Benedictine monks and architects were once the only pilgrims to a Minnesota monastery, but the Saint John’s Abbey Church is now finding new fame as the basis for "The Brutalist", the epic drama about an immigrant architect haunted by the Holocaust, is a favorite to win best picture at the Oscars.
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00:00We
00:27contracted with Modern Architects and ultimately settled on Marcel Breuer to come up with our
00:31hundred-year master plan.
00:33This church is the embodiment of form and function coming together, of a space designed
00:38with the monastic community's input, with a world-class architect, and ultimately becoming
00:43a spiritual center for our campus.
01:02As you look around, you will see this is like no other church, certainly in the Midwest
01:07in the 1960s.
01:09Marcel Breuer moved the baptismal font from a small alcove on the side of the church into
01:14the center of the church, where we enter the waters, lead to the church through the waters
01:17of baptism.
01:20Prior to the work here at St. John's, most of the sacred spaces being built in this country
01:26were utilizing historical forms of the past, drawing inspiration from the Gothic cathedrals,
01:33from Renaissance churches with their domes, from classical colonnades on buildings.
01:39It was very much a historical revival that shifted completely in the years after World
01:44War II.
01:59We hope that the impact of the movie will play in and attract more people to come visit
02:04St. John's Abbey and St. John's University.
02:07This is a wonderful gem here nestled in the woods of northern Minnesota.