Everyone knows who Darth Vader is but not that many people know what his association is with the Washington National Cathedral. Well way back in 1980 the cathedral held a contest to have kids come up with some gargoyle designs to add to the building. Check it out:
Darth Vader is one of the numerous carved grotesques on the Cathedral. Like gargoyles, grotesques carry rain water away from the building’s walls. Gargoyles carry away excess water via pipes running through their mouths; grotesques deflect rainwater by bouncing it off the top of their heads, noses or other projecting parts, and away from the stone walls.
How did Darth Vader, a fictional villain from the Star Wars movies, end up on the wall of Washington National Cathedral?
In the 1980s the Cathedral, with National Geographic World magazine, sponsored a competition for children to design decorative sculpture for the Cathedral. The third-place winner was Christopher Rader of Kearney, Nebraska who submitted a drawing of this futuristic representation of evil. Darth Vader was placed on the northwest tower with the other winning designs: a raccoon, a girl with pigtails and braces and a man with large teeth and an umbrella.
Pretty cool if I do say so myself. And I do. Who would have ever thought that one of the most famous villains of all time would end up as a decoration on a church? If you’re ever in Washington, D.C. be sure to check it out. And don’t forget your binoculars.
Too bad he doesn’t have a light saber. Or it would have been really cool if they had a Luke Skywalker somewhere on the Cathedral.
I’m waiting for Lucas to sue the church.
A raccoon won a prize and a place on the cathedral? They must have had a pretty low threshold.
That is so crazy!! I really want to go see that. (0:
That would be cool, but I don’t think anyone would go there just to see it. It would be cool if you were just walking by, though.
Dude, I would totally go there just to see it!
Nuh uh…
I knew he was there. I felt his presence.
I saw something like that before. On a catedral there was an astronaut which was put there to date the repairs of it…maybe this is kind of for the same thing? maybe
Meanwhile, somewhere, in an undisclosed location, Dick Cheney is jealous.
God, I feel old, I actually remember this from when I was a kid.
Have you idiots ever heard of a little program called PHOTOSHOP!?!?
There is definitely no such carving on the Ntnl Cathedral.
Idiots.
Ummmmm, actually, having gone to high school there, I can tell you that not only is it most definitely there, but that isn’t the last of the strange gargoyles either. There’s also a WWI era soldier with a gas mask on. Try not to call other people idiots when you yourself speak out of ignorance.
It *is* there - check the official web site’s description (which by the way - sounds EXACTLY like this article - nice C&P job there ripper):
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/pdfs/darth.pdf
Peter got pwned.
That’s probably the coolest thing I’ve seen a week. I like how if you go to the cathederal website not only do they have the PDF but if you go to the actual page there is a menu group called Discover and Darth Vader is one of the topics.
You will notice that your link is already included in the original post and the quoted text is properly marked.
Weren’t gargoyles originally used on cathedrals to frighten away atheists?
In that case, Darth Vader would be appropriate while Luke Skywalker would not.
An explanation of how Darth Vader ended up there is here:
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/darth.shtml
Heh, what will future civilizations think when they excavate the remains of Washington and find statues of Darth Vader and Raccoons?!
What will future civilizations think? They’ll probably assume it’s a political thing, since Republicans are in many ways like Darth Vader, and Democrats are in many ways like raccoons.
Funny I went to school there in the 80’s and I don’t remember the contest. Does anybody have a more exact date on the contest?
I’ve seen the gas mask one before, too. Vader is in a relatively prominent place, too. He’s not exactly hidden away.
My personal favorite is this one that is in an area not open to the public. It has a robed dude holding a shield, smiling and waving towards whoever happens to be looking out the window. The stone carvings there have a lot of history… it’s not only true, but it’s fun.
My favorite true story: the people in the genesis carving on the front of the cathedral were strippers and customers from a strip joint in georgetown. Their bodies were idealized but the faces weren’t.
Kinda looks Homer Simpson’esque.
It is definitely there…I have been there to see it, and I have a close friend that works there as well. There are many, many interesting gargoyles on the building, which, btw, is built on the highest point in Washington, DC…a definite destination if you’re in the city….beats the granite monuments further south near Capital Hill.
