Something old for something new

THEME DAY: GLASS • During the 1930s, the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University was along Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila. All of its buildings were destroyed during WWII. When the Jesuits rebuilt the campus, they also built a circular chapel on the grounds. In Germany, Fr. Raymond Annable, S.J. found a set of stained glass windows depicting the Stations of the Cross and the walls of the chapel were designed specifically for them. In the 1950s, the university's main campus was moved to its current location in Loyola Heights, Quezon City and the Padre Faura land was sold to John L. Gokongwei, one of the Philippines' wealthiest businessmen. Fifty years passed before the light of the sun shone through those stained glass windows again, when they were installed in the Church of the Gesù in 2002. They provide a beautiful backdrop to the church's unique holy water font, made out of a single piece of volcanic rock with a water circulating system built inside it. Reflected on the stained glass panels is the crucifix over the altar and the windows of the two other sides of the pyramid-shaped church.



Rough, smooth, faceted, colored, smoky, translucent, transparent, mirrored—look at or look through glass with the City Daily Photo bloggers. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.