Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Click any image to enlarge.

MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: Glen Eden Lutheran Memorial Park - Mausoleum

Studio Name: Pickel (Conrad) Studio

City: Livonia

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1985

Subject/Title of Window: The Heaven That Awaits

Brief Description of Subject: This window is located in a small chapel in the addition section to the Mausoleum.
 
The icon in the center portion of this window is a variation of the Luther Seal. In a much quoted letter, Luther explained how his seal symbolizes his theology, quotes are from that letter:
 
White Cross in center (cross is black in Luther's Seal): It reminds "that faith in the Crucified saves us."
 
Heart: The "heart does not corrupt nature, it does not kill but keeps alive. 'The just shall live by faith' (Romans 1:17) but by faith in the Crucified."
 
White Rose: "Such a heart should stand in the middle of a white rose ... it places the believer into a white, joyous rose, for this faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives (John 14:17)."
 
Blue Background: "Such a rose should stand in a sky-blue field, symbolizing that such joy in spirit and faith is a beginning of the heavenly future joy, which begins already, but is grasped in hope, not yet revealed."
 
Golden Ring: "symbolizing that such blessedness is exquisite, beyond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable, most precious and best metal."
 
The window somewhat follows the order of Luther's explanation of his seal. Starting at the bottom and rising to the top, Spring flowers that remind one of the Easter Season, the earth giving way to a blue sky, the hope of heavenly joy, and at the top, heaven, with light radiating from the golden ring, eternal life.
 
At the bottom right of the window is an inscription that identifies the maker as C. Pickel Studio of Vera Beach, Florida.

Height: 12'

Width: 20'

Type of Glass and Technique: Slab or Faceted Glass (Dalle de Verre)

The MSGC is a constantly evolving database. Not all the data that has been collected by volunteers has been sorted and entered. Not every building has been completely documented.

All images in the Index are either born-digital photographs of windows or buildings or are scans of slides, prints, or other published sources. These images have been provided by volunteers and the quality of the material varies widely.

If you have any questions, additions or corrections, or think you can provide better images and are willing to share them, please contact donald20@msu.edu