Grace (and Tuscany) atop Nob Hill…

I had about an hour to kill on top of Nob Hill this past Thursday night. The hotel where my coworkers were staying was across the street from Grace Cathedral. While I had driven past it on numerous occasions, I had never had the chance to visit.

To start, it was an enchanting evening already. The sky was a dusky dark blue, which set off the well lit gothic details of the building (built 1928-1964). Entering the cathedral, I was immediately struck by two things: 1. the choir singing a capella, and 2. dozens of white, yellow, and red ribbons of sheer fabric flowing from the front of the cathedral to the rear. These sheers were held in place by invisible line, such that they seemed to float and flow through the room. Both the choir and the flowing sheers drew me in and enticed me to sit and observe.

As I was leaving, I took notice of the heavy, bronze-like doors at the outside-center of the cathedral. These doors looked strangely familiar, so I looked them up. Coincidentally, they are replicas of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s “The Gates of Paradise”–Jeff and I saw the originals this spring and 2003 on the Baptistery in Florence. My picture from the Grace Cathedral replica is below.

Now, compare these with the photos of the original door in Florence. We took these pictures in 2003–coincidentally, we photographed the same panel. (For the record, even the doors on the Baptistery are not the originals. The true originals are across the street in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo.)