THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Six Italian mosaicists suspended 100 feet above the ground last week pasted thumbnail-sized Venetian glass on the ceiling of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast, guided only by an artist’s rendition of what the finished project should look like.
The workers will place nearly 2.4 million of the colored glass tiles — each less than an inch in length and width — transforming 3,780 square feet of plain, gray ceiling into a mosaic depicting four scenes from the life of Jesus Christ.
The artwork, which will cover the ceilings of the three domes of the basilica, has been 40 years in the making — from gathering donations, drawing up plans and hiring artists. When completed, the mosaics will fulfill the original vision of Bishop Thomas Shahan, who oversaw the construction of the shrine nearly 85 years ago.
“It’s great to see the founder’s vision coming towards completion,” said Monsignor Walter R. Rossi, who was appointed the shrine’s rector in May 2005 and has served there since 1997.
The first mosaic, covering the ceiling of the Redemption Dome, was completed and dedicated in November after about a year of construction. Artists on May 29 began the second mosaic, which is still under construction, on the Incarnation Dome. Work is expected to begin on the third — and by far the largest — dome, the Trinity, after the current project is completed in November.
Monsignor Rossi said too much work remains to be finished to consider when the entire project will be completed.
When the work is completed, it will depict four scenes from the New Testament: the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Wedding Feast at Canaan and the Transfiguration.
Monsignor Rossi said the mosaics will serve as a way for the shrine’s 500,000 annual visitors and pilgrims to connect with the life of Jesus.
“We connect with the tangible,” Monsignor Rossi said. “A mosaic makes something that is read in the Bible come to life in art.”
The construction has displaced rows of pews and covered a section of the shrine’s nearly two acres of marble floor with plywood.
Matteo Randi, 31, moved with his wife, Simona, from Padova, Italy, to Arlington three years ago to oversee a six-member team affixing section after section of tiles with a flour paste. He said he is hoping to finish his work by mid-July.
“We use a hammer and chisel the same as the Byzantines did,” said Mr. Randi, who has studied mosaics formally since he was 13. At 21, he began installing professionally.
“No two pieces of glass are the same,” he said, holding up a handful of tiles, called Tesserae in Italian. The tiles arrived from Italy packed in nearly 340 cases.
The installation was sponsored largely by the Knights of Columbus, which contributed a third of the cost of the $3 million project. The fraternal organization for Catholic men has long supported the shrine’s construction.
Bishop Shahan, a former rector of Catholic University of America, built the shrine to honor Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was named patroness of the United States by Pope Pius IX in 1847. Plans for the shrine were approved by Pope Pius X in 1913 with a personal donation of $400.
Work on the building, described as the pre-eminent Marian shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, began in 1920 and was completed in November 1959.
When the second mosaic is finished, the shrine will be a step away from realizing “the last piece of original planning,” Monsignor Rossi said.
“This has been a long work in progress,” he said. “To have a part in that is a wonderful experience.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.