Mandala Mosiacs- A Holy Beauty

February 21st, 2012

Some days I need the beauty and quiet of holy places.  One of the places that calms my soul is the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

The air is rich with the light of the magnificent mosaics.  I look for the mandala patterns.

Mostly they are found on the high ceilings.  The mandalas sooth with their round completeness, the shining gold illuminating the space.

Each individual tile of a mosaic is called a tesserae. It took 41.5 million tesserae to create the mosaics of the Cathedral Basilica, with over 8,000 shades of color.

The mosaics cover 83,000 square feet, one of the largest collections of mosaic art in the world.

Many of the tiles are clear glass with gold shining through.

It took almost eighty years to complete all the mosaics in the Cathedral.

I am thankful for the holy beauty of this space.