11/11/2023 0 Comments Touchdown jesus notre dame![]() There are numerous places in Notre Dame Stadium that have better views of Touchdown Jesus than others. ![]() At the end zone, Jesus appeared to signal a touchdown for Notre Dame. He spent a long time gathering granite from all over the world for this magnificent work. The nickname was given to the mural by Notre Dame football fans, who see the image as a sign of the team’s success. The mural depicts the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, with arms outstretched in a sign of benediction. To watch a streamed video presentation about the “Word of Life” mural, visit on the Web.p.Touchdown Jesus is the nickname of a mural at the University of Notre Dame. “And it’s become a kind of nice, friendly familiar name for this beautiful piece of art.”p. “Thinking of this as Touchdown Jesus was just not in my mind, or anybody else’s for that matter,” Father Hesburgh remembers. It was not the original intention for the “Word of Life” to become an athletic metaphor, but most agree that the mural’s status in popular culture is a pleasant fringe benefit.p. Of course, the fact that a nationwide television audience catches a glimpse of the mural during network football broadcasts also contributes to its popularity. However, its longevity as a symbol of Notre Dame’s rich spiritual and academic tradition can only be attributed to the legions of visitors and year-round members of the Notre Dame community who continue to hold the image in the highest regard and spread the word about its significance to family, colleagues and fans.p. Renovation specialists gave the mural a $280,000 “face-lift” in the summer of 1994.p. Its structural endurance is due in part to some strategic engineering – a space that the builders intentionally left between the mural and the library itself, which allows the mural to expand and contract during changing seasons. ![]() ![]() The amazing thing is that it’s lasted this long and it’s kept the richness of its color.”p. “The climate here is abominable at times and no one could say that it would last. “Granite, of course, is one of the hardest stones there is,” Father Hesburgh said of the mural’s durability. A team of workers constructed Sheets’ creation, under the careful direction of the artist, using granite in more than 140 colors from 16 foreign countries and 11 states.p. Inspired by a passage from the first chapter of John’s Gospel, the mural depicts Christ the Teacher amid images of prophets and historical figures in Christianity in ascending order, with classical and Old Testament scholars near the bottom and Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance figures at the top. ![]() It’s very rich philosophically and theologically,” Father Hesburgh said.p. “It’s like a kaleidoscope of personalities that make up the history of Christianity and pre-Christianity as well. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of Notre Dame, the mural’s theme incorporates saints and scholars throughout the ages.p. Designed by artist Millard Sheets, the mural measures 134 feet high and 68 feet wide, and is composed of some 6,700 individual pieces of granite that form 324 panels. The mural has stood the test of time, and today is one of the nation’s most recognizable collegiate monuments and a main attraction for visitors to campus.p. The “Word of Life” mural on the Hesburgh Library, commonly known as “Touchdown Jesus” because of the raised position of Christ’s arms and its location directly behind the north end zone of the football stadium, was unveiled May 7, 1964, at the library’s formal dedication (the building had opened without fanfare the previous year). It doesn’t look a day over 39, but a familiar sight on the Notre Dame campus has hit the big 4-0, marking four decades as one of the University’s most celebrated landmarks.p. ![]()
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