Looks like there is a friggin cat or something under the gargoyle. Can you see the 2 eyes?
I wouldn’t consider it fraud or waste or abuse. The national cath gets no funding from the feds IIRC.
“Christopher Rader of Kearney, Nebraska who submitted a drawing of this futuristic representation of evil”
Doesn’t the kid know that Darth Vader lived “long ago, in a galaxy far, far away”… Not in the future!
This is a travesty. Darth Vader should be bigger and loom over the doorway itself.
I see the critter-eyes under the DV head.
My guess is, that its a java.
Hey what happened to the RSS feed? Now that you moved off the wordpress.com domain.
Fun post. Now that we’re in star wars, there’s some pretty neat Star Wars graffiti I posted about today. Also from the Dolk stencil guy.
http://marcozna.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/i-am-your-father-star-wars-graffiti-by-dolk/
I’ve lived in DC my entire life, and I’m a 6th generation washingtonian. The cathedral has the best view of the city next to the washington monument’s. It’s the tallest thing in the city and they have models of the gargoyles on display in the observation floor of the tower.
Mondariz, I hope that’s just a typo.. it’s “Jawa”
Who made the decision to make the Darth Vader gargoyle. I think it was a great call.
i’ve been to the national cathedral tours, but they’ve never said anything about Darth Vader!
Your “About” page needs some work.
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Maybe you should do some research (or read the article more closely).. it’s been there for more than 20 years now.
http://www.washington.org/WCTCoffsite.cfm?http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral
Yoda says: Strong is the dark side. Aware of it’s powers you should be. In secret places you will find Vader lurking. But the Washington National Cathedral……you’ve got to be kidding….
I know you can’t go though life believing everything you see online, but I feel sorry for skeptics that always “know” Photoshop somehow is involved to fool them. I would of voted for Yoda instead and never a racoon.
There’s a real moon rock in one of the stained-glass windows there too. It’s an amazing place.
Take a lookit our URL. You’ll be amazed.
I felt a disturbance in the force, one I have not felt in years
Who’s idea was it to have a “National Cathedral”? Who financed this monument to the desecration of the Constitution which forbids such nonsense?!
re: “a raccoon, a girl with pigtails and braces and a man with large teeth and an umbrella.”
There has to be some right wing xian nutcase out there who could read something conspiritorial into all of this. I am sure Alex Jones of infowars dot com could pull something out of his “kook hat” on this!
A most fitting Gargoyle for the National Cathedral. You may remmember, in the end, Darth came to the bright side after destroying the evil emperor, and of course he only turned to evil as a result of his own illusions … perpetrated by … the evil emperor. Here’s one for Darth, the converted one.
Hahaha, is that real?? How funny, I would love to see that. I can’t help but laugh…..what if someone digs up the church in thousands of years and thinks all the carvings represent gods or demons, or city officials. heheh.
Makes you wonder about things OUR acheologists are digging up. How would we REALLY know what they truly represent? “Hmmm, a stone statue of a naked fat lady with BIG boobs…..MUST be a fertility goddess!” (couldn’t have been a doll or other toy, a representation of a real person, something used to flatter or tease or taunt someone, a celebrity, something used to mark a path or leave a message, a diagnostic or training tool for physicians, a representation of a dead relative, used to scare off demons or spirits, a game piece, a voting tool, a mini-manikin to dress in current fashions, a token, something used for magical purposes or divination, an educational tool for losing or gaining weight, a decoration, something that you use to mark body parts and leave at a shrine to pray for healing, or used to mark body parts that your doctor can’t examine directly and you can’t speak of because of cultural reasons, part of jewelry that wasn’t finished yet, artistic expression, a representation of the then current feminine ideal, porn, (hell, a dildo?) some cultural thing we don’t now understand, or…….?)
What else have I not thought of? lol.
I’ve been on the roof of the national cathedral for lighting installation.
Yes it’s really there. Several other “LITERARY” charactatures as well.
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/darth.shtml
it’s even on their website…
ITS NOT A HOAX IN THE SLIGHTEST!!!!
MOSY INTRESTING SITE I’VE EVER SEEN,THE FORCE WILL NOT BE PLEASE,BUT DO PRAY,WHAT CAN COMETH FROM IT!THE REAL FORCE WILL HAVE A FUNNY LAUGH OUT IT!THO!MR.JAMES,OUT.
