Princeton University Chapel
Princeton University Chapel
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5.0
161 reviews
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rccaia
Princeton, NJ15 contributions
Feb 2020
Princeton University's Chapel is amazing! The word 'chapel' conjures up the image of a small space for quiet reflection and prayer. While it is quiet, as it should be, it is anything but small. The chapel is beautiful and very large. Built around 1920 I believe and in the collegiate gothic style as many of Princeton's building are it is a wonderful place to visit if you are in Princeton. Just a short walk, maybe 100 yards into the campus from Nassau Street, you will come to the front entrance. When inside turn around to see the huge pipe organ in the balcony above the entrance. Christmas concerts there are amazing! Very cool place that is worth the visit especially if you like gothic architecture.
Written 13 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
DebbiefromMaryland
Baltimore, MD334 contributions
Dec 2019
This church is definitely worth going to see. It was huge and beautiful. I was taken away by it all. My favorite was all of the engravings in the walls regarding past students and teachers. I could have been there all day reading them.
Written 21 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
VikeSavoth
Summit, NJ162 contributions
Dec 2017 • Solo
It's not often one reviews churches here on Tripadvisor. Indeed, I have yet to write a review, I think, despite the fact that I've spent time in hushed reverie in the pews of Sacre Coeur in Paris on Christmas Eve. I did not review when I went shambling about Westminster Abbey trying to convince a Don that I was right and part of Thomas Hardy was laid to rest there (indeed, he was - we found his floor plaque under some Paraguayan vacationing footballers in Poets' Corner). I did not pen a review after most of the times I have spent at Holmens Kirke in Copenhagen, Denmark, where my mother was baptized, confirmed, married and had her funeral.
But this Princeton University Chapel is the only such edifice I've seen in America like this and warrants gushing about, beyond perhaps St. John the Divine (they share the same architect I believe) or St. Patricks, both in Manhattan.
I have spent a few Christmas services here, where they shut out the lights and all of us light candles - hundreds of us. It takes your breath away as it inspires you. Fire, candlelight, the primal source of magic inspiration from the dawn of man until now.
I've seen choirs perform here. I've been to many a service, not as parishioner or local student or resident, but as a communal participant in celebratory occasions in a building that is so startlingly beautiful and magnificent, it somehow raises your soulview with a sense of wonderment, to waft above the pews and up around the heady flying buttresses.
Go. Get thee to this churchury, all frivolity aside. It's worth the journey.
The Princeton Campus has ever been a wonderful little enclave of some of the finest minds of all time, including some luminaries from Einstein to President Obama's dear brilliant shining wife, Michelle. If fine minds were grown in gardens of earth and stone, the surely Princeton University has been amongst our most revered vineyards for the fruits of the mind.
But it is not the famous attendees or residents that makes this staggering achievement of a church so very precious to experience.
I have sat a time or two nearly alone in the church as Christmas choirs, with their soaring harmonies and angelic melodies, practiced, filling the air with a timeless beauty one cannot hear in musical halls or symphony spaces or anywhere else for that matter. I've read the inscriptions on the walls and they show in great detail the history of this, the greatest of university churches in America. It has struck me that as glorious the experiences have been in this stone home for the heart with people in pew after pew, it has really been the emptiest solitudes whether in the presence of practicing choirs or not, that the building with its old stone, its perfectly hewn wood, its stained glass as fine as any I've seen in Europe from the Pepper Pots in Zurich to York Cathedral herself in old Jorvik - all conspire to inspire in an architectural symphony of pure, undeniable human harmony through wood and glass and stone. If we alone can sing the body electric, then we alone in grand, dizzying churches such as Princeton Chapel can sing the soul architecturally freed and effusive. No achievement such as this church is ever possible alone and perhaps its the great sum of the energy and work and great care that went into the building of this fine structure that resonates most transcendentally. "We were here", the very walls of the church seem to whisper and "we left a mark in this world" just as solemnly do the near neon-sparkling stained glass windows declare.
