| Word of Life | |
|---|---|
 | |
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| Year | 1964 |
| Location | Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S. |
| 41°42′8″N86°14′3″W / 41.70222°N 86.23417°W | |
Word of Life (often called "Touchdown Jesus") is a mural on the side of Hesburgh Library, on the University of Notre Dame campus in Notre Dame, Indiana. The artwork measures 134 feet (41 m) high and 68 feet (21 m) wide. [1] [2]
The artwork depicts a procession of figures representing Christian saints, thinkers, teachers, and writers, a topic that connected to the idea of the library. Figures were selected from different centuries and places to convey the concept of the Catholic Church's historical continuity. At the top of the procession the central figure is the resurrected Jesus Christ, conceived as the great teacher and master, and the fountain of knowledge contained in the library. The artwork, which is titled Word of Life, is 134 feet (41 m) tall and 68 feet (21 m) wide.
The mural's image of Jesus, visible from Notre Dame's football stadium, has arms raised in the same fashion as a referee signifying a touchdown. From this similarity came the mural's nickname, Touchdown Jesus. [3] A stadium expansion partially obscures views of the mural from the field.
The idea of a mural on the facade had been conceived early, in part for the need to decorate the large structure which otherwise would have seemed dull and resembled a large grain silo. Hesburgh was also inspired by the mosaic murals of the Central Library at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, which he had visited in April 1955. [2]
When the library opened in 1963, the mural had not yet been installed. American artist Millard Sheets was commissioned to create a work large enough to cover the entire side of the library facing Notre Dame's football stadium. Fr. Theodore Hesburgh suggested that the theme should be saints and scholars through the ages. The artwork cost $200,000 and was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Howard V. Phalin of Winnetka, Illinois. Installation took place in the spring of 1964; the dedication ceremony was held on May 7, 1964. The mural is composed of 324 panels. It consists of 81 different stones from 16 countries in 171 finishes that includes 46 granites and syenites, 10 gabbros and labradorites, 4 metamorphic gneisses, 12 serpentines, 4 crystalline marbles, and 5 limestones. [4] The granite was sourced from the Cold Spring Granite Company in Cold Spring, MN. The stones for the mural were laid out in the Saint Boniface High School gymnasium while they were staging and awaiting transport to Ohio. [5]
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic religious order of priests and brothers, the main campus of 1,261 acres has a suburban setting and contains landmarks such as the Golden Dome main building, Sacred Heart basilica, the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, the 134 foot tall Word of Life mosaic mural, and Notre Dame Stadium.
Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC was an American Catholic priest and academic who was a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He was president of the University of Notre Dame for 35 years from 1952 to 1987.
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Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.
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King of Kings was a 62-foot (19 m) tall statue of Jesus on the east side of Interstate 75 at the Solid Rock Church, a 4000+ member Christian megachurch near Monroe, Ohio, in the United States. It was destroyed by a lightning strike and subsequent fire on June 14, 2010.
The College of Arts and Letters is the oldest and largest college within the University of Notre Dame. The Dean of the College of Arts and Letters is Sarah Mustillo.
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Theodore Hesburgh Library is the primary building of the University of Notre Dame's library system. The present-day building opened on September 18, 1963, as Memorial Library. In 1987, it was renamed Hesburgh Library, in honor of Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., who served as the university's president from 1952 to 1987. The library's exterior façade that faces the university's football stadium includes a large, 134-foot (41 m) by 68-foot (21 m) mural called Word of Life, or more commonly known as Touchdown Jesus. As of 2009, the library ranked as the 61st largest collection among research universities in the United States, with an estimated 3.39 million volumes.
Coldspring is a quarrier and fabricator of granite and other natural stone and a bronze manufacturing company in the United States. Coldspring serves the memorials market, the design and architectural market and distributes slabs for the residential market, industrial products, raw quarry blocks, and diamond tools.
The University of Notre Dame was founded on November 26, 1842, by Father Edward Sorin, CSC, who was also its first president, as an all-male institution on land donated by the Bishop of Vincennes. Today, many Holy Cross priests continue to work for the university, including as its president. Notre Dame rose to national prominence in the early 1900s for its Fighting Irish football team, especially under the guidance of the legendary coach Knute Rockne. Major improvements to the university occurred during the administration of Rev. Theodore Hesburgh between 1952 and 1987 as Hesburgh's administration greatly increased the university's resources, academic programs, and reputation and first enrolled women undergraduates in 1972.
The campus of the University of Notre Dame is located in Notre Dame, Indiana, and spans 1,250 acres (510 ha) comprising around 190 buildings. The campus is consistently ranked and admired as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the United States and around the world. It is particularly noted for the Golden Dome, the Basilica and its stained glass windows, the quads and the greenery, the Grotto, Touchdown Jesus, its collegiate Gothic architecture, and its statues and museums. Notre Dame is a major tourist attraction in northern Indiana; in the 2015–2016 academic year, more than 1.8 million visitors, almost half of whom were from outside of St. Joseph County, visited the campus.
Christ and the Samaritan Woman is an outdoor sculpture by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović. Created in 1957, the sculpture resides in front of O’Shaughnessy Hall on the campus of the University of Notre Dame as part of the Shaheen-Mestrovic Memorial, which was completed in 1985 by the Department of Landscape Architecture and Planning in the South Bend office of Cole Associates. The marble and bronze sculpture depicts the events in John 4, in which Jesus converses and evangelizes to a woman from Samaria, with whom the Jews would not normally associate. Eli J. Shaheen, a Notre Dame alum, was the donor for the project, which is owned by the university. The “Woman at the Well,” as it is often referred, is flanked by sculptures of the gospel writers Luke the Evangelist and John the Evangelist. It has been regarded as the most notable and celebrated of Meštrović's works from his period at Notre Dame.
St. Luke is an outdoor sculpture by Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović. It is located on the courtyard in front of O’Shaughnessy Hall on the University of Notre Dame campus, which is in South bend, Indiana, and is owned by the University of Notre Dame.
A bronze statue of Moses by Croatian artist Josip Turkalj installed at the main campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, just outside of the Hesburgh Library. Commissioned in 1962, the sculpture is owned by the University of Notre Dame.
Fathers Theodore Hesburgh and Edmund Joyce is an outdoor statue on the University of Notre Dame campus. Located on the South side of the Hesburgh Library facing the reflecting pool, the sculpture was designed and built by artist Lou Cella, a member of the Rotblatt-Amrany Fine Art Studio, and is currently owned by the University of Notre Dame.
The Columbus Murals are a series of twelve murals depicting Christopher Columbus, painted in the 1880s by Luigi Gregori and displayed in the Main Building at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, US. The murals have been a source of controversy in recent decades for their romanticized portrayal of Columbus and his relationship with Native Americans.
The Clarke Memorial Fountain is a large public fountain on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States.
