Take A Guided Tour at Beautiful Grace Cathedral
I’m a diehard Francophile, so I’m always game to see anything inspired by French Gothic architecture à la Notre Dame here in the USA. And that’s just how I ended up at San Francisco’s iconic Grace Cathedral one afternoon, where I booked a Behind-the-Scenes tour.
Located on top of San Francisco’s Nob Hill, Grace Cathedral is the third-largest Episcopal cathedral in the U.S. and is known for its Gothic architecture, dozens of stained glass windows, two labyrinths, Interfaith AIDS Chapel, and diverse arts and cultural programming open to any and all. But back to my tour.
This relatively new addition to Grace’s deep cultural and activities bench, and I joined a group of about eight curious Bay Area visitors who were also keen to discover the “secrets” of the cathedral.
Want more San Francisco travel ideas? Read my list of things to do here.
The labyrinth inside San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral is a replica of one in Chartres, France
Led by trained docents, the tour delves into the history of Grace Cathedral, which isn’t nearly as old as its French cousins. Founded in 1849 during the California Gold Rush as the first Episcopal chapel in San Francisco, it was named Little Grace Chapel. After being destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the present-day Grace Cathedral was begun in 1927, and fully completed in 1964, with a sermon attended by nearly 5,000 people, including Martin Luther King Jr.
The Behind-the-Scenes tour lived up to its name and had us dipping into a hidden passageway of the ambulatory (a word I had to look up) and into the vestry, where the Bishop and other members of the clergy dress in their clerical clothing. It felt like the start of a Dan Brown novel, where I would discover an ancient relic covered in blood or a missing treasure.
We donned hard hats and ducked through doorways for a bird’s eye view of the cathedral interior and breathtaking stained-glass windows from the height of the Clerestory Level. There are 68 of them around Grace Cathedral, including those honoring 20th-century Americans noted for their major contributions to human progress, including the Albert Einstein window.
Grace Cathedral’s Behind-the-Scenes tour takes visitors to areas not normally accessible to the public
We wandered into the Chapel of Grace, which showcases several historic furnishings from the 1400s and 1500s. Meanwhile, the climax of the tour involved a hefty climb up (about 100 steps) to the South Tower to our Observation Level for a view of the city from Nob Hill and listen to the tolling of the 44-bell Carillon in the adjacent North Tower.
Grace Cathedral not only houses extraordinary stained-glass windows, covering 7,290 square feet, but also an Aeolian-Skinner organ with over 7400 pipes. Also worth noting are the Ghiberti Doors, also known as the "Gates of Paradise,” located at the main entrance.
Grace Cathedral is a welcoming place open to all people and denominations. Photo courtesy of @GraceCathedral
There’s always something going on at Grace, so check out their calendar of events, which includes Christmas concerts, organ recitals, and partnerships with SFJAZZ, among other events.
Yoga on the Labyrinth has been a practice at Grace Cathedral since 1998 and has expanded into a popular bi-weekly practice for hundreds of yogis, featuring expert instruction and live music.
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