Tour
Shove Memorial Chapel was built in 1931 as a gift of Eugene Shove, CC alumnus and trustee. English themes run throughout the building to honor the British clergy in the Shove family:
- The chapel has been called “The best example of Norman Romanesque architecture in the Uniteds States.”
- The chapel is built on the model of Winchester Cathedral.
- The stained glass windows along the nave depict scenes from English church history.
- The Morning or Pilgrim Chapel (in southeast corner of building) contains Shove family history; stones from Winchester Cathedral, the family’s home parish in Gatton, Oxford University and Cambridge University.
The plaque at the West doors reads “Open to the services of any and all denominations according to the express wish of the donor.”
The same spirit of openness to all faiths and welcome to all peoples exists in the chapel’s use to this day. While required chapel attendance was discontinued in 1956, the chapel remains an active place. All-College convocations, small group Bible study, Colorado Springs community celebrations, worship, support group and individual prayers and meditation account for the thousands of people who use the chapel each year.
Education is the theme of the upper stained glass. The East Rose Window represents the classic disciplines (trivium, quadrivium, professions), the South Rose Window represents the great figures of the humanities, the North Rose Window represents the great figures of the sciences, and the West Triple Window represents Christ, the great teacher. Despite the Scopes Trial of 1925, Charles Darwin is included as one of the great teachers of science.
Four bells constitute the Chapel’s Westminster chimes. The fifth bell, the Great or Hour bell, is 6 1/2 feet in diameter and weighs over five tons. It sounds the note of G-sharp and is inscribed with the Kahlil Gibran quote, “Yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.”
The chapel has its own Rocky Mountain gargoyles. A wolf and mountain lion can be seen on the southeast exterior of the building.
If you have time, you may want to take an especially energetic tour up the 102 steps of the chapel tower for a spectacular view of the campus and the Pikes Peak region. Stop at the Shove Chapel office for a key. The second door off the spiral staircase leads to the bells. The third and final door opens to the top of the tower.
The chapel seats 987 with the lower section containing 38 pews on each side of the center aisle seating approximately 580. The aisle is 110′ long. The side chapel will seat approximately 49.
Chancel Rose Window
The Chancel Rose window is the first stained glass that you see when you enter the chapel. It rests above the organ towers which frame the circular shape of the window perfectly.
In the top medallion of the window is the figure theologia. She represents Christian theology. She wears the chausable, holds the cross in her left hand and supports the Bible with her right. On her shoulder is the Holy Spirit, her guide and inspiration, represented as a dove.
Clockwise from the top are Medicina, Grammatica, Rhetorica, Dialectica, Arithmetica, Astronomia, Musica, and Lex.
See on-line tours at http://www.coloradocollege.edu/welcome/walkingtour/shove.php and www.coloradocollege.edu/welcome/tour/Shove.asp
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