Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, is one of the finest examples of neo-Gothic architecture in North America. The church's elaborate stained-glass windows were created by the finest craftsmen of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including the legendary Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Both the church architecture and its windows contain symbols and codes lost on the modern observer, not out of any attempt at subterfuge, but simply because time has eroded what was once common knowledge. Many of these forgotten symbols hearken back to early Christianity. Greek and Latin monograms dot the windows, coded reminders of a time when voicing Christ's message openly brought swift persecution and death.
Observers also might wonder why Jewish symbols appear so often in this flamboyantly Christian structure or why so few know that the Church's layout is based on a model which predates Christianity, or why this is relevant.
Fascinated with images he couldn't recognize, congregation member Bob Whiteford began researching the Church's rich symbology and the history surrounding the building's construction and its contributors. Hidden Grace shares his surprising findings.