 2012, http://bit.ly/YGn7BV (accessed December 2012).

Architect Doru Olas, personal correspondence with author, 5 December 2012.

Piers Bizony, One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 Remembered (St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2009), 26.

Wyn Wachhorst, The Dream of Spaceflight – Essays on the Near Edge of Infinity (New York: Basic Books, 2000), 102.

Ibid., 98.

Diego Cuoghi, “The Art of Imagining UFOs,” Skeptic 11:1 (2004): 43–53, http://bit.ly/R15Qij (accessed December 2012).

Rui Silva, “O Astronauta da Catedral de Salamanca,” portaldoastronomo.org, 16 November 2006, http://bit.ly/cUKtMY (accessed November 2012).

Crestinortodox.ro, “Iconoclasmul. Sinodul VII Ecumenic de la Niceea din 787,” crestinortodox.ro, http://bit.ly/ToX8Zq (accessed December 2012).

Anne E. Rowland, Like Stars Appearing: The Story of the Stained Glass Windows of St. George's Episcopal Church, Dayton, Ohio, 2004, http://bit.ly/11sk8L2 and http://bit.ly/Ughgg7 (accessed December 2012).

Richard K. Fenn, Beyond Idols – The Shape of a Secular Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 75.

Hamish Lindsay, Tracking Apollo to the Moon (London: Springer, 2001), 253.

Washington National Cathedral, “Scientists and Technicians Window—‘Space Window,’” cathedral.org, 2005, http://bit.ly/TwSqLk (accessed November 2012).

Anne-Catherine Fallen, ed., The Washington National Cathedral Guidebook (Washington, DC: Washington National Cathedral, 1995). The Washington National Cathedral also contains the answer to the question asked in the introduction to this article—namely, whether grotesques would take forms from space-themed sci-fi movies; indeed, one of the Washington National Cathedral's grotesques portrays none other than Darth Vader.

David Esler, “Church of the Ascension Annahilt - Themes of Millennium Stained Glass Window,” Church of the Ascension Annahilt Parish, 15 September 2001, http://bit.ly/Ycy65K (accessed November 2012).

Hatfield Church, “Hatfield Millennium Window Installed, Unveiled, Awaiting Your Visit,” Hatfield Church, 29 October 2000, http://bit.ly/V8aUQt (accessed November 2012).

Hatfield Church, “The Millennium Window,” Hatfield Church, 2002, http://bit.ly/UvtKCT, http://bit.ly/117gV4d, and http://bit.ly/TuQnna (accessed November 2012).

Rebecca-Rose Welsh, “Man on the Moon,” BBC, 8 July 2004, http://bbc.in/YvS1vq (accessed November 2012).

St. Paul's Cathedral, “Materials @ St. Paul's,” 5, Schools and Families Department, stpauls.co.uk, 2011, http://bit.ly/X8D8Pg (accessed November 2012); and St. Paul's Cathedral, “The Chapels,” stpauls.co.uk, 2012, http://bit.ly/MIDVMF (accessed November 2012).

Christchurch Priory, The Lady Chapel, 2002, http://bit.ly/Tux8tT (accessed November 2012).

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, “Stained Glass Windows,” czestochowa.us, 2003, http://bit.ly/SZdKXR (accessed December 2012).

For a photograph of the stained glass, see Sheena Chi, “Book of Genesis,” flickr.com, 18 December 2010, http://bit.ly/RwCvh7 (accessed December 2012).

Bishop James Sullivan, Welcome to St. Thomas Aquinas, 1979, http://bit.ly/Uxs0sB (accessed December 2012). For an image of the window, see flickr.com, 13 August 2011, http://bit.ly/rnkUG3 (accessed December 2012).

Alec MacGillis, “City Seeks Answers from Science, Faith,” Baltimore Sun, 3 February 2003, http://bsun.md/V7uJFp (accessed November 2012).

Anne E. Rowland, Like Stars Appearing: The Story of the Stained Glass Windows of St. George's Episcopal Church, Dayton, Ohio, 2004, http://bit.ly/11sk8L2 and http://bit.ly/Ughgg7 (accessed December 2012).

Sherwood Eliot Wirt, “C. S. Lewis on Heaven, Earth and Outer Space,” Decision Magazine, September 1963, http://bit.ly/V8iiLB (accessed December 2012).

Joan A. Mitchell, “Reflections on a Stained Glass Window in Christ Church Woodbury, New Jersey,” The Ministry of William W. Rauscher, mysticlightpress.com, 2003, http://bit.ly/TuxiBz (accessed November 2012).

Sonja L. Cohen, “Window Memorializes Astronomer, Church Founder,” UUWorld, Fall 2005, http://bit.ly/xPazhf (accessed November 2012).

