The Bryn Athyn Cathedral

 Bryn Athyn Church of the New Jerusalem

Located outside of Philadelphia, is an remarkable structure, the Bryn Athyn Cathedral.  The cathedral is the headquarters of  The Church of the New Jerusalem more commonly known as  "Swedenborgians."  They follow the teachings of the old and new testaments and the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg an eighteenth century Swedish scientist and philosopher, who had mystical visions which gave him an insight and understanding of the scriptures previously unknown.  The goal of this website is to showcase the magnificence of this  remarkable edifice and to try to pass along the lessons provided to me by the builders of this glorious structure.

The cathedral was begun in 1913 under the direction of John Pitcairn and William Fredrick Pendleton, the Bishop of the Church.  Raymond Pitcairn, John's Pitcairn's son became involved with the project early on and gave up his career as an attorney to oversee the construction of the Cathedral, which became his life work.  The main building was dedicated in 1919.  Structural building ended in 1929.  The stained glass was completed in the 1960's.  There  is stone carving in  the main structure which is not yet done.

A few images of the cathedral:

to see more detail, click the picture

 The Boston architecture firm of Ralph Adams Cram was largely responsible for the initial design of the cathedral.  However shortly after the project began, it became apparent to Raymond Pitcairn that to achieve his goal in this endeavor, a new approach to building would need to be employed.  Rather than an architect, a builder and a general contractor to carry out the labor, Mr. Pitcairn realized that the workers and artisans working on the cathedral would be directly employed by the church.  Mr. Pitcairn found that creative changes by artists and builders working together which happen during the design process should be nurtured rather than thwarted .   Thus, through his leadership four independent guilds were formed on the site of the cathedral.  One for stone and masonry work; one for woodwork; one for metalwork and one for stained glass. 

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Since April 21, 2001 there have been this many people here 

The author of this website has no connection to The New Church.  The exterior photos in the website were taken by the webmaster with the exception of the first Photo on this page and the aerial photo on the Lessons page.  The interior shots were largely gathered from the internet.  The stained glass pictures, the keys and a few interior shots were scanned from the book,  Bryn Athyn Cathedral The Building of a Church by Bruce Glenn and Michael Pitcairn Copyright 1971 by Bryn Athyn Church.