In the beginning God created. The world around us extols the beauty, glory, and majesty of our ineffable God. With just His voice, He spoke into the nothingness and from nothing, ex nihilo, He brought everything into being. From that day, humanity has been trying, consciously or unconsciously, to emulate Him. From the sweat of our brow, we take the materials God created and form them into something else. Using stone, wood, and metal we sometimes, only sometimes, achieve beauty.
Throncrown Chapel by architect E. Fay Jones is one of those beautiful buildings for me. While it is still my hope to one day make it up to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to see this structure, I did have the opportunity this past weekend to visit the bigger cousin, Anthony Chapel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Similar to Throncrown, I appreciate this building because it is deceptively simple. At first glance this building impresses not for how loud it is, but for how quietly it tries to harmonize with the forest from which it springs. Upon further inspection though, the detailing is immaculate. However, rather than tell you, let me show you, and encourage you if you are ever in Arkansas to make a detour to visit this amazing structure (many thanks to Mr. Joel Kreider for taking these photos).