Friends who graduated from Princeton University (I was only "wait-listed" as a freshly graduated high school urchin) were fortunate to get on their own "wait list" for weddings. They married there. You can walk these long aisle from back to altar and feel the grace and humility of the ghosts of all those past grooms and brides.
It's simply one of the most breathtaking houses of worship in North America. Expressing it sufficiently is like dancing about architecture.
I am neither inordinately religious nor a fellow who haunts empty churches to commune with spirits. I am however someone that treasures great architecture and finds that when I am within the walls of this Grande Dame of Churches, I am always and ever struck with awe of the greatness that the hands of man
But this Princeton University Chapel is the only such edifice I've seen in America like this and warrants gushing about, beyond perhaps St. John the Divine (they share the same architect I believe) or St. Patricks, both in Manhattan.
I have spent a few Christmas services here, where they shut out the lights and all of us light candles - hundreds of us. It takes your breath away as it inspires you. Fire, candlelight, the primal source of magic inspiration from the dawn of man until now.
I've seen choirs perform here. I've been to many a service, not as parishioner or local student or resident, but as a communal participant in celebratory occasions in a building that is so startlingly beautiful and magnificent, it somehow raises your soulview with a sense of wonderment, to waft above the pews and up around the heady flying buttresses.
Go. Get thee to this churchury, all frivolity aside. It's worth the journey.
The Princeton Campus has ever been a wonderful little enclave of some of the finest minds of all time, including some luminaries from Einstein to President Obama's dear brilliant shining wife, Michelle. If fine minds were grown in gardens of earth and stone, the surely Princeton University has been amongst our most revered vineyards for the fruits of the mind.
But it is not the famous attendees or residents that makes this staggering achievement of a church so very precious to experience.
I have sat a time or two nearly alone in the church as Christmas choirs, with their soaring harmonies and angelic melodies, practiced, filling the air with a timeless beauty one cannot hear in musical halls or symphony spaces or anywhere else for that matter. I've read the inscriptions on the walls and they show in great detail the history of this, the greatest of university churches in America. It has struck me that as glorious the experiences have been in this stone home for the heart with people in pew after pew, it has really been the emptiest solitudes whether in the presence of practicing choirs or not, that the building with its old stone, its perfectly hewn wood, its stained glass as fine as any I've seen in Europe from the Pepper Pots in Zurich to York Cathedral herself in old Jorvik - all conspire to inspire in an architectural symphony of pure, undeniable human harmony through wood and glass and stone. If we alone can sing the body electric, then we alone in grand, dizzying churches such as Princeton Chapel can sing the soul architecturally freed and effusive. No achievement such as this church is ever possible alone and perhaps its the great sum of the energy and work and great care that went into the building of this fine structure that resonates most transcendentally. "We were here", the very walls of the church seem to whisper and "we left a mark in this world" just as solemnly do the near neon-sparkling stained glass windows declare.
Friends who graduated from Princeton University (I was only "wait-listed" as a freshly graduated high school urchin) were fortunate to get on their own "wait list" for weddings. They married there. You can walk these long aisle from back to altar and feel the grace and humility of the ghosts of all those past grooms and brides.
It's simply one of the most breathtaking houses of worship in North America. Expressing it sufficiently is like dancing about architecture.
I am neither inordinately religious nor a fellow who haunts empty churches to commune with spirits. I am however someone that treasures great architecture and finds that when I am within the walls of this Grande Dame of Churches, I am always and ever struck with awe of the greatness that the hands of man
Written 27 December 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
rmarcat
Wayne, NJ12 contributions
Aug 2019
On a Saturday, make sure you visit the Chapel before you take in the Museum, lest you find there is a wedding going on when you leave the lovely artwork.
Written 20 August 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Matan O
117 contributions
Apr 2017 • Couples
I came in here thinking this would be an exciting place to visit. Boy was I wrong. I come in, and the guy says something quickly about being quiet. I keep my mouth shut the entire time. I look around and its really nothing special. Just a plain old church. I left as soon as I came in, and its really nowhere to spend any time. Try not to bring anything, as it is a church so no cameras. Other than that, nothing too special.
