December 04, 2011

St. Anthony's Chapel

Continuing my quest to take on PGH one museum/landmark at a time, I decided to check out the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation to find some new spots around the hood. 


Up the road in Troy is St. Anthony's Chapel, dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, the Wonder Worker and patron saint of artists.  I had no idea how big of a deal it was until I went to check it out on Saturday.  Once I got inside, all of the Theology and Art History classes started coming back.  Sadly I missed the tour, but was able to piece things together once I got home thanks to the interwebs. 

Not only does the Chapel have a tooth from St. Anthony, it also contains 5,000 different religious relics (the largest of any public collection).  Some of the more special items include a piece of the True Cross and a piece of the table from the Last Supper.  All of the relics have been authenticated by the Church; each was brought from Europe by the churches founder and benefactor, Father Mollinger. 


The chapel came complete with a life size version of the Stations of the Cross, which were imported from Munich and made by the Royal Ecclesiastical Art Establishment of Mayer and Company.

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