The transparent glass structure reflects the blue sky—a “Crystal Cathedral” that seems to bring you closer to God.

Text & photos / Wang Yuhua, Cai Qinghui, excerpted from “Encountering the World’s Ten Great Churches: An Architect’s Guide to Sacred Spaces,” published by Times Publishing.

Emphasizing Localization and Participation

The emergence of the Crystal Cathedral has its roots in the era’s developmental background. Between 1962 and 1965, the Second Vatican Council convened by Pope John Paul II included a resolution to encourage congregational participation in worship services. This resolution injected new vitality into traditional church architectural forms, prompting a rethink of the church’s new design—such as the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Cathedral in Brasilia, which resembles a UFO. Its circular, open-plan interior space lacks any distinction between sacred and secular areas, where everyone is equal under the roof.

Subsequently, in a competition for the design of Liverpool Cathedral held by the Catholic Church, the award went to a proposal featuring a large circular space. Looking at the entire 1950s to 1960s period, although church forms continued to evolve, the style and spiritual meaning of churches were also widely discussed. The Vatican adopted an unprecedentedly open attitude toward the issue, emphasizing the localization of faith—especially in emerging developing countries like South America and Asia, regions where Christian and Catholic populations were rapidly growing apart from Western traditions. The interpretation of sacred spaces became more diverse.

Daring to Break from Tradition and Embrace New Thinking

In 1975, amid the wave of modernism and the rise of media worship, Reverend Robert Schuller of Orange County, California, USA, planned to build a new church for his congregation. This pastor, who had once rented an outdoor cinema for worship gatherings, repeatedly pondered, “What features should a church have to accommodate modern functions?” and “What would a church without any walls even look like?”

Reverend Schuller enjoyed preaching under the open blue sky and on green grass, feeling he could connect with the Almighty without barriers. He hoped to use transparent clear glass so that the blue sky would always be visible. He discussed how to construct such a church with renowned architect Philip Johnson, whose distinctive architectural style had earned him the title “master of glass and steel.” When the pastor first saw Johnson’s model for the new church, he viewed it from a distance and exclaimed, “How much it resembles a crystal cathedral!” From then on, the church was given the name Crystal.

Turning back to the United States, with immigration and population growth, the number of Protestant Christians continued to rise. The immigrant Protestant population mainly came from Britain, as well as Ireland, Scotland, and other countries that had converted to Protestantism. As American influence grew, it also became a hub for the Protestant missionary movement. Christianity influenced American institutions, and in the 1980s, under Reagan’s economic expansion policies, the U.S. economy and religion flourished.

Against this backdrop, the bold and tradition-breaking Crystal Cathedral emerged in 1980. Protestantism, rooted in the U.S., eagerly severed its historical constraints and wholeheartedly embraced a new mode of worship and a new form of faith expression.

The Crystal Cathedral follows the “International Style” within the grand tradition of architecture. The International Style emerged in the four decades after World War II (1940–1980), brought to North America by German architect Walter Gropius, who had fled the Nazi regime, along with Mies van der Rohe.

This school advocated for “form follows function,” emphasizing that “architecture is a machine for living,” deliberately downplaying the spiritual and emotional roles of buildings. With an extremely rational and logical approach, it prioritized organizing spatial systems in an orderly manner, blending optimal rationalization with minimal romantic language to shape architectural volumes. The architectural style bore no local cultural characteristics and aimed for universal applicability. In construction, it used materials produced from standardized molds, such as steel structures, glass panels, and concrete slabs.

After arriving in North America, Mies built key high-rise buildings in Chicago and a representative building for the Department of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, known for its rational use of steel, glass, and transparent, minimalist layouts. He established the benchmark for the International Style in American modern architecture, influencing a generation of young architects—one of whom was Philip Johnson.

Data
Location | Garden Grove, California, USA
Dimensions | 69 (L) × 47 (W) × 42 (H) meters
Construction Period | 1977 – 1980
Architect | Philip Johnson
Style | Modern Style and International Style

Sick of work and school? Feeling super bored? Want to travel?
Download the “ETtoday News Cloud APP” for keyboard travels →
iOS:https://goo.gl/rmIDdx
Android:https://goo.gl/XPe8Uj