Sunday, August 22, 2010

A part of the prairie

 
"It's gotta be a Fay Jones" my husband and I exclaimed when we spotted this church outside of Omaha, Nebraska.  When I didn't see it listed in the directory of Fay Jones' projects, I kept searching trying to find out who was involved in designing the church.  We found out later that the architect is Jim Dennell of Beringer Ciaccio Dennell Mabrey in Omaha thanks to a blog post by Michael Knorr, Knorr Architecture.  

But, none of this mattered when we first saw the church while driving down the highway. 



Of course, we had to journey off the highway and get a closer look at the Holy Family Shrine.  From the parking lot, much of the church is hidden from view and screened by the native grasses.  The entrance to the visitors' center was carved out of the hillside and is landscaped with grasses and many native and ornamental flowering perennials. 
A stream of water begins in the visitors' center and is a part of the path leading into the chapel to the base of the altar.  
The view of the surrounding prairie from inside is simply magnificent!