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Tip of the Week: October 6, 2007

This one caught us off-guard. We walk by this place every morning as we walk through Balboa Park. It is such a secret, even we didn't know about it. How'd we find out? We overheard someone ask, "Where's the Chapel?" And that set us into what we do best...explore! Someone had to do it!

Yep, it's true! Inside the Museum of Man in Balboa Park is, indeed, a Chapel. The exterior door is directly across from the main entrance of the Museum of Man. There are no signs. There is no way to know it is there (whew! and we thought we had dropped the ball!)

The only way to see it is with paid admission to the museum or on the 3rd Tuesday of each month when the museum participates in Free Tuesday, a promotion for all the museums. If you go, you can access the chapel from the handicap-accessible balcony.

Why is there a Chapel in the park? Glad you asked. We weren't even sure if y'all would be interested. Here's the skinny.

The Chapel was built in 1915 to bring a little religion to the Panama-California Exposition. The Chapel seats 88 with a few seats in the small balcony. It has a tile floor, heavy ceiling beams, bench seating and quite the elaborate decorated gold leaf altar.

If you are into altar images, this altar has figures of the Virgin and Child, with Saint Francis Xavier (patron of the Jesuits) on the left, St. Clara of Assisi (founder of the Franciscans), on the right as well as on the left San Diego de Alcalá ; and other important Catholic saints.

The Saint Francis Chapel is used a few times per month for weddings and is non-demominational.