Written 2 March 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
scottr1960
Overland Park, KS56 contributions
Jun 2019
Amazing place full of historic facts and beauty. The wood work is incredible on the inside as well as the stone work on the outside.
Written 10 June 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
John B
Princeton, NJ16 contributions
Aug 2018 • Solo
The Princeton University Chapel was built between 1924-28, and is the third largest college chapel in the world. Gothic in design, it seats 2,000, defying the premise of a small intimate college chapel, but yet due to its vast size, inspires silence upon entering as a clearly sacred space. Princeton was founded as a Presbyterian college, but this chapel is non-denominational and serves all faiths, with daily Catholic services, weekly Episcopal services, and the main service open to the public of any tradition every Sunday morning, with music sung by the Chapel Choir of eighty members from both the university and the community, accompanied by one of the ten finest organs in the world, of 8,500 pipes. The wood in the chancel came from Sherwood Forest, carved in situ by one hundred Italian craftsmen. The pews are made from wood purchased in 1924 by a Princeton alum from a federal warehouse where it had been since 1861, bought in that year to make Civil War gun carriages but never used for that purpose. The pulpit is French, dated 1566, and the lectern is dated 1771 from a former church in Pennsylvania, as homage to Princeton’s colonial roots. One of the finest acoustics in the nation, musical concerts by ensembles from near and far are annual events in this singular space. The internationally renowned Westminster Choir College of Princeton holds their annual commencement in this space in which choral music is sung by the entire college throughout the ceremony. Carved onto the walls of the chapel are names of faculty and citizens of Princeton who were signers of the Declaration of Independence, and those significant people who have spoken at the chapel, including the Reverend Martin Luther King. The Princeton University Chapel is without question one of the most significant college associated chapels in the United States if not the world, and a “must-see” on any visit to this town.
Written 26 August 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
m LG
Boston, MA87 contributions
Jun 2017 • Friends
Even after living in Princeton for over a year, I still never tire of going to the Princeton chapel, either on my own or with visiting family and friends. "Chapel" makes it seem like a small space of worship, but it's rather a grand structure with a large presence on campus. It is an ecumenical Christian church with multiple services throughout the week, although even those of other faiths would appreciate its beauty and quiet.
Visiting the chapel is great at any time of the day, but it's particularly nice at sunset. The stained glass windows are incredibly detailed, so be sure to grab a guide from the front of the sanctuary to "decode" the panes above.
There are also weekly organ concerts at the chapel during the school year, so if you happen to be there on a Thursday afternoon, you'll have a majestic treat. Check online for other events going on that might be of interest.
Visiting the chapel is great at any time of the day, but it's particularly nice at sunset. The stained glass windows are incredibly detailed, so be sure to grab a guide from the front of the sanctuary to "decode" the panes above.
There are also weekly organ concerts at the chapel during the school year, so if you happen to be there on a Thursday afternoon, you'll have a majestic treat. Check online for other events going on that might be of interest.
Written 20 July 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
stl4mcmahons
Saint Louis, MO21 contributions
Apr 2017 • Family
This gorgeous, sacred place is a must in any visit to Princeton. The Old and New Testament narratives are found in the breathtaking stained glass windows. Go, sit and reflect.
Written 25 April 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Meg W
Princeton, NJ132 contributions
Oct 2016 • Couples
The Princeton University Chapel is a spectacular beautiful church that is truly world class.
Go for on of the free concerts-you won't be sorry.
Go for on of the free concerts-you won't be sorry.
Written 15 November 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The symbol of the four glass panes on the top of the front wall above the entrance
Written 23 September 2017
If we're talking about the same glass windows, one of the images is that of Melchizidek, who was the first priest of The Bible. We find Melchizidek early on in the Old Testament, where Moses gives a great donation to him. He is mentioned again in the Book of Psalms. In Psalm 110, it reads, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Written 23 September 2017
If you enter an Internet search for "Princeton chapel guided tours" you will get a website that has information for both guided and self guided tours.
Written 11 April 2016
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