St. Sophia's Cathedral

On September 7-9, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia will host their annual LA Greek Fest. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson again be kicking off the celebrations; there will be dancing, merriment, and an abundance of cheer: read all about it at the website.

In fact, there's a promotional YouTube Video.

The cathedral, at Normandie and Pico, is pretty spectacular, festival or not. A phototour is available (from which these pictures are borrowed).

Seeing-stars gives the history of how two immigrant brothers (Charles and Spyros Skouras) built the church in 1952, after achieving success heading up their own film companies (National Pictures and 20th Century Fox).

A Church webpage explains the symbolism behind much of the structure, the doors, candelabra, and especially the icons. You might want to start at the site index, and you could be kept busy all day.

The photo at right faces south and shows the Resurrection in three panels. The Epitaphios ("an elaborately carved baldacino symbolizing the Holy Sepulchre, used during Good Friday services") can be seen in the corner.