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, “History,” trinitylutheranpaloalto.com, 2009, http://bit.ly/TuLp9W (accessed November 2012).

For a history of the Apollo Prayer League, see Carol Mersch's article in this special issue of Astropolitics.

Jerry Woodfill, “Mysterious Space Painting Confirms Space Acts,” spaceacts.com, 2000, http://bit.ly/UeKewF (accessed November 2012).

David Shukman, Tomorrow's War: The Threat of High-Technology Weapons (San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1995), 95. Shukman considers the lunar scene as being rather “an image of celestial conquest.” Also, see Diane M. Rousseau, “Transformation at the Pentagon,” The Institute of Spiritual Sciences, institutespiritualsciences.org, 2004, http://bit.ly/116Ogfw (accessed November 2012).

See St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, http://stmarys-la.org (accessed November 2012).

Joanna B. Gillespie, “Japanese-American Episcopalians During World War II: The Congregation of St. Mary's Los Angeles, 1941–1945,” Anglican and Episcopal History 69 (2000): 168.

As per Article V of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which proclaims that “States Parties to the Treaty shall regard astronauts as envoys of mankind in outer space,” and the Apollo 11 plaque left on the moon proclaiming ” We came in peace for all mankind.” It is to be noted that Astronaut Ellison Onizuka, who perished in the 1986 Challenger tragedy, was a Japanese-American, and that actor George Takei, who portrayed Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, hails from Los Angeles.

Rev. Grant S. Carey, “A Guide to the Windows of Trinity Cathedral,” trinitycathedral.org, 2008, http://bit.ly/U5JuYE and http://bit.ly/TuQcJl (accessed November 2012).

Ibid.

Gene Farmer, Dora Jane Hamblin, First on the Moon: A Voyage with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. (London: Michael Joseph, 1970), 49.

Nicolo Suffi, St. Peter's - Guide to the Basilica and Square, http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Docs/Basilica-Square1.htm (accessed November 2012). For a picture of the “Death in Outer Space,” see flickr.com, 28 December 2005, http://bit.ly/SxHpXz (accessed November 2012).

Dario Micacchi, “Un Invito a Essere Uomini in Proporzioni Umane”, L'Unita, 4 July 1964, 4, http://bit.ly/SBsGwv (accessed December 2012).

Nancy Snook, Stations, California State University Los Angeles Graduate Project, etchings on paper 18 × 24 inches, 1967, http://bit.ly/SOmLTl (accessed December 2012). A rocket is featured on the eleventh station of “Jesus is nailed to the Cross” as it plunges through the body of a soldier (representing the feeling of pain), its exhaust incinerating the body of a self-immolated monk.

Paul Lunde, “The Ka'bah – House Of God,” Saudi Aramco World (November/December 1974): 6–7, http://bit.ly/WbzqV3 (accessed December 2012).

Hamish Lindsay, Tracking Apollo to the Moon (London: Springer, 2001), 253.

Maggie Galehouse, “Out-of-This-World Art Needs a Down-to-Earth Home: Valley's McCall Seeks Museum for His Works,” The Arizona Republic, 9 December 2004, A1.

“Valley Presbyterian Church to Celebrate Artist McCall's Life,” The Arizona Republic, 4 March 2010, http://bit.ly/WxSFmP (accessed November 2012).

Chuck Hustmyre, “Capturing God's Light,” The Advocate, Baton Rouge, 22 November 2003.

Webster Presbyterian Church, “History,” Webster Presbyterian Church, websterpresby.org, 2012, http://bit.ly/TUTxB6 (accessed December 2012).

George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (New York: Perennial, 2001), 190. For a picture of the Tabernacle, see flickr.com, 25 September 2008, http://bit.ly/TCMd0n (accessed December 2012).

Several centuries ago, Romanian church painters depicted Turkish enemy soldiers as devils, and contemporary iconography has perpetuated this custom. While working at the “Descent into Hell” fresco in a military Orthodox chapel in Timisoara, Romanian painter Ion Badila saw the 9/11 terrorist attack. As a consequence of seeing hell unleashed on Earth, he decided to paint Osama Bin Laden as personifying the Devil, riding an airplane, and carrying a fork aimed at the World Trade Center. See BBC, “Bin Laden Rides to Fresco Hell,” BBC News, 6 July 2002, http://bbc.in/11mQTJi (accessed November 2012). Even this type of depiction can be frowned upon—see the case of the Church of Panagia Axion Esti in Axioupoli of Kilkis, Greece, where in January and February of 2007 much tumult occurred over the frescoes depicting Vladimir Ilich Lenin cutting with scissors the beard of St. Luke of Simferopol, and other divisive figures and subjects. See John Sanidopoulos, “Has Paganism Invaded An Orthodox Church?” Mystagogy – The Blog of John Sanidopoulos, 23 May 2011, http://bit.ly/krpKgn (accessed 6 December 2012).

