The huge window, called the Rose Window, at Washington National Cathedral is at the west end. It is in dialogue with the altar at the east end. This colorful Rose Window sacralizes the biblical moment in the Genesis Creation story when God, joined by angels and all the company of heaven, called for Light. The window looks over the people as they enter the building and as they move along the long aisles towards the altar facing East and where the focus of the Sacrament of Christ is central. Leaving the building people head West under the Rose window. The trajectory follows the path of the sunlight.
Rose windows were not so called until the seventeenth century after the English flower named rose. This window was installed in 1976 in time for the nave’s completion and dedication. It’s a “Creation” window. Its design starts in the middle, where pieces of white glass send thousands of rays of light radiating outward as the petals of a rose. Designed by Cathedral master artisan Rowan LeCompte and fabricated by Dieter Goldkuhle, the 26-foot window celebrates the majesty and mystery of all creation. The window includes every color LeCompte and Goldkuhle could summon, but key parts also represent the four Greek elements: red for fire; gray for air; green for water, and brown for the earth. I regret that this image is not clear enough for you to see the mastery and wonder. It is fascinating to me that people enter the cathedral under the eye of God/Creator and leave the same way.
Here is another image, a photo of a rising sun lighting the way into the day, through roiling stirring waters. It transmits a similar message: Let there be light—to guide and guard you on your path each day. In your coming in and in your going out.
