Cathedral of Light

Cathedral of Light

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The Cathedral of Light above the Zeppelintribune (1936)

A German 150 cm searchlight displayed at the Militaerhistorisches Museum Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow, 2003

The Cathedral of Light or Lichtdom was a main aesthetic feature of the Nazi Party rallies in Nuremberg from 1934 to 1938. Designed by architect Albert Speer, it consisted of 152 anti-aircraft searchlights, at intervals of 12 metres, aimed skyward to create a series of vertical bars surrounding the audience. The Cathedral of Light was documented in the Nazi propaganda film Festliches N;rnberg, released in 1937.

Background
Speer had been commissioned by Adolf Hitler to build a stadium for the annual party rallies, but the stadium could not be completed in time for the 1933 rally. As a stopgap, he used 152 antiaircraft searchlights pointed upwards around the assembly area.[1][2]

The searchlights were borrowed from the Luftwaffe, which caused problems with its commander Hermann Goering overruled him, suggesting that it was a useful piece of disinformation. "If we use them in such large numbers for a thing like this, other countries will think we're swimming in searchlights."[3]

Continued use
Though they had originally been planned as a temporary measure until the stadium was completed, they continued to be used afterwards for the party rallies.[2] A similar effect was created for the closing ceremony of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin by Eberhard von der Trappen with Speer's collaboration.[4][5] Variants of the effect had the searchlights converge to a point above the spectators.

Equipment and impact
The Flak Searchlights used were developed in the late 1930s and used 150-centimeter-diameter parabolic glass reflectors with an output of 990 million candelas. The system was powered by a 24-kilowatt generator, based around a 51-horsepower (38 kW) 8-cylinder engine, giving a current of 200 amperes at 110 volts. The searchlight was attached to the generator by a cable 200 meters long. The system had a detection range of about 8 kilometers for targets at an altitude of between 4000 and 5000 meters.[6]

Speer described the effect: "The feeling was of a vast room, with the beams serving as mighty pillars of infinitely high outer walls".[7][3] The British Ambassador to Germany, Sir Neville Henderson, described it as "both solemn and beautiful... like being in a cathedral of ice".[1][3]

It is still considered amongst Speer's most important works:

...the single most dramatic moment of the Nazi Party rallies... was not a military parade or a political speech but the Lichtdom, or Cathedral of Light...

—;Kathleen James-Chakraborty[7]
See also
A Symphony of Lights – Permanent Hong Kong light and sound show
Architecture of the Night – Architecture integrating and emphasizing electric light effects at the design stage
Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds – Museum in Nuremberg, Germany
German searchlights of World War II – use of searchlights for detecting enemy aircraft in Germany during World War II
Imagine Peace Tower – Memorial to John Lennon near Reykjav;k
spectra (installation) – Series of art installations by Ryoji Ikeda
Tribute in Light – Annual tribute to 9/11 victims
References
 quoted in Martin Kitchen, Speer: Hitler's Architect, p. 35
 Martin Filler, "Hanging Out with Hitler", review of Martin Kitchen, Speer: Hitler's Architect, New York Review of Books 62:20:36-40 (December 17, 2015)
 Speer, pp. 58-59 at the Internet Archive
 Dietrich Neumann, Kermit Swiler Champa, eds., Architecture of the Night: The Illuminated Building, 2002, ISBN 3791325876, p. 47
 Allen Guttman, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games, p. 66
 "The Cathedral of Light of the Nazi rallies, 1937". rarehistoricalphotos.com. Retrieved 2020-08-30.
 Kathleen James-Chakraborty, "The Drama of Illumination: Visions of Community from Wilhelmine to Nazi Germany", in Richard A. Etlin, ed., Art, Culture, and Media under the Third Reich, 2002, ISBN 0226220877, p. 181
Speer, Albert (1970). Inside the Third Reich. New York and Toronto: Macmillan. (Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston.) Republished in paperback in 1997 by Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-82949-5.
External links
 Media related to Lichtdom at Wikimedia Commons
Photos from 1933-1938 Nuremberg Rallies
vte
Albert Speer
Realised structures
Nazi Party Rally Grounds (1933)Cathedral of Light (1934)Olympiastadion (1936)Adlerhorst (1939)Berlin Operating Base (1940)Schwerbelastungsk;rper (1941)
Unrealised plans
Deutsches StadionGermaniaVolkshalle
Books by
Inside the Third Reich (1969)Spandau: The Secret Diaries (1975)
Works about
The Bunker (1981 film)Inside the Third Reich (1982 film)Albert Speer (2000 play)Speer und Er (2005 TV series)Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial (2006 film)Speer: Hitler's Architect (2015 biography)Speer Goes to Hollywood (2020 film)
Miscellaneous
Beauty of LabourReich Ministry of Armaments and War ProductionRuin value
Categories: History of NurembergArchitectural lighting designNazi culture1930s in GermanySearchlights1934 establishments in Germany1938 disestablishments in GermanyLight artAlbert Speer