Finally the church of Calatrava is finished; a beacon of light at Ground Zero

Big tears run down the cheeks of Peter Katchis (91). He hides his head in his hands. Wife Mary (88) pushes her wheelchair into the center of the church floor, just below the dome. Katchis looks up. The marble of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in New York shines in dazzling white. Dozens of saints despise him.

Katchi points. ‘To see!’ Right in front of him shines the largest fresco: Theotokos, the Greek Orthodox Virgin Mary. She holds her arms outstretched above the face of a modern city. Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and the Freedom Tower, the new World Trade Center – unmistakably New York. “Gorgeous,” he whispers. ‘She is magnificent.’

Peter Katchis worked on Wall Street, just around the corner. Then, on September 11, 2001, two planes crashed into the twin towers. “One of our people died that day,” Mary said, her hand on her crying husband’s shoulder. In addition to the towers, several other buildings were destroyed during the destruction. One of them was an old, almost inconspicuous little church. Their church.

Now, more than 21 years later, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church has reopened — and anything but low-key. It is as if a marble spaceship had descended between the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Zero point

The brand new church was designed by the famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava (71). He made a name for himself with his striking constructions, in which the future and the past compete: classic ideas packaged in sleek, futuristic shapes. Calatrava designed the famous bridges of Barcelona, ​​Seville and Bilbao, the Olympic sports complex in Athens and the stations of Lisbon, Zurich and, closer, Liège.

The Greek Church is already Calatrava’s second design for Ground Zero, as the area around the destroyed World Trade Center is now called. A stone’s throw away stands the Oculus, a colossal metro station and shopping center, like the skeleton of a prehistoric bird. St. Nicholas Church is a bit less ambitious than that.

“The marble comes from Greece,” says priest Andreas Vithoulkas, who oversaw the final months of construction. He shows the Katchis family: Peter, Mary and the dozen children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren they brought with them for this visit. “The Parthenon in Athens is built from the same material.”

White, elegant and shiny

The original church was established in an inn in the early 19th century; from here, primarily Greek immigrants often make their first steps into the United States. As the neighborhood modernizes, the church resists the temptation to sell the building, which has stood in the shadow of the Twin Towers since the 1970s. After September 11, 2001, there was nothing left of the Church.

Calatrava’s new design is not based on the original church, but on the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Or from the mouth of the priest Vithoulkas: “Constantinople”, the old Christian name of the city. Hagia Sophia is now a mosque, but was once the largest cathedral in the world, the epicenter of Orthodox Christianity.

The new Saint Nicholas Church is a futuristic interpretation of this distant past. Like Hagia Sophia, the dome has forty windows separated by twenty “ribs”, each painted with an Orthodox saint. The frescoes, in light pastel, come from a monastery in Greece. Classic elements, but the finish is white, elegant and shiny.

The new church is expected to attract Greek Orthodox worshipers, but at the same time serves as a memorial. “A spiritual center for all”, says Vithoulkas. At night, the dome glows like a candle, a beacon in the darkness of Ground Zero.

Not 20 million, but 85 million

Santiago Calatrava has a reputation that his projects, in addition to being ambitious and impressive, are also expensive – and often turn out to be even more expensive than expected. This time was no different. The construction of the church was budgeted at $20 million, but would ultimately cost over $85 million.

The archdiocese, plagued by financial scandals, was unable to meet its payment obligations halfway through construction. The contractor halted the project in 2017. For years, the church remained a concrete excavation pit hidden behind partitions, a disgrace in the midst of America’s most iconic memorial.

The fact that St. Nicholas Church can still be completed is due to the wealthy New Yorkers who came to the financial aid of the diocese. An alliance of Greek-Americans, including Peter and Mary Katchis.

Priest Vithoulkas calls the couple and their relatives to him. In his hand he holds a golden box containing a relic. Relatives cross themselves and kiss him one by one.

The church has been open for a month now. There are many tourists, but the construction of the parish takes time. “Many of the original inhabitants are no longer alive.”

“There are still enough Greeks in the city, aren’t there?” asks Peter Katchis cautiously.

Vithoukas smiled. “More come every Sunday.”

As he is brought back, Katchis wipes the tears from his eyes. “This church is a monument,” he said. ‘For the city. And for our faith, which cannot be diminished.