Michel Quenot, The Icon: Window on the Kingdom, (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991), 67.

Ibid.

Rosemary Clark, Catholic Iconography in the Novels of Juan Marsé, (Woodbridge, UK: Tamesis Books, 2003), 150.

Instead of decorating their churches with spaceflight scenes, Eastern Orthodox Christians prefer to take saintly images along when flying to space, as shown in an earlier article. See Virgiliu Pop, “Viewpoint: Space and Religion in Russia: Cosmonaut Worship to Orthodox Revival,” Astropolitics 7 (2009): 150–163.

Sorin Preda, “Profetia Pictata a Parintelui Arsenie Boca,” Formula As 876 (3–10 July 2009), http://bit.ly/UF1EoN (accessed December 2012). The author of the cited article considers that the image is that of the “Space Shuttle Discovery,” seeming to “foresee the Apollo 13 disaster.” The orbiter depicted is, however, Columbia, given that it is depicted atop a white-painted External Tank (ET). Painted ETs were used only for the first two Space Shuttle missions, STS-1 of 12 April 1981 and STS-2 of 12 November 1981, both with the Columbia orbiter. See June Malone, “Release 99-193: NASA Takes Delivery of 100th Space Shuttle External Tank,” NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/home/index.html, 16 August 1999, http://1.usa.gov/WJk8ly (accessed December 2012). It is shown that the scene was painted sometime in 1981–1982. For an image of the STS-1 launch, see NASA, “STS-1 Launch,” GRIN – Great Images of NASA, grin.hq.nasa.gov, 12 April 1981, http://1.usa.gov/fGLbza (accessed December 2012); as for the Apollo 13 incident, it occurred in 1970.

For an image of the fresco, see http://romanianorthodoxyinenglish.blogspot.com, 10 August 2012, http://bit.ly/WKgdF0 (accessed December 2012). Compare with a classical rendition of the same subject - razbointrucuvant.ro, December 2011, http://bit.ly/UGzz0m (accessed 6 December 2012).

Luke 14:15-24, The New International Version Bible, http://www.biblica.com/niv (accessed January 2013).

Alina Turcitu, “Părintele ‘Fenomenului Prislop’: Comunica Telepatic, Se Teleporta, Descuia Zăvoarele Fără să le Atingă,” Jurnalul National, 19 April 2012, http://bit.ly/TELxYq (accessed December 2012).

Ibid.

Hieromonk Arsenie, “Autobiography,” Ramnicu-Valcea, 17 July 1957, http://bit.ly/Z2JyA5 (accessed December 2012).

Daniela Cârlea Şontică, “Pictura Profetică din Biserica Drăgănescu,” Jurnalul Naţional, 5 April 2009, http://bit.ly/TOiUo3 (accessed December 2012).

Alina Turcitu, “‘Codul lui Da Vinci’ – Varianta Românească: Uluitoarele Mesaje de pe Pereţii Bisericii Drăgănescu,” Jurnalul National, 25 April 2012, http://bit.ly/Ue4YTb (accessed December 2012).

Solrunn Nes, The Mystical Language of Icons (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004), 17.

Virgiliu Pop, “Viewpoint: Space and Religion in Russia: Cosmonaut Worship to Orthodox Revival,” Astropolitics 7 (2009): 150–163.

Willard G. Van De Bogart, “Wat Rong Khun: A Cosmic Confessional,” Earth Portals, 3 December 2008, http://bit.ly/6hL36V (accessed December 2012).

Vince G. Lopez, “The Mystifying Art of a Modern Temple,” Manila Bulletin, 16 May 2010, http://bit.ly/RlUu9X (accessed December 2012).

Joan Koh, “The Dark and the Light Side of Thai Art,” Time, 14 May 2009, http://ti.me/T2H1q (accessed December 2012).

Nuttanee Thaveephol, “Wat Rong Khun: A Labor of Love and Devotion,” Chiang Mai Mail 2:5 (1–7 February 2003), http://bit.ly/2F9cD (accessed December 2012).

Eugene Tang, “Famous Buddhist Temples in Thailand – Wat Rong Khun or White Temple,” TourismThailand Blog, 16 October 2009, http://bit.ly/UbRFUu (accessed December 2012).

Justin Thomas McDaniel, The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), 213.

Chalermchai Kositpipat, “Love Each Other for World Peace,” 2009, http://bit.ly/lXkTpA (accessed December 2012).

NASA, “The Angry Alligator,” GRIN – Great Images in NASA, http://1.usa.gov/UiiUg2 (accessed December 2012).

Yin Teing, “Utilizing Talent to Benefit Others – Acharn Chalermchai,” Jottings Straight from the Heart, 16 March 2009, http://bit.ly/12kJISE (accessed December 2012).