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Our Sanctuary has six
very large and beautiful stained glass windows that
depict
the chronological order of events in the life of Christ.
Click on the individual
thumbnails displayed below to view a larger photograph.
A description of the
individual panels is listed underneath each window.
In 1927, Venice-Nokomis United Methodist Church
contained five Gothic style
glass windows on each side of the building. There was
also one stained glass
window on each side of the front entrance bringing the
total number of windows
to twelve. In 1965,the Administration Board approved a
campaign to raise funds
to replace the existing glass windows in the sanctuary
with stained glass. The
Mueller Company located in Zephyrhills, Florida was
contacted and asked to
submit a recommendation for a series of pictures
reflecting the life of Christ.
His proposal was accepted at a cost of $750.00 per
window. The money was
raised through donations within six months.
It wasn’t discovered until this campaign that the
current window openings were
not the same size. A stone mason had to be hired to
square up the window
frames before Mr. Mueller could proceed.
Mr. Mueller and his two sons made it a habit to go to
New York when a ship was
scheduled to arrive to personally select the best glass
available for his designs.
His efforts show in the brightness and true colors that
are displayed in each of
our stained glass windows.
In 1978, the Church was torn down and in its place rose
our present Sanctuary.
The original twelve stained glass windows were
incorporated into six large
windows. This was accomplished by placing two of the
original windows on
each side of a new central panel plus adding a new
section over the top of each
panel which enclosed them forming one large window. The
new central and top
panels were made by Nobis Studios located in St.
Petersburg, Florida since
the Mueller Company was no longer in business. The
colors in these panels
are a little bit different because they were not made by
the same company.
The top panel’s display the symbols used to represent
the Twelve Disciples.
Click on the individual thumbnails to
view a larger photograph. |
