Guardian Angel Cathedral is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

cathedral in

Winchester, Nevada Winchester is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States that contains part of the Las Vegas Strip. It is one of a number of CDPs in the unincorporated urbanized area directly south of Las ...

, United States, in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan St ...

. It is located just off of the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...

, north of the

Wynn Wynn or wyn (; also spelled wen, win, ƿynn, ƿyn, ƿen, and ƿin) is a letter of the Old English Latin alphabet, Old English alphabet, where it is used to represent the sound . History The letter "W" While the earliest Old English texts ...

and

Encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers at the conclusion of a show or concert, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford Universi ...

hotels. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas. Before the establishment of the Diocese of Las Vegas in 1995, it was a parish of the Diocese of Reno.

History

St. Viator Church was built on the site of the former city dump in 1955. The ground proved to be unstable and the church was condemned and torn down six months after it opened. The Rev. Richard Crowley, CSV, now churchless, approached

Moe Dalitz Morris Barney Dalitz (December 25, 1899 – August 31, 1989) was an American gangster, businessman, casino owner, and philanthropist. He was one of the major figures who shaped Las Vegas in the 20th century. He was often referred to as "Mr. Las ...

to donate land on the Las Vegas Strip. Although Jewish, Dalitz liked the idea of having a church convenient for his casino workers. He donated land near the

Desert Inn The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the ...

in 1961. Dalitz was familiar with the work of Los Angeles architect Paul R. Williams and approached him to design the new church. Guardian Angel Shrine was opened on October 2, 1963. In 1977 Bishop Norman McFarland of the recently re-designated Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas chose the shrine as the

co-cathedral A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or ''cathedra'', with another cathedral, often in another city (usually a former see, anchor city of the metropolitan area or the civil capital). Instances o ...

. The diocese was divided in 1995 and the Diocese of Las Vegas was established. Guardian Angel retained its status as a cathedral. The cathedral was renovated for $1.3 million in 1995.

Architecture

Architect Paul R. Williams used an

A-frame An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a Structural load, load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized Beam (structure), beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached a ...

design for the church structure. A four-sided spire capped with a cross is located to the front left of the cathedral. At its base is a statue of the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

. There is a large

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

over the main entrance of the cathedral by Los Angeles artist Edith Piczek. It represents the Guardian Angel with three figures: Penance, Prayer and Peace. She also created the mural on the rear

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

wall, which is titled ''The Final Beginning''. The stained glass windows, which depict the

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

, are by her sister Isabel Piczek. They are located in 12 triangular niches that bisect the A-frame. A large crucifix is suspended from the ceiling above the altar and in front of the chancel mural. There is seating for 1,100 people in the cathedral. The pews on the main floor are divided into four sections across the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, and a deep gallery above the main entrance. The

Blessed Sacrament The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others. Christians believe that the rite was instituted by J ...

is housed in a chapel to the right of the altar, and the Lady chapel is located on the opposite side of the cathedral. File:Guardian Angel Cathedral - Las Vegas 02.JPG, Exterior detail File:Guardian Angel Cathedral - Las Vegas 01.JPG, Exterior detail File:Guardian Angel Cathedral interior - Las Vegas 18.jpg, View up the nave to the sanctuary File:Guardian Angel Cathedral interior - Las Vegas 15.JPG, Rear gallery File:Guardian Angel Cathedral interior - Las Vegas 02.JPG, Detail of Chancel mural: ''The Final Beginning'' File:Guardian Angel Cathedral interior - Las Vegas 09.JPG, Stained glass window: Station 14

References

External links

*
Official Cathedral SiteArchdiocese of Las Vegas Official Site
{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Las Vegas, state=collapsed Roman Catholic cathedrals in Nevada Buildings and structures in Winchester, Nevada Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Las Vegas Christian organizations established in 1963 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1963 Modernist architecture in Nevada Paul Williams (architect) buildings 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States 1963 establishments in Nevada

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links