“Who’s idea was it to have a “National Cathedral”? Who financed this monument to the desecration of the Constitution which forbids such nonsense?!”
It’s been there for a 100 years and officially it’s the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Episcopal, BTW). But the nation uses it to the point that most people no longer use the correct name. It’s a huge place, and where else in the area are you going to hold the kind of major events it does? If you see a big state event on TV, a funeral or things like the National Day of Prayer a few days after 9/11, and it’s in someplace that looks like a cathedral, that’s where it is.
As for the funding, it came from the same place that funding for any religious building does: private donations. All $65 million.
Google is your friend. See how much indignation it could have saved you?
I forgot - there are a *lot* of great gargoyles there. Everything from a caricature of the master stone mason (which nearly got the carver killed) to a crooked politician to a computer to scaly things the carvers made up to whatever. They had fun. Darth’s just the best known.
I don’t think lucas would sue over this, however it is a good thing it’s not a pixar film, as steve jobs would probably be suing them right now.
I like the grotesque of the buisnessman with his briefcase. Scary!
Umm…
Those aren’t eyes underneath, they’re screws, probably for attaching it to the building.
“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
you suck
are you really pink vader
hi i enjoyed the read
I recently went to the National Cathedral on a school trip to Washington, D.C., and I’m telling you, that place is SO cool…I would LOVE to go there again. I only wish I could go to church there. I would absolutly love it to go to church there every Sunday…
OH MY GOD. Peter is such a moron for ASSUMING that it’s a fake and done with Photoshop. Doesn’t anyone ever do any research before they post a flame/comment?
that is totally awsome! but guess what!?!?! tonight, there is a light show by a Sweedish artist! I wonder if they’re lighting the side that Darth Vader is on? O.o o well, thats cool, as long as they have one of the cool funky ones on there!!!
its deffinately there. i went there for a feild trip and you cant see it without strong binoculars. but its deffinately there. you should really go to the cathedral. its amazing along with the rest of dc.
Can anyone tell me why a Hollywood symbol of pure evil, whose face is a combination of a skull and a NAZI helmet is on a church? Doesn’t that make you a bit uneasy?
Just because Star Wars is a popular movie, doesn’t mean it is appropriate to use its villain as a symbol on a church. Bizarre to say the least. Too bad the other winners weren’t fans off Silence of the Lambs, Friday the 13th or A Nightmare On Elm Street. The church could’ve had more murderous villains adorning it.
People in the US are truly stupid…
Not terribly Christian is it?
Here’s a “left wing” conspiracy nut pulling this out of my “kook-hat”: illuminati symbolism anyone? ha! I hear the city is full of that kind of thing. It’s a strange world, don’t be afraid to read up on strange stuff. It won’t make you a nut. It’s just information.
Here’s a REALLY wierd thing to look up: The murals at the Denver Airport. WEIRD! They also depict a gas-masked Darth Vadar-like soldier amoung other ‘end of the world’ imagry. People give silly explanations for what they are about but just come to your own conclusions.
Reguardless of that kinda thing, I agree that a movie icon of evil domination is not appropriate for a church carving. Or maybe it is! haha
has any one else heard of texxe marrs, the author?
I visited the Cathedral recently and the guides were more than happy to point out Vader as well as some of the other stange “gargoyles”
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well, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch
Do your research, Big O. Your foot is so far down your mouth that it’s clogging up your intestines. The Constitution NEVER mentions the “separation of church and state” that people keep dragging out and waving around. If you’d read it, you’d know. That phrase is from a letter–private correspondence! What the Constitution does say is: “Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion.” Is this a law? No! Are nativity scenes in public places laws? No! Are Ten Commandments posters on judges’ walls laws? No again! I’m no crazy fundamentalist or anything, but I really hate it when people present politically-correct cr*p as the Constitution.
And, yeah, the symbolism of Darth Vader on a church is a bit disturbing. However, gargoyles and grotesques are _supposed_ to be scary. Who ever saw an angel-gargoyle?
Also, Motorcycle Guy, last I checked Steve Jobs was the CEO of Apple, not Pixar.
It is there. I saw him yesterday.