ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest Disney-Britton
OHIO---Cincinnati, Ohio may not have another church as architecturally stylistic and eclectic as St. Mary's Church (know known as Old St. Mary's Church) in Over the Rhine. The exterior shows signs of the 19th century's growing interest in Romanesque and Gothic but it is the stunningly beautiful sanctuary that attracts visitor's mixing Greek Revival with Baroque styles. The interior is richly embellished both with works of art and objects of devotion. Especially noteworthy are three oil paintings of the Blessed Virgin Mary above the main altar. Fifteen feet high, the paintings are changed at appropriate seasons of the year, being hoisted into place by a system of pulleys. Visible under the high altar are the bones of a woman martyr discovered in 1844 in the Roman catacombs. On July the 3rd, 1842, the church was dedicated and at the time it was the largest church thus far erected in the Mississippi Valley, being 142 feet long, 66 feet wide, the tower reaching the height of 170 feet.
By Ernest Disney-Britton
OHIO---Cincinnati, Ohio may not have another church as architecturally stylistic and eclectic as St. Mary's Church (know known as Old St. Mary's Church) in Over the Rhine. The exterior shows signs of the 19th century's growing interest in Romanesque and Gothic but it is the stunningly beautiful sanctuary that attracts visitor's mixing Greek Revival with Baroque styles. The interior is richly embellished both with works of art and objects of devotion. Especially noteworthy are three oil paintings of the Blessed Virgin Mary above the main altar. Fifteen feet high, the paintings are changed at appropriate seasons of the year, being hoisted into place by a system of pulleys. Visible under the high altar are the bones of a woman martyr discovered in 1844 in the Roman catacombs. On July the 3rd, 1842, the church was dedicated and at the time it was the largest church thus far erected in the Mississippi Valley, being 142 feet long, 66 feet wide, the tower reaching the height of 170 feet.
brings to life the challenges faced by visual artists such as El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, Alonso Cano, Franciso Ribalta, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Juan de Valdes Leal, Juan Correa, Cristobal de Villalpando and others, who were charged with the creative task of making religious images that were useful, truthful and moving. The exhibition will feature more than 70 works of art, including paintings, polychrome sculpture, metalwork and books, many of which have never before been seen in the United States. 
