The New Meaning of the Chapel
The experience of the Rideau Street Chapel seems to begin to take shape from the moment one sees the Gallery. With a long processional ramp defining the main façade of the building terminating in an almost ceremonial geometric apse, the very form of the Gallery seems to imply religiosity. Double rows of thick columns and high, majestic ceilings denote the flying buttresses and open-air interiors of Gothic cathedrals. And whether by coincidence or intent, these forms are reflected by the Notre-Dame Basilica across the street, its interior designed by the same Georges Bouillon who created the Rideau Chapel (Kalman, 3). Moving through the Gallery exhibits, one might also note the many barrel vaulted ceilings used in the building, which for some may further emphasize this religious procession.
The most important factor to the visitor’s experience of the Rideau Chapel, however, is in the room immediately preceding it. After stepping through rooms of clean white walls and hardwood floors, the visitor enters the garden court of the National Gallery. The change in the sense of space is unmistakeable: moving from hardwood to granite flooring, the sound of one's steps immediately deadens, and the colonnade aisle one enters is washed with light from the expansive skylight above.
Filling the courtyard is a meditative garden designed by Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, the indoor landscaping intended to provide contemplation before entering the chapel ("Oberlander"). The effect produced by these factors is like that of a monastery - quiet, contemplative, and undoubtedly spiritual for many visitors. Perhaps the most powerful force forming this spiritual feeling is the ingenious inclusion of Janet Cardiff’s Forty-Part Motet in the chapel. The hymnal sounds of a Renaissance-style choir singing "Spem in Alium" travels out from the chapel and into the garden court itself. In a Baroque fashion, the source of the singing choir is not readily apparent, instead seeming to emanate from all around the garden court. After such mental meditation and preparation, the now-contemplative visitor steps down the processional ramp leading into the chapel itself.
The interior of the chapel is carefully designed to impress upon the viewer the historical and religious significance of the space, while remaining an artistically secular exhibit. The interior is split between two seemingly conflicting requirements: it must simultaneously be displayed as a secular exhibit of ecclesiastical architecture while also properly displaying its inherent spiritual nature to ensure a sensitive and respectful recreation of the Roman Catholic chapel's interior. To accomplish this, the room's few furnishings were carefully selected to both imply the chapel's religious past while emphasizing its nonreligious purpose in the Gallery. The rows of wooden pews have been removed from their space in the nave and aisles with only two pews remaining at the back of the chapel interior. This eliminates the spiritual function of the seating as spaces to hear sermons while maintaining their presence as a reminder of their prior purpose in a church. Despite its position in the centre of a large building, the stained glass windows shine with multicoloured light driven by electric lighting fixtures outside the exhibit space, simulating the authentic daylight that once shone inside the chapel. Placed along the edges of the aisles are some of the few art pieces included within: full-body sculptures of angels holding books or other religious figures, reminding the viewer that the space is a gallery exhibition while simultaneously emphasizing the space as a former place of worship.
Central in the room is the source of the Renaissance motet: forty individual speakers, each playing one to three voices out of the choir of sixty singers (Soldera, 90). The placement of the speakers in a loose circle throughout the chapel interior is to some extent a rude intrusion of modern electrical equipment in an otherwise historical space, yet the effect of the melody conjures up images of religious Renaissance choirs singing in ornate cathedrals. But dominating the entire room is the architecture of the chapel itself, with its elaborate fan vaults and wooden screen inspiring a sense of religious awe in the viewer. In this way, every element of the room is carefully crafted to fulfill the scholarly and historical requirements of the chapel exhibit, bringing the visitor to a heightened spiritual state where they can fully appreciate the religious splendor of the chapel in the Gallery.
The process of leaving the chapel is almost a ceremony unto itself. As one exits the chapel, they walk up a gradual set of ramps that seem to lead up and away from the sacred space. One's first view outside is a well-crafted one: beyond a granite arch one sees the central courtyard, and above on the second level is seen a sculpture of a bust in a warmly-lit room, centred in your vision and reminiscent of the statues of Christ that often sit centrally above the altar in a church. Above this sculpture is the sky, seen through the open skylight. This view concludes your visit to the Rideau Street Chapel, summarizing the experience in one grand sight. Finally, you leave the garden court and enter the wooden floors and white walls of the art gallery once again.
