The Holy Family Shrine is a
Roman Catholic shrine located along
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
outside of
Omaha, Nebraska, near the town of
Gretna.
History
The idea to build a shrine for travelers on the Interstate was conceived in 1993 when four
Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
—a priest, two architects, and another layperson—were all inspired to build a chapel for travelers "of the road and of the spirit". The land was purchased in 1995, but funding and administrative difficulties delayed the project for two years. Construction of the parking lot and visitor center began in 1997, but further funding to begin construction of the chapel was not secured until 1999. The chapel building
topped out in July 2000. The following week, a windstorm destroyed the structure. The chapel was opened to the public in July 2002.
A path of life-size depictions of the
stations of the cross
The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...
was built in 2013.
20,000 people visited the chapel in 2016.
Architecture
The project was designed by Jim Dennel of the Omaha-based firm BCDM Architects. The chapel stands on bluffs that overlook Interstate 80. The chapel building, inspired by
Thorncrown Chapel
Thorncrown Chapel is a chapel located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, designed by E. Fay Jones, and constructed in 1980. The design recalls the Prairie School of architecture popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom Jones had apprenticed. The ch ...
, is made of
western red cedar beams and glass walls. The southern window features an etching of the
Holy Family, the namesake of the shrine. The primarily glass construction was chosen to allow for unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape. A visitor center inspired by a
prairie dugout contains a gift shop, meeting spaces, and restrooms. The entrance to the visitor center is meant to evoke the
tomb of Jesus, and a sculpture hanging from a skylight to evoke his
shroud. A cross is located past the front of the shrine, towering over the interstate below.
Gallery
References
External links
{{Coord, 41.075252, -96.278174, display=title
Roman Catholic churches in Omaha, Nebraska
Roman Catholic shrines in the United States
Roman Catholic churches completed in 2002