Saint John’s Abbey… Just stop and check it out!
Saint John's Abbey Church
A jaw-dropping brutalist space church seems to have crash-landed in the middle of America. Built between May of 1958 and August of 1961, the church of Saint John's Abbey bursts forth from the plains of central Minnesota like a concrete demon from a galaxy far, far away.
Lording over the campus of Saint John's University, the church is one of just two ever created on American soil by legendary designer and architect Marcel Breuer. This fact alone helps explain the feeling that the concrete behemoth looks more like an imported relic from Eastern Europe's post-Soviet glory than a home-grown feature of soybean fields and flyover country.
For a sense of just how huge and out-of-place the thing is in the context of the relative nothingness extending to all sides, when approaching from Interstate 94, the church's broad, towering "Bell Banner" can be seen from well over a mile away, before even exiting the freeway to visit the church. Though the church itself resembles, from the outside, a giant box — only far more stylized — it boasts a huge, divine shield erected in front. Rising 112 vertical feet, this bell banner looks amazing though it seems to serve a relatively limited purpose given its size: it houses a row of five, modest bells, which toll when appropriate.
The church's entire back, north wall is composed entirely of stained glass with concrete latticework in a hexagonal structure. The pattern of the stained glass itself was designed by the college's art professor, Bronislaw Bak, who conceived the blooming color gradients as a reflection of evolutions in the Church's liturgical year. At the time, this wall of color formed the single largest stained glass piece in the world. Once inside, the ceiling folds like a great fan above two areas of seating for the congregation: a hovering loft whose back presses against the honeycombed north wall, and an expansive lower level of seating that surrounds the altar in a semi-circle, inviting all 1,500 worshippers closer. On a sunny day, the whole church will positively glow with indirect light from the sun's reflection off the banner and through the stained glass.
The abbot's throne hovers to the back of the asp, framed in gold. With such flowing and pleated grace, it's mind-boggling when one remembers everything at Saint John's is made of concrete poured on-site by the monks themselves, supervised by Breuer's hand-selected architectural team.
After more than 50 years after its debut, onlookers still have mixed feelings about the house of worship. Of course, this tends to be the case with all things brutalist — you either love the style or hate it. But regardless of where one falls on the matter of preference and/or taste, the fact that the church at Saint John's Abbey might very well be the most unique building in all of Minnesota, if not the entire region, is undeniable. I for the record - love it!
Were it not hidden in rural Minnesota Breuer's creation could have even be ranked among the 20th century's greatest architectural achievements; to this day simply not enough people know it exists for the Church at Saint John's Abbey to get the credit it warrants. The monks, however, seem to be fine with this arrangement.
While at the abby there are many things to explore. Start in the basement of the library with the famous St. John’s Bible manuscript and hike out to Stella Maris Chapel!
